Chapter 4 Section 2 The Silk Road in the Han Dynasty

In the Han Dynasty, after leaving Yumen Pass and Yang Pass in the west, there were two routes leading to the Western Regions, called the South and North Routes.North Road from Cheshiqian Wangting (today's west of Turpan) westward along the southern foot of Tianshan Mountain, passing through Weixu (today's Heshuo), Yanqi (qiqi), Wulei (today's east of Luntai), Qiuci (today's Qiuci, now Kuqa], Gumo (now Aksu), Weitou (now Aheqi), Shule (now Kashgar) and other places, crossed Congling to Dawan.Going northwest, you can reach Kangju and Yancai; going southwest, you can reach Liqian through Dayuezhi and Anxi.The South Road goes west along the northern foot of Kunlun Mountains, passing through Shanshan (now Ruoqiang, Xinjiang), Qiemo (now southwest of Qiemo), Jumi (now Tiandong), Khotan (now Hotan), Pishan, Shache And other places, cross Congling, go west to Dayuezhi, Anxi, Tiaozhi, Liqian, and go south to pass body poison.

This ancient land transportation line extending westward from Chang'an became the ancient transportation artery linking the East and the West.This avenue is the famous Silk Road in history.Along this road, a large number of silk fabrics, which are unique in the world in my country, are continuously transported to Central Asia, West Asia and the farther west.The production technologies of the Han Dynasty, such as cast iron, smelting, sinking wells and construction technologies, were also spread to the west.Products from the West, such as good horses, camels, woolen felt blankets, grapes, alfalfa, pomegranates, walnuts, flax (sesame), courgettes (cucumbers), etc., as well as music and dance from the Western Regions also came from the east one after another, enriching the cultural heritage of our people. material and spiritual life.When the envoys of the Han Dynasty arrived in Anxi, the king of Anxi sent a general to lead 20,000 horses to meet thousands of miles away, and sent envoys to Chang'an with the Han envoys, offering them to Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty the big bird eggs and "the plowing good dizzy man" ("Hanshu" "Volume Nine Six Part One "The Western Regions Biography").Here, "the plow is good at dazzling people" refers to the magicians in Egypt and Syria.With the official opening of the Silk Road, people from as far away as the Mediterranean can now travel to China.

In order to make the Silk Road unimpeded, after retaking the Hexi Corridor, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty set up Jiuquan, Wuwei, Zhangye, and Dunhuang counties there successively. The military garrison is managed by envoys and school lieutenants, and provides food, lodging and drinking water for envoys on the roads to and from the Western Regions.During the reign of Emperor Xuan of the Han Dynasty (73 BC-49 BC), the Han Dynasty won Cheshi who had competed with the Xiongnu for many times, built and fortresses in various parts of the Western Regions, and formally established the Protectorate in the Western Regions, and appointed Zheng Ji as the No. He served as the guardian of the Western Regions, managing the affairs of the Western Regions.The Protectorate is located in Wulei City.

The ambitious Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty tried to open up sea routes in addition to opening up land transportation between China and the West.After he pacified the south, he set up Dan'er, Zhuya, and Nanhai counties in today's Guangdong bordering the South China Sea, and dispatched the chief interpreter (a mid-level official belonging to the Huangmen) to lead the recruited personnel from the Leizhou Peninsula to explore the sea to the south. and western passages.The sea expeditions and caravans of the Han Empire set sail from Leizhou Peninsula and arrived at Duyuan State in five months; after another four months, they arrived in Yilumi State; and in more than 20 days, they arrived in Jianjie State.From there, we walked for more than two months and arrived at Huangzhiguo.When the translator went to sea, he brought gold, silk, etc., and exchanged them for pearls and other rare and exotic objects from those countries.To the south of the Yellow Branch is Chengbuguo, which is the farthest station known to these Han Dynasty sea envoys ("Han Shu·Geography").According to the research of historians, the route of the envoys of the Han Dynasty roughly entered the Gulf of Siam via Vietnam, Cambodia, and Thailand today, and landed in Myanmar. It then traveled westward to the east coast of the Indian subcontinent, and finally reached Sri Lanka, from where it sailed back.However, limited to my country's navigation technology and knowledge at that time, although the Guangzhou Shipbuilding Factory was able to build wooden ships with a width of 6-8 meters, a length of 30 meters, and a load of 50-60 tons during the Qin and Han Dynasties, they could travel far away, but they could reach the distant Coromandel, India. The coast, in many cases, was transferred by merchant ships from various parts of Southeast Asia.It can be seen that as early as the Western Han Dynasty, the Maritime Silk Road opened from Guangdong, my country, had already extended to the remote Bay of Bengal in the Indian Ocean.

At the end of the Western Han Dynasty, when Wang Mang was in power, great turmoil broke out in China, and the connection with the countries in the Western Regions was interrupted.The Huns gradually took control of this area.After the establishment of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the 18 countries in the Western Regions, including Shache, Shanshan, Yanqi, and King Cheshiqian, repeatedly asked the Eastern Han Dynasty to send their governors to the Western Regions.But because it was built in the early Eastern Han Dynasty, a lot of waste was waiting to be built, and there was no time to take care of it.In 48 A.D., the southern Xiongnu surrendered, but the northern Xiongnu still controlled the Western Regions, blocking the communication between China and the West.

---

Notes: