Before the Silk Road on land, there was the Maritime Silk Road. It mainly has routes from the East China Sea and the South China Sea in China.
East China Sea Silk Road
At the latest, this route starts from the East China Sea in China and ends in Zhou Wuwang. When the Zhou Dynasty was founded (BC 1 165438), Ji Zi was named Korea, and he set out from the Bohai Bay seaport in Shandong Peninsula and arrived in Korea to teach sericulture in folk fields. China's sericulture, silk reeling and silk weaving techniques were first introduced to North Korea through the Yellow Sea.
South China Sea Silk Road
The ancient maritime passage for communication, trade and cultural exchanges between China and foreign countries was the main passage for communication between China and foreign countries after the Tang and Song Dynasties, with the South China Sea as the center and Guangzhou as the starting point, so it was called the South China Sea Silk Road. It was formed in the Qin and Han Dynasties, developed in the Three Kingdoms and Sui Dynasties, flourished in the Tang and Song Dynasties and changed in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. This is the oldest known sea route. Since 1930s, Guangzhou has replaced Xuwen and Hepu as the main ports of the Maritime Silk Road. During the Tang and Song Dynasties, Guangzhou became the largest port in China and a world-famous oriental port city. The route from Guangzhou to the Persian Gulf countries via the South China Sea and the Indian Ocean was the longest route in the world at that time. In the Yuan Dynasty, the position of Guangzhou, the largest port in China, was replaced by Quanzhou, but Guangzhou was still the second largest port in China and an important starting point of the Maritime Silk Road. In the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, Guangzhou was in a "one-stop" situation for a long time. Since ancient times, there have been many routes from Guangzhou on the Maritime Silk Road. 1784, the American "Queen China" visited Guangdong, marking the opening of the direct flight route of the United States to Guangzhou. The Maritime Silk Road is also called the Maritime Ceramics Road and the Maritime Medicine Road because it transports other goods.
The Maritime Silk Road has two main routes, the East China Sea route and the South China Sea route, and its history is longer than that of the onshore Silk Road. The route from the East China Sea began at the beginning of the establishment of the Zhou Dynasty (BC 165438+ BC 0 12), and King Wu sent Ji Zi to North Korea to teach sericulture weaving technology. Kiko then set off from the Bohai Bay seaport in Shandong Peninsula and arrived in North Korea by land and water. In this way, China's sericulture, silk reeling and silk weaving technology first spread to North Korea through the Yellow Sea. When Qin Shihuang conquered the six countries (22 1 year BC), people from Qi, Yan and Zhao countries went to North Korea with silkworm eggs and sericulture techniques to escape labor, which further accelerated the spread of silk industry in North Korea.
China and Japan are separated only by a strip of water, so it is very convenient to communicate through the Korean Peninsula or the Sea of Japan. There has been a legend of sericulture in Japan since ancient times. Legend has it that in 2 19~2 10 BC, Qin Shihuang sent Xu Fu to lead boys, virgins, sailors and hundreds of workers to Japan to spread sericulture technology, and the Japanese people later honored Xu Fu as the "silkworm god". It is also recorded that in the third century BC, two brothers, Wudi, Jiangsu and Zhejiang, crossed the Yellow Sea to Japan to teach the skills of silkworm weaving and sewing martial arts. Since then, mainlanders have settled in Japan in twos and threes, either through Korea or from Shandong, and their contacts have been very close, which has promoted the development of Japanese sericulture.
According to Japanese ancient history, during the reign of Emperor Ai of the Western Han Dynasty (6 BC), China's Luo fabrics and technologies were spread to Japan. In the 3rd century, China's silk jacquard technology and block printing technology were introduced to Japan. In Sui Dynasty, China's woodblock printing technology was introduced to Japan again. During the Sui and Tang Dynasties, Japanese envoys and monks frequently traveled to and from China. They obtained blue silk in Taizhou, Zhejiang Province, and brought it back to Japan as a model to imitate colorful brocade, silk and furniture. Japanese still use the names of China in the Tang Dynasty, such as Jieli, Guali, Luo, Si, Si and Yu.
