Silk route and ancient China

R Jinith de Silva

We all know that the East and West of Asia was divided by mountain ranges and rivers. In addition to that travelling was much difficult and risky due to deserts such as Gobi and Taklimakan. Even with such hardships trade prevailed between these two parts of Asia even before the 2nd Century BC, with the assistance of nomads. Using this route the Chinese Silk arrived at West Asia and it was called the Silk route

King Wudi of the Han dynasty (206-BC-220 AD) was the first to initiate a program to broaden this trade link. This King in 139 B.C. sent his emissary Zhang Qian to countries in West Asia to clear obstacles to this trade route, so he could expand trade activities between these two parts of Asia.

His efforts were successful and horses were introduced, so the trade activities could be expedited and the volume of trade also could be increased. As a result Chinese products such as Silk, Chinaware, lacker, tea, arrived at West Asian countries and products of Persia, India, Arabia and far away places such as Greece, Rome, Africa started arriving at Chinese markets. Among this merchandise that most sought after commodity was silk. Romans were very fond of Chinese Silk and it is said that even Julius Ceasor too loved the said commodity.

Sea route

At one stage the Roman rulers had banned the importation of Chinese Silks as it drained the countries wealth. But the Nobles of Rome had mounted pressure on rulers to lift the ban and to send emissaries to Chinese Court and arrange direct trade without buying from third parties.

Traders found that sending goods through ships was much profitable and fast. With the period of time the sea route also came to be known as the silk route. They found that through the sea route, they could send their merchandise to far away places in East Africa and to Red Sea ports. As Chinese Silk and porcelain became more accessible to European markets the demand for the said goods increased and China had to create more factories that manufacture the said items.

They manufactured goods to satisfy the specific tastes of these customers such as porcelain with golden coloured rings for European markets and with Buddhist emblems to Buddhist counties. In addition to this, China’s four main inventions such as paper, printing machine and Gunpowder was exported to West through this Sea Route. Sea travelling was made easy with the magnetic compass which was another Chinese invention.

As a result of the Silk route several new cities sprung up in China. Cities such as Xian, Loyang and Urumqi and ports like Canton became important trade centres of China along the Silk route.

Southern Asian countries

Products of the Western and Southern Asian countries and African countries became very popular in China. People started using spices to make their foods tastier. Sesame that was introduced from South Africa was also a much sought after commodity in China. Gold, Silver, Gems, Ivory are some of the precious material that China received from Asian and African countries. They had even brought animals such as horses ostriches Peacocks, Rhinoceros to be sold in China.

Navel activities

China employed much bigger ships at later stages along the silk route. This increased the volume of trade bothways. There was a marked increase in the navel activities during the reign of Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) Navigator Admiral Zheng He in the 15th Century had travelled seven times along the Silk Route with a fleet of 200 ships for trade activities. During these voyages he had visited Sri Lanka six times.

Trade activities helped China to forge alliances with many countries which led to social and cultural connections. Many Chinese went and settled down in these countries.

China towns are found in many South Asian countries. In countries like Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand a substantial number of Chinese are found even today. Chinese food such as noodles are a delicacy among most Asian countries. Many varieties of vegetables were introduced to China through the Silk route. Vegetables such as snake gourd was introduced from India.

Grapes grown in the mediterranean countries and wine arrived in China through the Silk route. Wine became somewhat a popular drink during the Tang Dynasty (618-907 AD) and pretty waitresses had served wine in nightclubs in Xian. Flat bread introduced from Arab world also became a popular food among the Chinese, specially in Xian.

It was through the Silk route that world came to know about the hospitality of the Chinese, specially of the kings of Tang Dynasty (618-907) and Song Dynasty (906-1279). They have invited academics, writers and poets from other countries to China to enrich their literature.

At times about 5,000 such foreign academics, poets and writers have lived in Xian. Even foreign students have studied as residential students at the Guozijian Imperial College in Xian.

The most precious and important gift that China received through the Silk route was Buddhism. Among those who helped to introduce and propagate Buddhism to China through this route were emperor Mingdi of the Eastern Han dynasty (AD25-220) Buddhist monks such as Kasyapa Matanga and Gobharana in AD-64, Monk Faxian of the Eastern Jin dynasty (AD 317-420) and monk Xuan Zang of the Tang dynasty (AD 618-907).

Buddhist sculpture

Along with Buddhism the Buddhist sculpture and paintings too arrived in China. This is confirmed by the statues and paintings found in the grottoes situated along the silk route. Most important of these grottoes are Dunhuang’s Mogao grottoes in Gansu Province. Longmen grottoes at Luoyang city in Henan province and Yungang grottoes at Datong city in Shansi Province.

It is reported in Chinese sources that sculptors from Sri Lanka had taken part in the construction of Yungang grottoes. It is believed that rich merchants contributed to build these Buddhist shrines along the silk route.

Trading by Silk route along, land routes was a very risky business. The real hero’s of the Silk route were the pioneers who ventured to cross the deserts, rivers, mountains, mostly on foot and animal backs transporting their merchandise from East to West and vice versa before sea routes were found. But the most famous of them was Admiral Chang He who crisscrossed the South Asian Seas in a flotilla of over 200 ships.

He was not only a navigator, trader but also an ambassador at large representing the interests of the emperor of the Ming Dynasty. In one of visits to Sri Lanka, had made an offering to Sri Pada and erected a trilingual inscription at Galle harbour. (Chinese, Tamil and Arabic languages).

The Silk Route in fact not only contributed to trade links among the nations of the region but also facilitated friendly relations and religious and cultural ties.

The writer is former Secretary of Sri Lanka-China Society