Introduce the Maritime Silk Road.

China is a continental country and a maritime country at the same time. Both the east and south of Chinese mainland face the sea, with a long coastline and numerous islands. In the long historical development process, residents in China's coastal areas have been engaged in navigation activities for a long time, constantly exploring the unknown world overseas. With the joint efforts of the people of China, Asia, Africa and Europe, a maritime traffic line connecting the East and the West has gradually taken shape, which is called the "Maritime Silk Road". As we all know, silk is a special product of China in ancient times, and it is also a favorite commodity of people all over the world. In ancient times, the sea and land communication lines between East and West were all named after silk, which shows the special position of China in the communication between East and West.

The Maritime Silk Road is a ceramic road, a silk road, a spice road and a tea road. It covers China's port history, shipbuilding history, navigation history, overseas trade history, immigration history, religious history, national relations history, and Chinese and foreign scientific and cultural exchange history, involving Asia, Europe, Africa, America and Oceania. This book introduces in detail the opening and expansion of the Maritime Silk Road and bears witness to the long history of economic and cultural exchanges between China and foreign countries.

By studying the distribution areas of seagoing ships and unearthed pottery, as well as the shoulder-shouldered stone tools, bronze drums and cymbals, it is known that the ancestors of Lingnan once shuttled between the South China Sea and even the South Pacific coast and its islands in the pre-Qin period, and their culture indirectly influenced the Indian Ocean coast and its islands.

According to the unearthed cultural relics and the study of ancient documents, South Vietnam has been able to manufacture 25 ~ 30 tons of wooden boats and has considerable contacts with overseas countries. It shows that the "Maritime Silk Road" rose after the destruction of South Vietnam by Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty. During the Eastern Han Dynasty (especially in the later period), ships used sails; Daqin (Roman Empire) arrived in Guangzhou by sea for the first time for trade; Official businessmen from China also arrived in Rome. This marks the formation of the Maritime Silk Road that truly spans Asia, Africa and Europe. With the development of sericulture and textile industry in Han Dynasty, silk products became the main export products in this period. Frankincense (incense burner) and domestic servants (lantern figurines) were not seen in previous imports. According to Hanshu Geography, China's export vessels "were blocked from Japan in the south, and Xuwen Hepu (now Guangxi) set sail", which is the earliest record of the Maritime Silk Road and the proof that the earliest export port of the Maritime Silk Road was Xuwen, Guangdong, and Hepu, now Guangxi.

The main reason is that the southeast coast of China is mountainous and plain, and internal communication is not easy, so many people have been actively exploring the sea since ancient times. In order to solve the inconvenience of land, because the land is affected by the terrain, going to the western regions will pass through many places that are not suitable for human habitation. This kind of communication has existed since ancient times in China, especially for the residents along the southeast coast of China. Not only transport silk, but also export porcelain, sugar, hardware and other commodities, import spices, medicinal materials, precious stones and other commodities.

As the territory of the Han Dynasty expanded to parts of Southeast Asia, the government strengthened the management of coastal ports and cities along the Maritime Silk Road. For example, today's Xu Wen said, "The goods are stored here in the south of the county for their needs and transactions." There are also some important commercial cities, such as Panyu, Xuwen, Hepu (now near Hepu), Long Bian (now Hanoi), Guangxin (now Wuzhou) and Busan (now Guigang). It is particularly noteworthy that the waterway and land transportation between Lingnan and the mainland has also become important and has been repaired.

After Zhang Qian went to the Western Regions, the envoys and businessmen of the Han Dynasty went westward, and the envoys and businessmen of the Western Regions also came eastward. They transported China's silk and textiles from Chang 'an to West Asia via Hexi Corridor and today's Xinjiang region, and then to Europe, and imported rare treasures from western countries into Chinese mainland. This land artery connecting Chinese and western traffic is the famous Silk Road in history. After Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, merchants in the Western Han Dynasty often went to sea for trade, which opened up the main maritime traffic routes. This is the famous Maritime Silk Road in history.

The Maritime Silk Road is a maritime traffic route between China and other parts of the world. China's silk is not only exported to countries in Central Asia, West Asia, Africa and Europe through transcontinental land transportation lines, but also exported to countries all over the world through maritime transportation lines. Therefore, after German geographer Richthofen named the land traffic route across the east and west as the Silk Road, some scholars further extended it and named the maritime traffic route between the east and the west as the Maritime Silk Road. Later, China's famous ceramics were also sold to other countries through this maritime traffic route, and western incense medicines were also imported into China through this route, so some scholars also called this maritime traffic route the Ceramic Road or the Fragrant Porcelain Road. The Maritime Silk Road was formed in the period of Emperor Wu of Han Dynasty. Sailing westward from China, the South China Sea route is the main line of the Maritime Silk Road. At the same time, there is an East China Sea route from China to the Korean Peninsula and the Japanese archipelago, which occupies a secondary position in the Maritime Silk Road. During the voyage of the South China Sea route of the Silk Road in the Han Dynasty, the envoys sent by Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty and the merchants recruited to go to sea said: They set sail from Rinan (now central Vietnam) or Xuwen (now Guangdong) and Hepu (now Guangxi), went south along the east coast of Indo-China Peninsula, and arrived in Du Yuan (now dike city in southern Vietnam) in five months. After four months' voyage, it arrived in Lu Yi (now a Buddhist sect in Thailand) at the mouth of Chao Phraya River. After that, he went south along the east coast of Malay Peninsula and arrived in Li Zhan (now Bashu, Thailand) more than 20 days later. He abandoned the ship and landed here, crossed the isthmus, walked 10 for more than 0 days, and arrived in the capital Lu (now Dana Shalin, Myanmar). Then he boarded the ship and sailed west in the Indian Ocean. After more than two months, I arrived at Huang Zhiguo (now Kangchepland on the southeast coast of India). After returning home, I went down to Putrajaya (now Sri Lanka) from the south of the Yellow River, and then sailed directly to the east. Eight months later, I arrived in Malacca Strait, anchored in Pizong (now Pisan Island in western Singapore), and finally sailed for more than two months, from Pizong to Xianglin County in Rinan County (Chaqiao is located in the south of Weichuan County in Vietnam).

