The Tea Horse Road Guide Part 2
THE TEA HORSE ROAD GUIDE PART 2 LIJIANG TO MEILI SNOW MOUNTAIN WRITTEN BY MICHAEL FREEMAN COURTESY OF LUX* 2 LIJIANG TO MEILI SNOW MOUNTAIN INTRODUCTION 3 INTRODUCTION Between the 7th century and the middle of the 20th, one of the longest trade route, because in return for tea, which Tibetans came quickly to trade routes in the Ancient World, more than 3,000 kilometres, carried crave, the Tang dynasty wanted horses for the Imperial Army. The route tea from its homeland in the deep south of Yunnan to Tibet. It was added came under strict control, as the trading of tea for war horses became to by a route from a second source, the tea mountains of Sichuan, and the an arm of Tang foreign policy in its dealing with a neighbour that had combined network of stone roads and mountain trails became known as risen from a loose collection of tribal societies to a military power on the the Tea Horse Road, Cha Ma Dao. This was much more than a simple empire’s northwestern border. The Tea Horse Road, marked in red, began in the tea mountains of Caravan on Xishuangbanna and worked its way north through Yunnan to the Tibetan a cliff-cut trail Plateau, later joined by a second route from Sichuan Lead horse in a tea caravan 4 LIJIANG TO MEILI SNOW MOUNTAIN THE TEA HORSE ROAD the tea west to join the Yunnan route As the trade developed, it became a and continue to Lhasa. saga of epic proportions, combining These are the broad strokes, but a true odyssey of a journey, long and the Tea Horse Road was a network, difficult, with exchanges between in some stretches coalescing into one, very different cultures.
[Show full text]