The Eternal Silk Road: Passing Through Xinjiang

Author: Shao Rulin, Di Mingming
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-02-01
Features: We followed in the footsteps of Zhang Qian, Xuanzang, and others, and finally took our own steps! After a period of preparation, by the end of July 2000, after attending the "100th Anniversary of the Discovery of the Mogao Caves and the International Academic Conference on Dunhuang Studies," we entered Xinjiang and began the photography and creation of the "Atlas of Ancient Ruins on the Silk Road—Xinjiang Section." The vast deserts, grasslands, and snow-capped mountains sometimes experience all four seasons in a single day, with rain, snow, wind, and frost! Xinjiang, with its unique geographical advantages, stands at the crossroads of ancient East-West trade routes. At least as early as around 5,000 years ago, it maintained close ties with the Yellow River and Yangtze River civilizations to the east, the civilizations of Western Asia, the Tigris and Euphrates, and Europe to the west, and the Indian civilization to the south, hiding the traces of a colorful historical pulse. In 139 BC, Han Dynasty envoy Zhang Qian "opened up" the Western Regions, strengthening the connection between the Central Plains and the 36 countries of the Western Regions. In 60 BC, the Han Dynasty established the Protectorate of the Western Regions, officially incorporating Xinjiang into Chinese territory, and the Silk Road became the bridge for economic and cultural exchange between the East and the West. Chinese, Indian, Greek, and Arabic cultures converged and collided here. The Saka, Yuezhi, Wusun, Rouran, Xiongnu, Xianbei, Turkic, Uyghur, Tibetan, Mongol, and Manchu and Han ethnic groups jointly created a magnificent and uniquely distinctive historical scroll, leaving behind numerous ancient ruins and cities rich in the hardships and wisdom of all ethnic peoples, with profound cultural connotations, showcasing the splendid civilization of the Chinese West. The magnificent Silk Road, with its rising and falling ruins, is dotted with desolate ruins everywhere.