SILK ROUTE

• Details

• Timeline: from 2nd c. BC to end of 14th c.

• Name

• Given in 1877 by a German geographer

• Because of lucrative Chinese silk traded along the route

• Geography

• From Chang'an (Xi'an) in China

• Through Central Asian (present day Uzbekistan) cities of Bukhara and Samarkand

• To Mediterranean in West

• Linked China to Roman Empire

• Development

• Began during Han Dynasty (206 BC - AD 220)

• Expanded from 139 BC to 129 BC

• Largely through missions

• And explorations of Zhang Qian who journeyed to Western regions twice

• Zhang Qian

• Imperial envoy to world outside China 2nd c. BC

• 1st official diplomat to bring back reliable info. about Central Asia to Chinese court

• Under Emperor Wu of Han

• Opened China to trade

• Sima Qian

• Compiled account of his travels in "Records of Grand Historian"

• From Yellow Emperor to Emperor Wu of Han

• Wars with Huns

• Commanded by Wei Qin and Huo Qubing

• Removed obstacles along the trade route

• Rome-China Relations

• Relations were indirect

• Through intermediates (Parthians and Kushans)

• Goods traded

• From Rome

• High quality glass

• Manufactured goods from Alexandria and Syria

• From China

• Silk

• So popular in Rome that it was prohibited

• Because too much Roman sesterces coins spent to buy it

• And because it revealed too much.

• Porcelain

• Buddhism

• Fa Xian (399-414)

• Chinese monk

• Went to India to find better copies of Buddhist books than were available in China

• Visited Buddhist holy sites.

• Inspired other Buddhist monks (like Xuanzang)

• Decline

• Decline of Tang led to decline of Silk Road

• An Lushan Rebellion, established rival Yan Dynasty (fell 763)