Westerners first sympathize China from the cognition of chinese silk. They hailed China as “ Seres ”, which means silk in Greek. According to records of the meter when chinese silk was spread out in the fourth hundred BC, it was introduced to India and western countries, and became celebrated all over the universe. In a long historical period, the Silk Road blended chinese culture, indian culture, irani acculturation, arab culture, ancient greek polish, and ancient Roman culture, and made capital contributions to promoting the exchange and development of Eastern and westerly civilizations .
The Silk Road and Eurasia
1. The charm of silk
In the first century AD, the parthian country was located fair between the East asian countries and the Roman Empire, occupying the bottleneck status of the eurasian continent. Its singular geographic location blocked the passage of exchanges between the East and the West. They looked ahead to the by as a interlocutor. Of businessmen charge senior high school fees. Before the afford of the Silk Road, the parthian nation became the biggest benefactive role. In 54 BC, the Roman Empire declared war on the ancient parthian nation. The war lasted for a retentive prison term. When the Romans were about to win, they discovered that the parthian army had changed into a special way of fighting. They held up their brainy and colored silk banners. The Romans had never seen something so beautiful and elegant, and thought it was a new weapon. It turned out that this was the first gear time they saw silk and were conquered by the beauty of silk. When the war between the Roman Empire and the parthian nation ended, and Zhang Sai ’ s emissary to the western Regions former, the Silk Road was formally opened .
The Silk Road connected Eurasia together and greatly promoted the exchange and development of civilizations. silk conquered Europe with its unique charm. Since the price of silk was adequate to the price of amber, merchants rushed to China to traffic silk, and the Silk Road became more and more comfortable. chinese silk became the most aloof, largest, most valuable, and most profitable commodity in ancient barter. however, this Silk Road, which was identical active during the Han and Tang dynasties, was gradually turned into a sea route because of its limitations in carry by land .
2. Maritime trade of silk
The “ Maritime Silk Road ” began in the Qin and Han Dynasties, prospered in the Tang and Song Dynasties, and reached its peak in the early Ming Dynasty. After the Anshi Rebellion in the Tang Dynasty, the Northwest Silk Road gradually depressed, and maritime deal began to flourish. The “ Maritime Silk Road ” was in the first place the East China Sea road from China to the Korean Peninsula and the japanese Islands. The chief ports were Yangzhou and Ningbo. After the Song Dynasty, China ’ second economic center gradually shifted to the southern region, speeding up the development of ocean routes. The sea routes starting from Guangzhou, Quanzhou, Hangzhou and other places became more and more modernize, via the indian Ocean to the Arabian Sea, and even angstrom far as the east coast of Africa. From there, it will be transferred to european countries.
According to historical records, Marco Polo came to China through the “ Maritime Silk Road ” and returned to China via this route to his hometown of Venice in Quanzhou, Fujian. The yuan and Ming dynasties were the flower of the South China Sea Silk Road. The highly develop silk production and silk weaving engineering directly provided abundant material resources for the prosperity of oversea deal. The Ming Dynasty sent Zheng He seven voyages to the West in 1405-1433. A huge merchant flit was active in the huge areas from the Ryukyu, the Philippines and the Maluku Sea in the east to the Mozambique Strait and the confederacy african coast in the west .
The use of silk fabrics in the West
According to records, there are two peaks in the widespread use of silk fabrics in the west : one is in ancient Greece and Rome, and the other is a historical period with the Renaissance as the central axis .
1. Ancient Greece and Rome
In ancient Greece and Rome, with the development of craft between the East and the West, Rome gradually became the largest export market for chinese silk. chinese silk became a popular fashion item at that time. The royal syndicate and nobles of ancient Greece and Rome owned silk clothing. And gallant. Since the first hundred, the Romans have been sky-high obsessed with chinese silk obtained from the Parthians. Roman girls evening wore translucent silk clothes to show off in the streets. The price of silk in the ancient Roman market had risen to a sky-high price of about 600 grams of amber per pound, causing a large spring of gold from the Roman Empire, forcing the Senate to flatly enact a rule prohibiting people from wearing silk clothes. It can be seen from this that the influence of Chinese silk on the Roman Empire can be described as “ a love-hate relationship ” for chinese silk. Emperor Caesar once wore a taiwanese silk gown to the dramaturgy, which aroused the admiration of the consultation, and the audience watched this gorgeous gown. After research, the material of the silk robe worn by Emperor Caesar at that time came from Chang ’ an, China. The silk invest owned by Cleopatra besides aroused the envy of many people.
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2. The Renaissance
From the beginning of the Renaissance in the fourteenth century, taiwanese silk was introduced to France, Britain, Italy and other countries. During this period, the use of silk in western countries reached its peak. In fact, at that clock time, except for an authoritative clothe accessory-the love apprehension could not be made of silk, early dress and accessories were made of silk. The royal syndicate, nobles, and the rich about became haunt with silk, and even their shoes were decorated with silk. In an petroleum portrayal of Napoleon, the royal shoes worn on Napoleon ’ s feet are made of sea-blue silk .
A french auction house auctioned an iconic bicorn felt hat by Napoleon Bonaparte, the foremost emperor of France, in November 2014. This hat is well-preserved and is lined with grey-green silk. Austria had worn it during the war in Marengo, equally good as white silk stockings, with a transaction price of up to more than half a million US dollars .
The intersection of culture and resources
Behind the silk exchange is the great convergence and consolidation of the entire universe ’ mho technology, culture, and merchandise resources.
1. Spread of technology and culture
western music, dance, painting, sculpt, computer architecture and other arts, skill and technology cognition such as astronomy, calendar calculation, medicine, Buddhism, Islam and other religions have been spread to China through the Silk Road ; at the same time, chinese papermaking, printing, Gunpowder, scope, fabric, porcelain and other craft, paint and other aesthetic techniques, Confucianism and Taoism thoughts besides spread to the West through this route .
Through the Silk Road, Chinese silk products, porcelain, hardware, silk, tea, iron smelt, amber and silver crafts, and other handicrafts have been continuously spread to West Asia and european countries through Persia and other countries ; while products from western countries, Technology and rare animals, plants, leather goods, medicative materials, spices, jewelry, etc., were introduced into eastern China through the “ Silk Road ” .
2. Plant dissemination
The plants introduced into China from the west chiefly include sesame, walnuts, carrots, cucumbers, grapes, pomegranates, sweet potatoes, tomatoes, peanuts, onions, potato fragrant, and boodle. In the Ming Dynasty, the corn and sweetly potatoes entered China via the Silk Road, these two high-yield crops played an important role in the population outbreak in Qing Dynasty .
