中国范儿 69 茶马古道：马蹄下的千年丝路

A mysterious ancient trail network extends through jungles and valleys. It is the highest, remotest and most dangerous ancient trade trail network in the world. It is the Tea-Horse Road (Chama Gudao), a trail network formed under the footsteps of horses and people. Many parts of the trail network are very narrow and scary, since they are so close to the cliffs nearby.

The Tea-Horse Road is the oldest caravan path network in the history of China. In the ancient era, it was an important trail network for trans-boundary trade. Like a corridor, it connects the two cultural belts respectively in the Hengduan Mountain area and the Himalaya Mountain area where a diversity of ethnicities lived. Extending from east to west, it meets and converges with the Southwest Silk Road which runs from south to north. Mule caravans used to travel on the Tea-House Road across the Hengduan Mountain areas of Tibet, Sichuan and Yunnan as well as the basins of Jinshangjiang River, Lancangjiang River and Nujiang River. It used to function as a corridor for economic and cultural exchanges among different ethnic groups in Southwest China.

According to some historical materials, the history of the Tea-Horse Road can be traced back to the Han Dynasty, more than 2000 years ago. Chinese tea started to export overseas as early as during the Period of the Southern and Northern Dynasties. The Tea-Horse Road is two-pronged: one is the Sichuan-Tibet trail and the other is the Yunan-Tibet trail. With the thriving trans-boundary trade, coupled with the opening of the Silk Road during the Sui and Tang Dynasties, Chinese tea made its way to West Asia, North Asia and the Arab world through the Uyghur area and the Western Regions. Then it continued its journey to Russia and other European countries via the Siberia region.

As a result, the common trade of horses for tea emerged in the Southwestern frontiers of ancient China. Mules, horses, fur and medicines from Tibet and tea, cloth, salt and daily wares produced in Sichuan, Yunan and inland China traveled back and forth across mountains and valleys. This trade thrived in late days thanks to social and economic development. It necessitated the emergence of the time-honored Tea-Horse Road.

Today, the Tibetans still keep the habit of drinking tea. The Tea-Horse Road travels across many areas where different ethnic groups live. Since they have different languages, they adopted the Southwestern Mandarin as the communication language, which left important imprints on the Chinese language system as a whole. The Tea-Horse Road, originated in Southwest China, connected ancient China with the West Asia and South Asia. As a significant bridge for economic, social and cultural exchanges among different ethnic groups, the Tea-Horse Road was a monument in the history of Southwest China’s connectivity with the outside world.

Today, we enjoy highly advanced land, sea, and air transportation facilities. So, the value of the Tea-Horse Road is more about culture. Now, the Belt and Road Initiative connects many hubs along the time-honored Tea-Horse Road. Thanks to the role it once played in cultural exchanges, the Tea-Horse Road is now admired by people across the globe.

来源：中国网

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