History of the Silk Road

By+staff+reporter+LI+WUZHOU

A gold Byzantine coin of the Anastasius I era（491 - 518） was unearthed last October from a Northern Wei Dynasty （386-534） tomb in Luoyang， Henan Province. The fi nd caused no particular stir in Chinas numismatic circles， however. Over recent decades Persian and Roman gold coins have occasionally come to light in historical sites along the ancient Silk Road.

They form part of the raft of evidence that this 2，000-year-old 7，000-km-long “road” was a vital trade route and communications network that connected China with India， Persia， Arabia， Greece and Rome.

Trade Route

German geographer Ferdinand von Richthofen was the fi rst， in 1877， to refer to this ancient route as the Silk Road. Gemstones， silk and porcelain were most prominent among the broad range of goods transported along it from the East to the West. Exchanges of commodities and workers from the Asian and European civilizations led to an intermingling of cultures， ideas and religions， as well as of expertise in economics， politics， science and technology and military science.

Silk was the most desired Chinese export， one that Chinese envoys would most often present as gifts to foreign heads of state. This luxurious fabric was in high demand throughout the Roman Empire， a third century author having extolled its gossamer-like texture in an array of floral hues. The astronomical amounts paid for silk imports， the price for one pound of fine silk at one time soaring to 600 grams of gold， forced the senate to prohibit the wearing of silk garments. Legendary Egyptian queen Cleopatra would receive foreign diplomats attired in silk robes， and Chinese silk was found in the tomb of a pharaoh laid to rest in 1000 BC. Phoenician red silk robes came into vogue among royal families and the aristocracy of Eastern and Western Europe. Even the Koran praises Chinese silk as a heavenly fabric.

Rise and Decline

The Silk Road approached its heyday in the Han Dynasty （206 BC-AD 220）， although travel along it began much ear-lier. Archeologists confirm the existence of an intermittent trade route across the prairies along the Nile， Tigris， Euphrates， Indus and Yellow rivers， consisting of a number of minor passages that caravans traversed.

As early as 5，000 years ago， lapis lazuli， the deep blue semi-precious stone originating in Afghanistan， had made its way into Egypt. This further attests to the flow of goods along this prairie passage that later evolved into the Silk Road. About 1，000 years later， lapis lazuli was brought into Harappa， a large city of the Indus Civilization. Soon after it entered China， and became revered as one of the seven treasures of Buddhism.

Soft jade artifacts from Xinjiang found in the tomb of Lady Hao， concubine of King Wuding （？-1192 BC）， last monarch of the Shang Dynasty （C. 2100-1600 BC）， constitute more evidence of exchanges between the inland Chinese civilization and neighboring regimes to its west and beyond.

Dr. Guo Wu of the Institute of Archaeology， Chinese Academy of Social Sciences， has made a study of bronze fu， the vessel that nomads traditionally used for cooking and sacrificial rituals， unearthed over the past decade in China， Russia and Mongolia. He concludes that this artifact first appeared in northern China and later spread to prairie communities in the north and west before reaching Eurasian countries.

Zhang Qian （？-114 BC）， of the Western Han Dynasty， the first Chinese envoy to Central Asia， noticed in a market in Daxia – the Chinese name for todays Afghanistan – bamboo walking sticks and fabrics made in Sichuan Province. This observation， again， implies early trade ties between China and Central Asia.

Exchanges between China and the world peaked during the Han Dynasty. In 138 BC a delegation of more than 100 people led by Zhang Qian left the Han capital of Changan （todays Xian） for countries to the empires west， histori-cally known as the Western Regions. To show their good will， the many regimes Zhang visited sent reciprocal delegates to Western Han. During the subsequent Eastern Han Dynasty， Ban Chao （AD 32-102） made several trips to the Western Regions and was later appointed official in charge of affairs there. In AD 97 Ban dispatched Gan Ying to Rome， but stormy weather on the seas forced him to drop anchor in the Persian Gulf. As a consequence， little more than half a century later in AD 166 a Persian delegation arrived in Luoyang， capital of the Eastern Han. This was the first direct contact between China and Europe.

Traffic along the Silk Road gained pace during the Tang Dynasty （618-907）. Records show that about 4，000 Arab and Persian expatriates purchased properties in China at that time. When Huang Chao and his rebels sacked Guangzhou towards the end of the dynasty in 879， the local population of Jews， Roman immigrants， Christians and Zoroastrians numbered between 120，000 and 200，000.

