Silk Road

The Silk Road (Traditional Chinese: 絲綢之路; Simplified Chinese: 丝绸之路; pinyin: sī ch?u zhī l?, Persian راه ابریشم R?h-e Abrisham) was an interconnected series of routes through Southern Asia traversed by caravan and ocean vessel, and connecting Chang'an (today's Xi'an), China, with Antioch, Syria, as well as other points. Its influence carried over into Korea and Japan.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

These exchanges were critical not only for the development and flowering of the great civilizations of Ancient Egypt, China, India and Rome but also laid the foundations of our modern world. Silk road is a translation from the German Seidenstra?e, the term first used by German geographer Ferdinand von Richthofen in the 19th century.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The continental Silk Road diverges into northern and southern routes as it extends from the commercial centers of North China, the northern route passing through the Bulgar-Kypchak zone to Eastern Europe and the Crimean peninsula, and from there across the Black Sea, Marmara Sea and the Balkans to Venice; the southern route passing through Turkestan-Khorasan into Mesopotamia and Anatolia, and then through Antioch in Southern Anatolia into the Mediterranean Sea or through the Levant into Egypt and North Africa.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The last missing railroad link on the Silk Road was completed in 1992, when the international railway communication Almaty - Urumqi opened.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Silk Road on the Sea extends from South China, present-day Philippines, Brunei, Siam, Malacca, Ceylon, India, Persia, Egypt, Italy, Portugal and Sweden. On August 7 2005 it was reported that the Antiquity and Monument Office of Hong Kong was planning to propose the Silk Road on the Sea as an UNESCO World Heritage Site.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Traditional Chinese: REDIRECT Traditional Chinese characters...

Simplified Chinese: REDIRECT Simplified Chinese characters...

Pinyin: Pinyin (??, p?ny?n) literally means "join (together) sounds" (a less literal translation being "phoneticize", "spell" or "transcription") in Chinese and usually refers to H?ny? P?ny?n (????, literal meaning: "Han language pinyin"), which is a system of romanization (phonemic notation and transcripti...

Silk Road related Images and Photos (experimental)

Camel Caravan at Sunrise Silk Road China	Road	Silk I	Silk (WS/DVD)
Silk IV	Road Signs	Road Scholar	Road Warrior, The (DVD)
The Road (Paperback)	Silk Blossoms	The Road	The Road