In the Tang Dynasty, the silk produced in Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces was directly transported to Japan by sea, and silk products began to change from gifts to formal commodities. Nara was the capital of Japan at that time, which can be said to be the end of the Silk Road in China. Masakura Yard was the place where government cultural relics were stored. Today's Zhengcangyuan has become a treasure house for preserving China's silk fabrics in the Tang Dynasty. Many of them are hard to see even in Chinese mainland, such as colorful printed tapestry, lion Tang grass play tapestry, lotus tapestry, hunting tapestry, deer Tang grass tapestry, lotus tapestry and so on. There are also many silks made by China craftsmen in Japan at that time, which have both tang style and Japanese national characteristics.
During the Song Dynasty, many China silks were also shipped to Japan. The Yuan government set up trading companies in Ningbo, Quanzhou, Guangzhou, Shanghai, Ganpu, Wenzhou, Hangzhou and other places, and exported dragon satin, Suzhou-Hangzhou five-color satin, brocade, variegated silk, Danshan brocade and water silk cloth to Japan at many ports. During the Ming Dynasty, Japanese imported a large number of China silk. During this period, Japan imported countless raw silk, silks and satins and brocade from China.
In the early Qing Dynasty (1644), the rulers worried that the domestic people would go to the sea and collude with the anti-Qing people in the late Ming Dynasty, so they adopted the policy of sea ban, and then they continued to open up because of strong opposition at home and abroad. At this time, Japan continued to import a lot of raw silk from China. During the period from1633 to1672, China silk imported by Japan was still over 200,000 Jin every year, which was due to the extensive use of silk by the Japanese. At that time, Japanese war broke out, sericulture declined, and the quantity of raw silk produced in China dropped sharply, with poor quality. At this time, merchants in Shandong, Shaanxi, Anhui, Zhejiang and other places directly engaged in maritime trade activities and sailed to Japan and other countries in exchange for pepper, sandalwood, copper, rattan and other goods. In the twenty-five years of Qianlong (1760), the Japanese government allowed China to contact with China officials to conduct silk trade in exchange for Japanese-made copper. Since then, China's silk has been continuously shipped to Japan.
While importing China silk in large quantities, Japan actively introduced mulberry seeds, silkworm eggs and advanced technology from China, and established the basic national policy of revitalizing the silk industry around 1868, actively studied the experimental science of silk in Europe, formulated the policy of rewarding patents, and set up scientific and educational institutions, so that the silk industry flourished from then on. From 65438 to 0909, Japanese raw silk exports reached 8372 tons, surpassing China (7480 tons), ranking first in the world, and has been in a leading position ever since. It was not until 1977 that China's silk output surpassed that of Japan again.
"Maritime Silk Road" is a maritime passage for transportation, trade and cultural exchanges between China and foreign countries in ancient times. This road is mainly centered on the South China Sea and starts from Guangzhou, so it is also called the South China Sea Silk Road. The Maritime Silk Road was formed in the Qin and Han Dynasties, developed in the Three Kingdoms and Sui Dynasties, flourished in the Tang and Song Dynasties, and changed in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. This is the oldest known sea route.
After the opening of the Maritime Silk Road, before the Sui and Tang Dynasties, it was only a supplementary form of the onshore Silk Road. However, during the Sui and Tang Dynasties, due to the constant war in the western regions, the Silk Road on land was blocked by the war and replaced by the Maritime Silk Road. By the Tang and Song Dynasties, with the development of shipbuilding and navigation technology in China, China's sea routes to Southeast Asia, Malacca Strait, Indian Ocean, Red Sea and African continent were successively opened and extended, and the Maritime Silk Road eventually replaced the land Silk Road and became the main channel for China's foreign exchanges.
