The Silk Road refers to the ancient commercial and trade routes that started in ancient China and connected Asia, Africa and Europe. From the mode of transportation, it can be divided into land silk road and maritime silk road. The overland Silk Road began in Chang 'an, the capital of the Western Han Dynasty (the Eastern Han Dynasty extended to Luoyang).
The Silk Road is the main road for economic, political and cultural exchanges between the East and the West. Its original function was to transport silk produced in ancient China.
Therefore, when the German geographer Ferdinand von Richthofen first named it "Silk Road" in 1970s, it was widely accepted.
20 14,18 On June 8, the Silk Road "Chang 'an" luxury special train tourist line began to operate. It is expected that the entire Silk Road, including Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, will also meet with tourists on 20 15.
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The story of Zhang Qian, the pioneer of the Silk Road, who went to the Western Regions.
Qian was a great explorer in the Western Han Dynasty. He came to the western regions uninvited. 13 years later, he traveled all over Tianshan, Central Asia and West Asia. He was the first person from the Central Plains to the Western Regions.
At that time, the Han Dynasty was preparing to wage war against the Huns. By chance, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty learned from a Xiongnu prisoner that there was a Dayue family in the Western Regions, whose royal family was killed by Xiongnu Khan. Therefore, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty wanted to unite with Da Yueshi to "break Hungary's right arm" and decided to send an envoy to Da Yueshi.
Deserts, snow-capped mountains, oases, sometimes wind and clouds, flying sand and stones, sometimes Wan Li is silent. The shepherd's smoke rose into the sky, camel bells rang, and when the world was opened, the land was desolate again. This is the western regions of ancient China: Xinjiang and its green ridge (now Pamir Plateau) connected by mountains and rivers, to the west, to the Balkhash Lake in Central Asia.
But it is not a trivial matter to cross the quicksand desert of more than 7000 kilometers in the western region. Crossing the Western Regions requires both the eloquence of diplomats and the courage of explorers. The imperial court tried to recruit talents all over the country by recruiting talents. Zhang Qian answered without hesitation. Zhang Qian, as a LangGuan response, shouldered the task of making an envoy to Dayue.
In 139 BC, Zhang Qian led more than 100 people to venture westward from Longxi (now Gansu) under the leadership of A Hun, the father of Tang Yi. Zhang Qian chased weeds and wildfires all the way, avoiding all suspicious traces of hoof disorder, and always guarding against open attack and covert attack that may happen at any time. But even so careful, they met a group of tarkan as soon as they left Gansu. In addition to Zhang Qian and Tang Yi father captured, none survived.
Xiongnu Khan knew the purpose of Zhang Qian's Western Expedition, so he wouldn't let him go easily. Zhang Qian and Tang Yi's father were forced to put their sheep and horses separately and were strictly controlled by the Huns. They also married a Hun woman to Zhang Qian, one to spy on him and the other to induce him to surrender. Zhang Qian, however, is indomitable. Although he lived like a year under house arrest and grazing, he has been waiting for an opportunity to escape to complete his mission.
That's 1 1 Chunqiu. One dark night in a month, Zhang Qian took the Huns' wife and the father of Tang Yi, the guide, and fled the Huns unprepared.
Zhang Qian was frightened at first, but he still kept his original intention and continued the important mission of "going to the western regions". Because they fled in a hurry and didn't prepare dry food and drinking water, they could only be hungry and thirsty along the way and would fall on the desert beach at any time. Fortunately, Tang Yi's father was good at archery. He often hunted some birds and animals along the way, drank blood to quench his thirst and ate meat to satisfy his hunger, only to escape the hand of the dead god.
They walked along the southern foot of Tianshan Mountain, passed Yanqi, Qiuci and Shule, and finally passed through the desert Gobi and the snow-covered green ridge (now Pamir Plateau) to Dawan State (now Fergana Valley). This is a wealthy country in Central Asia, with a population of several hundred thousand and more than 70 towns, which is rich in "Tianma".
King Dawan had the idea of knowing Chinese, so he gladly sent a guide and interpreter to escort Zhang Qian to Yue. However, great changes have taken place in Da Yue's national conditions. The Da Yue family established a new dynasty in Daxia, and changed its name to Xiaoyue family. It is farming, a rich country and a powerful country. Times have changed. It didn't repay the Xiongnu's ambition.
Zhang Qian carefully inspected the mountains, rivers, towns and folk customs of the countries in the Western Regions. He also came to Shilan City, the capital of the big state in this area, and found that there was a highly centralized royal family with many businessmen and weak soldiers. These situations, zhangqian one by one in mind.
Zhang Qian left for home after more than a year's inspection in Daxia and other places. On the way home, Zhang Qian diverted to the south to avoid the Xiongnu-controlled area. They crossed the Green Ridge, along the northern foot of Kunlun Mountain, passed through shache (now shache, Xinjiang), Khotan (now Hotan, Xinjiang), Shanshan (now Ruoqiang, Xinjiang) and other places, and entered the Qiang people's settlement. It was acquired by tarquin on the way and detained for more than a year.
In 126 BC, the Huns were in civil strife, and Zhang Qian and others fled back to the Han Dynasty. After listening to his report on the Western Regions in detail, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty was very happy and named him the Prince of Bo.
In BC 1 19, he led a large-scale expedition from Sichuan to the southwest of China, but failed because of barbarian resistance. Later, as a corps commander, he went to the Western Regions for the second time and made diplomatic progress. 1 14 years, that is, one year after Zhang Qian's second mission to the western regions, he died in Chang 'an. People use the word "Zhang Qian's Empty Valley" to summarize his contribution to the Western Regions and his legendary life.
15 years, after Zhang Qian went to the western regions, the Han army defeated the Xiongnu in the western regions, controlled the passes of Zhangye and Jiuquan, and dredged the communication lines in the western regions. About BC 105, the Han Dynasty sent a silk caravan to rest in peace, which led to a great exchange of products between China and the western regions on the border. This is the famous "Silk Road".
Reference source: Baidu Encyclopedia-Silk Road