The Silk Road of Southwestern China(西南丝绸之路)

Chengdu
Starting point
Old towns
India
Destination
The goods in the Silk Road
Silk
The traditional exports were silk, and they were usually well received abroad.
The Silk Road of Southwestern China
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Introduction of Silk Roads A story about Southwestern Silk Road
The route of Southwestern Silk Road
The influences of Southweቤተ መጻሕፍቲ ባይዱtern Silk Road
The starting point of the Southwestern Silk Road on the Chinese side was Chengdu. The primary route passed through Yunnan, Myanmar (Burma) and into South Asia. This route, known as the India Route(蜀身毒道).
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The Silk Road
There is no doubt that trade networks like the Silk
Road made possible the flourishing and spread of ancient civilizations to something approximating a global culture of the times. —— Robert Clark
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Southern route
The southern route or Karakoram route was mainly a single route running from China through the Karakoram mountains.
A little story
In 122.BC, Zhang qian was ordered to go to the western regions. When he come back, Han Wudi was glad about the booming trade, So Han Wudi decided to build the road from China to India. However, it was very difficult, because the natives in western regions prevented the progress to protect their profit.
The route
These routes were collectively known as the Bonan Route(博南 道) or Yongchang Route（永昌道） in the Han period, and the Western Dian-Tianzhu Route (西滇天竺道) in the Tang.
The route
The Silk Road is about 2000 kilometers. It is a multi-element and tri-demensional communication network.
The “India Route” split into two branches as it passed through Sichuan into Yunnan. One branch, known as the “Old Yak Route” (古牦 牛道) extended from Chengdu southwest across the Sichuan Basin plain to the foothills
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Southwestern route
The southwestern route start from Central China through the mountainous areas of Sichuan, Guizhou and Yunnan provinces into eastern states of South Asia.
The influences of Southwestern Silk Road
Booming trade. Silk and tea Knowing western countries’ customs, diet and the way
of communicating.
Advanced technology can make people’ lives convenient.
The route
of Mingshan mountains. From here the route continued southwest along Qinyi River to Ya’an, once an important center for tea trade with connections through the Tibetan Plateau.
Three Silk Roads in history
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Northern route
The northern route started at Chang’ an, an ancient capital of
China that was moved further east during the Later Han to Luoyang. The route was defined around the first century when Han Wudi put an end to harassment by nomadic tribes.
From Ya’an , these merchants and piligrims traveled upstream along Jinsha River, and finally southwest to Dali on Lake Erhai. From Dali one took one of three routes to cross through Myanmar on one’s way to India.
Han Wudi was very angry, he mustered an army to destroy the natives’ resistance. The war lasted for decades, and many natives were killed. Finally, the Road was built.
Buddhism ( 佛 教 ) is the most influential
Economic Technology Religion Culture
religion.
Revisiting the Silk Road.
Silk Road is not only a road, but it represents China’s traditional culture. If we wanted to learn it deeply, we should revisit the Silk Road.
Tea
Tea is the chief exports.
War horses
The war horses were the import goods.
Tea and war horses were the most important goods in the Silk Road. So it has another name “Tea and Horse Trade Route”(茶马古道).
In thirteenth century, Marco Polo ventured toward China along the silk road. In his book, Marco described the prosperous trade. Goods, people and ideas all travelled along these long-distance routes spanning or circumventing the vast landmass of Eurasia.