In the dynasties after the Tang， Chinas economic center gradually gravitated south， closer to the coast. This led to the southward extension of the terrestrial Silk Road and establishment of the maritime Silk Road. Southern cities like Guangzhou， Chengdu and Quanzhou consequently became economic hubs.

The Mongol invasions in the 13th century under Genghis Khan （1162-1227） of North and West Asia promoted connectivity between China and Europe. On receiving passes from the Mongol empire， merchants and emissaries were free to travel between the two destinations.

There were various reasons for the decline of the Silk Road after Genghis Khans grandson Kublai Khan established the Yuan Dynasty （1271-1368）. One was the Ottoman conquest of Constantinople. The Turks general encroachment having severed the main overland trade link between Europe and Asia， European traders considered traveling to Asia by sea. Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama made this possible after becoming the first European to navigate a sea route to India. Certain scholars hold that exacerbated desertification also played a role in the fall of the overland Silk Road， as many cities along it were engulfed by sand dunes.

Despite Zheng He and his fleets seven successful maritime expeditions between 1405 and 1433 to more than 30 Asian and African countries， the Ming Dynasty（1368-1644） imposed a ban on sea trade. During much of its existence， Chinas doors to the rest of the world were largely closed. In the West， meanwhile， the Age of Discovery had begun. As sea routes were explored and sailing became safer and more reliable， land routes fell out of favor with travelers and merchants.

The Silk Road commanded world attention once more in the 21st century， with the building along it of the 10，900-km transcontinental railway connecting Lianyungang， Jiangsu Province in the east with Rotterdam， the Netherlands， in the west. It thus reverted to its function of facilitating Chinas international trade.

Interest in the Silk Road has inten- sified worldwide in recent years. In February 2008， senior officials from 19 European and Asian countries， including China， Russia， Iran and Turkey， signed an agreement in Geneva promising more investment in restoring the Silk Road and other time-honored passages of trade between Asia and Europe.

The Routes

The Silk Road in a broad sense contained at least four routes. Zhang Qian and his delegation opened up the most important one during the Western Han Dynasty. It started from Changan （todays Xian）， headed up the Gansu Hexi Corridor to Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region， on to Central and West Asia and eventually Europe.

Rather than a single route， the road comprised several branches. One went across Congling （todays Pamir Plateau） to Dayuan （todays Farghana Valley）， headed down to Bactria （in todays Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region）， Sogdiana （in todays Uzbekistan） and Arsacid，leading to Lixuan in the eastern Roman Empire （todays Alexandria in Egypt）. Another branch traveled through Xuandu （in todays Pakistan）， Jibin （in todays Kabul in Afghanistan）， Alexandria Prophthasia （todays Sistan） to Taoke（in the area between todays Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan） in the southwest. Heading southward from Jibin， a sub-branch reached the Indus river mouth （todays Karachi in Pakistan）. The route then led on to Persia and Rome by sea.

In order to avoid passing through the rival Western Xia （1038-1227） monarchy， in the 10th century the government of the Northern Song Dynasty （960-1127） opened up the Qinghai Route. It started from Tianshui in Gansu Province and passed through Qinghai and the Western Regions， functioning as an alternative southern route. Until now， most of the Persian silver coins discovered in China have been found in Qinghai Province. This shows that the region was of equal importance to the Hexi Corridor in the development of the Silk Road.

The Southwest Silk Road is the second of its kind. Before Zhang Qian and his delegation established the Silk Road mainline， merchants in Southwest China had followed a route from Sichuan capital Chengdu to Yunnan Province and on to Burma， India and Pakistan and Central Asia， where they exchanged goods. At that time， cloth and silk produced in Sichuan and Yunnan were in world demand. Merchants transported the products on mules via the Southwest Silk Road to India and Europe.

Another route is the Steppe Silk Road， which includes two sub-courses. The northern sub-course started from the Siberian Plateau， headed westward from the Mongolian Plateau and passed the Aral Sea， Caspian Sea and Black Sea to reach East Europe. The southern subcourse started from Chinas northeast coast and followed the northern foot of the Tianshan Mountains to reach Central and West Asia and East Europe. Until the Ming and Qing dynasties （1368-1911）， this route was also known as the Tea Road. Even during the 1930s and 1940s， merchants still frequently traveled to Ulan Bator， Khovd and Moscow via this route.

