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AMAZING CHINA SILK ROAD FOCUS ON CHINA / 04 / 2011 FOCUS ON CHINA / 04 / 2011 SILK ROAD AMAZING CHINA 31
SILK ROAD
Trading Center : Dunhuang
Dunhuang lies at the western end of the Gansu Corridor. The name Dunhuang originally meant
"prospering, flourishing"-- a hint that Dunhuang must once have been an important city.
The Silk Road, or Silk Route was an important path for cultural, commercial and technological
exchange between traders, merchants, pilgrims, missionaries, soldiers, nomads and urban
dwellers from Ancient China, Ancient India, Persian Empire and Mediterranean countries for
almost 3,000 years.
Foreign merchants and monks from the
West as well as officials and soldiers from
central China brought their own cultures
to Dunhuang and made the trading center
a cultural "melting pot." Many economic,
military, political and cultural activities took
place at this cross-road.
The Beginning: Xi’an
Xi'an sits on an ancient site. The land is fertile, renewed yearly by the silt from the Yellow River.
The world-renowned Mogao Grottoes, also
known as the Caves of a Thousand Buddhas,
is the largest and richest ancient art treasure
in the world.
The Han emperor, Wudi, needed allies to guard
against threat from a strong neighbor. So in 119
B.C. Wudi sent Zhang Qian to form an alliance.
Zhang Qian's travels took him toward India.
When Zhang Qian returned and told Emperor
Wudi of what he had seen in these western
states. He was sent back with a large delegation
and items to trade. Silk was an immediate hit.