In the modern history of our country, there have been five large-scale immigrants, namely "going to the east of the country", "going to the west", "going to the South Seas", "going to the ancient road" and "going to Jinshan", and the two largest immigrants in China are in the north, namely "going to the east of the country" and "going to the west", we have talked about the last two issues, and today we will talk about the "ancient road" of immigrants in western China.
China is the hometown of tea, is the world's first to discover tea, drink tea country, according to legend in ancient times Shennong's personal taste of herbs and poison, because of the tea and solution. After the spread and development of the Tang Dynasty and the Five Dynasties, tea has spread to the ethnic minorities outside the Saiwai. Qinghai-Tibet region belongs to the alpine zone, the average altitude is about 3000-4000 meters, the air is thin, the climate is dry, the nomadic diet here is based on barley fried noodles and other staple foods, like meat and cheese, the meat is only cooked to eight ripe and the most appetite, lack of vegetables and fruits to help digestion, easy to constipation and fire, fatigue and fatigue. "History of the Five Dynasties: Foreign Biography" contains: "The food of fishy meat is not consumed by tea." The heat of green millet is incomprehensible unless tea. Tea makes the nomads on the plateau love and can't stop, and it has become an indispensable daily necessity for them, and they have gradually formed a plateau living habit of drinking butter tea in their long-term daily life. However, there was a lack of tea in the Western Regions, and there was a shortage of horses in the Central Plains, so the tea and horse market was formed. The Central Plains transported tea from Sichuan, Yunnan, Shaanxi and other major tea-producing areas to the world, and exchanged them for horses from the Western Regions, forming a tea and horse market. Shaanxi businessmen seized the opportunity and braved the difficulties to open up the Shaanxi-Kang-Tibet Tea Horse Ancient Road, which is known as the "Ancient Road" by the folk and the "Southwest Silk Road" by the academic community.
"Ancient Road" refers to the "Qinshu Ancient Road", which is an ancient road from Chang'an (now Xi'an) to Chengdu, with a total length of more than 1,000 kilometers. Starting from Chang'an, it departs from Chang'an Meridian Ancient Road, Zhouzhi Heiyukou, Zhouzhi Xinkou, Luoyukou Fu Luo Ancient Road, and Baochuan Road in Meixian County to Hanzhong, and then from Hanzhong to Chengdu. The route from Baoji Chencang Road can also reach Chengdu via Guangyuan. Shaanxi merchants in the "Qinshu Ancient Road" node Kangding divided into two routes to continue forward, one is the "Shaanxi-Kang-Tibet Tea Horse Ancient Road";One is the "Yunnan-Tibet Tea Horse Ancient Road". On these two branches, there is no footprint left by the predecessors to follow, they can only try to move forward between the mountains and mountains, and repeatedly go back and forth between the ancient roads, which is called "the ancient road". The main meaning of "Jump" is "tentative" progress, Shaanxi merchants in the southwest of China in the wilderness of a trade route, reflecting the hardships of crossing the ancient road at that time, we have to admire the wisdom of the ancients, the word "Jump" is really appropriate.
The Ancient Tea Horse Road first originated from the tea and horse market in the southwest frontier, arose in the Tang and Song dynasties, and prevailed in the Ming and Qing dynasties. Shaanxi Kang-Tibet Tea Horse Ancient Road, opened in the 26th year of Hongwu in the Ming Dynasty (1393 AD), the starting point in Ya'an, the tea producing area, relying on the back foot or the back of the second pure physical strength to cross the Yala Snow Mountain to transport tea to Kangding**Tibet. Because the section of the road from Ya'an to Kangding is mostly steep mountains and cliffs, the road is rugged and not suitable for the use of mules and horses. Most of the porters are at the bottom of the society, in order to survive tirelessly, day and night, to bear the heavy responsibility of transporting tea into Tibet, so some scholars propose to rename the Sichuan-Tibet Ancient Tea Horse Road as "the Ancient Road of the Carrying Husband". The Yunnan-Tibet Ancient Tea Horse Road, that is, the Yunnan Ancient Tea Horse Road, began in the Song Dynasty, opened in the first year of Jiajing in the Ming Dynasty to the eighteenth year of Jiajing (1522-1539 AD) during the reign of Mushi Tusi in Yunnan, starting point in Simao and Pu'er in Yunnan, following the imperial court order, set up the "Official Horse Gang" in Lijiang, mainly transporting Yunnan Pu'er tea to ** in exchange for horses in the Western Regions.
By the time of the Ming Dynasty, Kangding was already the most important material transfer station and distribution center on the Shaanxi-Kang-Tibet Tea Horse Ancient Road. Because the tea in southern Shaanxi is of high quality and low price, many merchants in Kangding are mainly from Shaanxi. In the Kangding City at that time, there were more than 80 businesses in Shaanxi, forming a trading place with the pot village as the main market, and now everyone is familiar with the word "dealer", which is the name of the Tibetan compatriots for Shaanxi merchants. Many Shaanxi merchants transshipped goods here, or simply settled down here for business, forming the famous "Old Shaanxi Street" at home and abroad"。Shaanxi merchants arrived in Kangding through the ancient "Qinshu Ancient Road", and then transshipped to **, Yunnan, Southeast Asia by Kangding, and then transferred to India, and then transported to the Western Regions and Central Asia through India.
Shaanxi businessmen put Shaanxi tea, Sichuan tea, lake tea and other goods to the "Qinshu Ancient Road" as the support point, groups of horse gang porters over the mountains and mountains, overcoming thorns and thorns, opening roads and bridges, the Shaanxi-Kang-Tibet Tea Horse Ancient Road and the Yunnan-Tibet Tea Horse Ancient Road and the Silk Road are interconnected, forming a tea and horse market channel that extends in all directions and connects with each other. This passage passes through the famous mountains and rivers such as Qinling Bashan, Qilian Liupan, Yala Snow Mountain, Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, crosses the Hanjiang River, Jialing River, Lancang River, Jinsha River, Minjiang River, Yalong River, Yarlung Zangbo River and other major rivers, all the way west through Tianshui through Qamdo to Lhasa, from Lhasa to Bhutan, Nepal, India, West Asia, West Africa Red Sea coast and other places. Kangding, as a special geographical location connecting the east and west and converging with the south and north, has a strong cultural heritage and simple customs, making the Ancient Tea Horse Road truly a major international logistics channel in ancient times.
Shaanxi merchants' "ancient road" is not only an economic channel, but also a bridge for China's foreign cultural exchanges and civilization dissemination, and a link between the Central Plains Dynasty and ethnic minorities in political, economic, military, cultural and other aspects. Shaanxi businessmen have a unique spirit of adventure, hardship and diligence and the spirit of affinity and tolerance, they are not only businessmen, but also explorers who open up the ancient tea horse road. Shaanxi merchants "walked the ancient road", firmly united the Chinese and Tibetan people, and made indelible contributions to the stability and economic prosperity of the frontier.