The Southern And Northern Silk Roads

The Southern Silk Road started from Myanmar, crossed Dali Lijiang Shangri—la﹑ Lhasa﹑ India﹑ Iran﹑ Israel﹑ after the Mediterranean Sea, eventually got to Italy﹑France﹑ Span……and the African countries. It was 400 years earlier than the Northern Silk Road and it is one of the oldest international trade roads in the world. It played a very important role between the Chinese culture and the European African culture, also between the European culture and the African culture. The main goods on this road are jade from Myanmar； the tea from Puer； the silk and the silk embroidery from Lijiang；the marble from Dali；the yak meat and horses from Shangri-la and Tibet； spice from Iran； the ember from Greece；the agate from Italy； perfume from France… These goods are exchanged between each other by the merchants from different countries; among them the Naxi hand-made silk embroidery was very popular.

      北方丝绸之路：从西安出发，经过兰州﹑玉门﹑阳关﹑葱岭﹑穿过哈萨克斯坦，到达土耳其﹑希腊。最终抵达以地中海为中心的周边国家，如意大利﹑法国﹑西班牙﹑葡萄牙﹑利比亚﹑突尼斯等国家。 它为世界经济贸易和文化交流作出了杰出的贡献。