The Maritime Silk Road also played an important historical role. The Han Dynasty saw establishment of a shipping lane between Guangdong and India. A few centuries later， this sea route connected the coastal cities of Quanzhou and Hangzhou and went through the Strait of Malacca to the Indian Peninsula. The route further extended to the Indian Ocean， the Arabian Sea， the Arab Empire and the East African coast. The Maritime Silk Road was also known as the Maritime Chinaware Road and Maritime Aromatic Medicine Road， names reflecting the staple goods transported along it.

By the Tang Dynasty， Changan， starting point of the Silk Road， covered an area of 84 sq km – three times that of Rome. With a population of more than one million， Changan was then the worlds most populated city.

The Silk Road also left innumerable cultural heritages. Some， such as the Qin Dynasty （221-206 BC） terracotta warriors and horses and the Mogao Grottoes in Dunhuang， have survived till today. Others can never be restored. They include the Loulan Kingdom and Niya Ancient City in Xinjiang， and the Buddhas of Bamiyan in central Afghanistan， which the Taliban destroyed.

Route for Various Commodities

In addition to silk， trade caravans also transported large amounts of chinaware via the Silk Road. During the Yuan Dynasty， China exported blue and white porcelain mainly to Islamic countries. China is now home to more than 100 pieces of the blue and white porcelain that it produced during the Yuan Dynasty. But another 200 or more are scattered around the world， one fifth –the largest amount outside of China – in Turkeys Topkapi Palace Museum.

Chinese plants and herbs such as the mulberry tree， pear tree， birch， hollyhock， tea tree， ginger， coptis， and rhizoma smilacis glabrae were also introduced to Western countries via the Silk Road.

Ironware， lacquerware， bamboo articles and traditional Chinese medicines traveled along the ancient route as well.

In the meantime， this road was instrumental in the importing to China of commodities from the Western world. Carpets， woolen fabric， mercury， agate， and spices thus became accessible to the Chinese people. Glass products and woolen fabric promoted development of the Chinese porcelain and textile industries.

Vegetables thought to have originated in China， such as grapes， alfalfa， walnuts， flax， cucumbers， water melons， carrots， spinach， pomegranates， figs， and olives， were actually imported from the West along the Silk Road. Wine produced in the Western Regions has also been integrated into traditional Chinese viticulture over the past centuries.

The Silk Road was moreover a channel for bringing in exotic animal species like camels， lions， rhinoceros， peacocks and ostriches.

Route for Cultural Transmission

Although the Silk Road was established for the silk trade， it had significance beyond business that brought benefits to peoples in both the East and West. It， for example， introduced Chinese science and technology， such as astronomy， medicine， architecture， iron-working， silkworm breeding and mulberry cultivation to the West. Chinese culture， in the form of music and art， also traveled along the road， and significantly influenced that in Central and West Asia. The Mongol conquests brought Chinese painting to Central and West Asia， as evident in the Chinese painting styles apparent in Persian， Arabic and Turkish miniatures.

Papermaking， printing， the compass and gunpowder – the four great inventions of ancient China – enhanced the worlds cultural development upon entry into Western countries. Papermaking and printing dramatically reduced the cost of books， making education accessible to the common people. The compass， brought to Europe in the 12th century， was of immense use in navigation and hence the voyages of Columbus and Magellan.

Chinese people， in turn， had the chance to explore foreign cultures. Buddhism， conjuring and sculpture went eastward along the road. Musical instruments， as well as music and dance， from Central Asia influenced traditional Chinese music. Persian musical instru- ments like the konghou and pipa have long been mainstays of the Chinese folk orchestra.

China， moreover， adopted the Islamic calendar and medical practices. In 961， the Song court invited Ma Yize， an astronomer from the Asia Minor Peninsula， to China to take up the post of chief official at the astronomical observatory， and to compile an official calendar. The astronomical observatory was still in use in the following Yuan Dynasty.

Religion is another important aspect of the foreign culture that spread to China. Buddhism entered the Central Plains area around the 3rd century after the Silk Road had been established. The influence of Buddhism in China cannot be overstated， its having been absorbed into the main Chinese belief systems of Confucianism and Taoism. Buddhism is one of three major religions in China.

