探寻丝绸之路的历史

The Silk Road，the History

Good morning everyone，I'm honored to be here and have this talk.So，in next 20 minutes，I'll do my best to condense the Silk Road history in this talk.Hopefully it can help you gain the brief knowledge about this region.

People，in their very early history，start to trade.They want the goods they don't have，and they get what they need by exchanging goods.Trades gradually grow，from a smaller scale to a bigger scale.The significance of the Silk Road is to build a trading network crisscross European，central Asia，even Africa.Because of this kind of contact with different people，different nations，religions，ideas，cultures，technologies，even diseases spread along the Silk Road.

The Silk Road，now what we called One Belt，actually One Belt is a better description of this area，because there is no such a single route but many lines on it.Basically，in the ancient time，from the bottom of the graph，that is Xi'an，and then we go upward，passing Hexi Corridor，we get to Dunhuang，the edge of Taklamakan Desert.At this point the route divided into several branches，because of there is a large desert which people can't cross.Travelers can only choose other ways to go around the desert.In the south of Taklamakan Desert is Kunlun Mountain，and in the west of the desert is Pamir area.The north is Tianshan Mountain，and in the northeast is Gobi Desert.So the only sensible way is to go along the edge of desert，to go around of it，and stop in different points on the graph，which are oases to have a rest.

This is a clearer graph of Taklamakan Desert.It looks like that there are many rivers here，but actually most of them are dry and have no water.

The following is the photo we took in Taklamakan Desert，1992.Miles and miles，you just see the same scenery in the desert（Fig.1）.

Fig.1

This is one of our stops in Kucha（Fig.2）.

Fig.2

I would like to talk about the early history of the region.The western side of the trade route appeared to have developed earlier than the east principally because of the development of the empires and the easier terrain of Persia and Syria.

This is the Persian Empire around 500 B.C.E.，as you can see.Because of the relative stability in the region，the terrain is much easier to control，the people are not so hostile like people in Taklamakan，so the trade developed much easier，and it's more convenient for caravans to go through the western area.

After the Persian Empire，in about 330 B.C.E.，Alexander the Great conquered this area.Although Alexander the Great's army only stayed in the area for five years，it has a long-lasting influence.Because wherever Alexander's army arrived，they left some soldiers there to supervise and guard the area，so the soldiers lived and married the local people.

Therefore，the soldiers brought their language and culture to the conquered area.Later on，their language and culture mixed up with the native culture，which formed what we called Hellenic Culture.

Then this area has separated again.In the northern part of the region，a group of people called Sogdians，they were very skillful in trading.To learn more about the Sogdians，you can visit the UNESCO website of the Silk Road.(https://www.xing528.com)

In Eastern Han dynasty，about 25-220 A.D.，here's a Chinese ceramic statuette of a Sogdian caravan leader of the Silk Road，shows what Sogdians like in ancient times.This one is from Tang dynasty.

Down slightly to the south region，many tribes ruled this area.Around 100 B.C.，Yuezhi people came，they were driven out from their original homeland by Xiongnu，so they came here and settled here，adopted Buddhism as their own faith，and incorporated the local culture，and then gradually became what we called Gandhara Culture.

Let's have a look at the eastern end of the Silk Road.In 221 B.C.Qin Shi Huang ended the Warring States and united China.His main achievements involved:

●unification of the language

●unification of the measurement

●location of the capital Chang'an

In Han dynasty，we had the first prosperous period of the Silk Road.One of the most significant achievements is Zhang Qian's Journey to the west.Around 130 B.C.E.，because the northern border of Han dynasty has constantly been invaded by Xiongnu，Zhang Qian with his team of around 100 people，tried to link up with Yuezhi，to defend Xiongnu together.He didn't come back until 125 B.C.E.because he was captured by Xiongnu people on his way back，but when he arrived his home country，he brought back a lot of information about the unknown countries on his route.

Next part，the name of the Silk Road.There was no specific name for the route that linking the west to the east.In 19th century，a German scholar called Ferdinand von Richthofen initially described these routes as the Silk Road because the silk was the most demanded commodity forthe Romans.

The most significant commodity along the Silk Road is not silk but religion.Buddhism came to China along the northern from Indian.We still have some grottos in the northwest of China now.These grottos are valuable source or information about the Silk Road.Along with images of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas，there are the everyday life of the people at that time，through the images of their celebrations and dancing，we can have an insight of their customs and costume.

The height of the Silk Road was in the Tang dynasty.After the Han dynasty，several kingdoms came out，and Tang dynasty was another unification，which was relatively stable in politics.In this period，in the 7thcentury，the Chinese Buddhist monk Xuanzang crossed the country to Indian to obtain Buddhist scriptures.He carefully recorded the cultures and styles of Buddhism along the way.On his return to the Tang capital Chang'an，he was permitted to build the‘Great Goose Pagoda'to house more than 600 scriptures he brought back.His travels were dramatized in the popular classic Tales of a Journey to the West.Chang'an，now we called Xi'an is one of the largest cosmopolitan cities in the world，by 742 A.D.The population was almost 2 million，with as many as 5000 foreigners，including Turks，Iranians，and others from along the Road，as well as Japanese，Koreans，Malays.

After the Tang dynasty，China entered to another instability with wars，and the silk road subsided gradually.Since then，about 700 A.D，Islamic was about to rise.The trade relations soon resumed，but the Moslems started to play the middleman.Also the sea route was explored at this time，the Sea Silk Road eventually was formed，and became more profitable later on.But the final shake-up didn't occur in the country，but occurred from different directions because of the expansion of Mongols.

In summary，from its birth before Christ，through the height Tang dynasty，until its slow demise six or seven hundred years ago，the Silk Road had played a significant role in foreign trade and political relations.It has left its mark on the development of civilization on both side of the continent.

Now，with the renewed interest，the edge of Taklamakan see the international trade once again，on a scale considerably greater than the old past.