At that time, the commodities exported through the Maritime Silk Road were mainly silk, porcelain, tea and copper and iron, and the main commodities shipped to China were spices, flowers and some rare treasures for the imperial court to enjoy, so the Maritime Silk Road was also called the Maritime Ceramic Road and the Maritime Medicine Road. When Zheng He went to the Western Ocean in the early Ming Dynasty, the Maritime Silk Road reached its peak. During the Ming and Qing Dynasties after Zheng He, due to the implementation of the maritime ban policy, China's maritime industry began to decline, and the maritime Silk Road, which had made great contributions to the exchanges between the East and the West, gradually died out.
Guangzhou's position on the Maritime Silk Road
Since 1930s, Guangzhou has become the main port of the Maritime Silk Road. During the Tang and Song Dynasties, Guangzhou became the largest port in China and a world-famous oriental port city. The route from Guangzhou to the Persian Gulf countries via the South China Sea and the Indian Ocean was the longest route in the world at that time. In the Yuan Dynasty, Guangzhou was replaced by Quanzhou as the largest port in China, but it was still the second largest port in China. In the 2000-year history of the Maritime Silk Road, compared with other coastal ports, Guangzhou is considered to be the only enduring port. In the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, Guangzhou was in a "one-stop" situation for a long time. During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, there were already three routes on the Maritime Silk Road from Guangzhou. 1784, the American "Queen China" visited Guangdong, marking the opening of the direct air route between the United States and Guangzhou.
There are enough historical materials and cultural relics to prove that the earliest port of departure of the Maritime Silk Road is Guangzhou. At present, there are more than 20 sites on the Maritime Silk Road, including Nanhai Temple, Huaisheng Temple Lighthouse, Guangxiao Temple, Ancient Tomb of Muslim Sages, Hualin Temple, Lotus Pagoda and Shamian Western-style architecture. Among them, Huaisheng Temple is the earliest mosque where Islam was introduced into China. At present, the relevant departments in Guangdong are actively promoting the "Maritime Silk Road" site to declare the world cultural heritage.
Song Dynasty was one of the most prosperous countries at that time.
In most people's impression, the peak of China's feudal dynasty was the Tang Dynasty, but it was not. Song Dynasty is one of the dynasties with the most prosperous economy, the most advanced science and technology, the most prosperous culture, the deepest art and the richest people's living standard in the history of China, and it was also the country with the most inventions in the world at that time. The Song Dynasty was also the period when China made the greatest contribution to the world. More than half of the important inventions in China's history appeared in the Song Dynasty. At that time, three of China's four great inventions were put into large-scale practical use in the Song Dynasty, such as gunpowder, compass, printing, paper money, vertical textile and important reforms in porcelain-making technology. In the Song Dynasty, navigation, shipbuilding, medicine, technology and agricultural technology all reached unprecedented heights in ancient times, and compasses began to be equipped with a large number of ocean-going ships in the Song Dynasty. The GDP of Song Dynasty accounted for 50% of the world at that time. The comprehensive strength of the country, both in quality and quantity, was the largest country in the world at that time in Song Dynasty. In the Song Dynasty, the number of cities with more than 100,000 households increased from more than 10 in the Tang Dynasty to 40. Bianjing and Lin 'an have become the fourth and fifth cities in the world with a population of over one million after Chang 'an, Luoyang and Nanjing.
The foreign trade in Song Dynasty also reached unprecedented prosperity, and port cities such as Guangzhou and Quanzhou appeared. According to the research of western historians, the foreign trade volume of the Song Dynasty exceeded the sum of other countries in the world in the same year, and Chinese businessmen almost controlled the main ports from the coast of China to the east coast of Africa and the coast of the Red Sea.
In the words of the late famous scholar Professor Deng Guangming, "The Song Dynasty was the highest stage of the development of feudal society in China, and its material civilization and spiritual civilization were unprecedented in the historical period of feudal society in China."