Zoroastrianism， Manichaeism， Judaism and Christianity were also introduced into China but did not spread so widely. Islam is the only other religion to have gained a substantial presence.

Prophet Muhammad founded Islam in 622. Muslims who arrived in the Central Plains area in the 8th century are the ancestors of todays Hui ethnic group whose present population is more than 10 million.

Passage for Ethnic Migrations

In certain villages in Yongchang County， Gansu Province you may come across a group of inhabitants that stands out from other locals. They have deep-set green eyes， defined noses， fair hair and olive skin. Their villages are also in the so-called fish-scale formation habitually used by Roman troops in ancient times. Historical records show that some captured troops from the Western Regions settled in Gansu Province.

Are these Western-looking villagers the descendants of Roman centurions？ In 2007， DNA tests that the School of Life Sciences， Lanzhou University carried out confirmed that all 91 of villagersblood samples prove that they are indeed of Central and West Asian origin. Their ancestors， therefore， were soldiers that had been recruited in Afghanistan and joined Romes eastward expansion.

Ancient Romans were not the only group that migrated via the Silk Road， however. During the Tang Dynasty， large numbers of Arabs and Persians migrated and settled in China. Trade zones were set up in Changan especially for these foreign merchants， who conducted such businesses as jewelry stores and pharmacies.

As the Song Dynasty encouraged the development of trade with foreign merchants， numbers of those from Central and West Asia continued to swell. Consequently hundreds of thousands of Arab and Persian merchants settled in Chinas eastern coastal cities at that time.

People also carried out reverse migrations via the Silk Road. For instance， during the Tang Dynasty Turkic people living in Greater Hinggan Range in Northeast China split into two groups. One pledged allegiance to the Tang government； the other moved westward and eventually reached the Asia Minor Peninsula.

The Huns have a similar history. Some surrendered to the Eastern Han Dynasty， and others migrated along the Silk Road to the north bank of the Black Sea in the 4th century.

The Uygur ethnic group originally established a khanate. One of its branches later crossed over Congling and entered Central Asia.

Men and the Road

Of the notable personages associated with the Silk Road， Zhang Qian， the Silk Road pioneer， is the most important.

In 138 BC， Emperor Wudi （156 BCAD 87） sent Zhang Qian to the Western Regions， his aim to form an alliance with Indoscythae to fight the marauding Huns. Unfortunately， they captured Zhang Qian， along with more than 100 others in his entourage. Although held prisoner for 11 years， Zhang Qian never abandoned his mission and eventually seized a chance to escape to Indoscythae.

On his return to Changan， Zhang Qian reported the situation in the Western Regions to Emperor Wudi and ex- pressed Indoscythaes desire to cooperate with the Han Dynasty. This was the first delegation the Chinese government sent to the Western Regions.

In 119 BC， the second delegation led by Zhang Qian was sent to the West Regions. It visited Wusun （in the area of todays Ili River）， Farghana， Sogdiana（between the Amu Darya and the Syr Darya）， Indoscythae， Bactria， Arsacid （on the Iranian Plateau） and Sindu （todays India）. These countries also sent envoys to Changan， so promoting communication between the Han government and countries in the Western Regions.

Marco Polo （1254-1324）， like Zhang Qian， was an adventurer. Born in Venice， he traveled at the age of 17 to China via the Middle East with his father and uncle. He spent 17 years there and recorded what he had seen. His book aroused Europeans curiosity about China – the richest Oriental country at that time. His pioneering journey inspired Christopher Columbus and many other travelers. His book also influenced European cartography， leading to the introduction of the Fra Mauro map.

Xuanzang the Buddhist monk is another household name in China. He set off from Changan in AD 627 and traveled to India via the Silk Road. He lived in India for several years in different places. After returning to China in AD 645， Xuanzang devoted himself to translating the 75 Buddhist sutras that he had brought with him from India. Xuanzang also wrote a book about the Western Regions and the Silk Road. His experience inspired the novel Journey to the west wherein his perseverance and bravery inspired generations of readers.

Kumarajiva （344-413） contributed much by preaching Buddhism at the eastern end of the Silk Road. He became a monk at the age of seven and was later a missionary in countries in the Western Regions. In 382， Kumarajiva came to Changan to preside over the translation of Buddhist sutras. Until then， only fragments had been translated into Chinese. Under Kumarajivas supervision， 35 sutras were translated accurately in both language and style.