The Silk Road is a vivid and appropriate name. In the ancient world, only China was the first country to grow mulberry, raise silkworms and produce silk products. Archaeological discoveries in China in recent years show that silk production technology has developed to a fairly high level from Shang Dynasty to Warring States Period. China's silk products are still one of the most important products that China has dedicated to the people of the world. They spread widely, covering the contribution of China people to world civilization. Therefore, for many years, many researchers have tried to give this road another name, such as the jade road, the gem road, the Buddhist road, the ceramic road and so on. However, all of them can only reflect a certain part of the Silk Road. After all, they cannot replace the name "Silk Road".

The Maritime Silk Road has two main routes, the East China Sea route and the South China Sea route, and its history is longer than that of the onshore Silk Road. The route from the East China Sea began at the beginning of the establishment of the Zhou Dynasty (BC 165438+ BC 0 12), and King Wu sent Ji Zi to North Korea to teach sericulture weaving technology. Kiko then set off from the Bohai Bay seaport in Shandong Peninsula and arrived in North Korea by water. In this way, China's sericulture, silk reeling and silk weaving technology first spread to North Korea through the Yellow Sea. When Qin Shihuang conquered the six countries (22 1 year BC), people from Qi, Yan and Zhao countries went to North Korea with silkworm eggs and sericulture techniques to escape labor, which further accelerated the spread of silk industry in North Korea.

China and Japan are separated only by a strip of water, so it is very convenient to communicate through the Korean Peninsula or the Sea of Japan. There has been a legend of sericulture in Japan since ancient times. Legend has it that in 2 19~2 10 BC, Qin Shihuang sent Xu Fu to lead boys, virgins, sailors and hundreds of workers to Japan to spread sericulture technology, and the Japanese people later honored Xu Fu as the "silkworm god". It is also recorded that in the third century BC, two brothers, Wudi, Jiangsu and Zhejiang, crossed the Yellow Sea to Japan to teach the skills of silkworm weaving and sewing martial arts. Since then, mainlanders have settled in Japan in twos and threes, either through Korea or from Shandong, and their contacts have been very close, which has promoted the development of Japanese sericulture.

According to Japanese ancient history, during the reign of Emperor Ai of the Western Han Dynasty (6 BC), China's Luo fabrics and technologies were spread to Japan. In the 3rd century, China's silk jacquard technology and block printing technology were introduced to Japan. In Sui Dynasty, China's woodblock printing technology was introduced to Japan again. During the Sui and Tang Dynasties, Japanese envoys and monks frequently traveled to and from China. They obtained blue silk in Taizhou, Zhejiang Province, and brought it back to Japan as a model to imitate colorful brocade, silk and furniture. Japanese still use the names of China in the Tang Dynasty, such as Jieli, Guali, Luo, Si, Si and Yu.

In the Tang Dynasty, the silk produced in Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces was directly transported to Japan by sea, and silk products began to change from gifts to formal commodities. Nara was the capital of Japan at that time, which can be said to be the end of the Silk Road in China. Masakura Yard was the place where government cultural relics were stored. Today's Zhengcangyuan has become a treasure house for preserving China's silk fabrics in the Tang Dynasty. Many of them are hard to see even in Chinese mainland, such as colorful printed tapestry, lion Tang grass play tapestry, lotus tapestry, hunting tapestry, deer Tang grass tapestry, lotus tapestry and so on. There are also many silks made by China craftsmen in Japan at that time, which have both tang style and Japanese national characteristics.

After the Song Dynasty, with the further development of southern China and the shift of the economic center of gravity to the south, the sea routes from Guangzhou, Quanzhou, Hangzhou and other places have become increasingly developed, going further and further, from Nanyang to the Arabian Sea, and even as far as the east coast of Africa. People call these maritime trade routes "Maritime Silk Road". Since ancient times, there have been many routes on the Maritime Silk Road. The Maritime Silk Road is also called the Maritime Ceramics Road and the Maritime Medicine Road because it transports other goods.

Since 1930s, Guangzhou has become the main port of the Maritime Silk Road. In the fifth year of Sun Wu's regime (226), Huang Wu established Guangzhou (the county ruled Guangzhou today), which strengthened the maritime trade in the south. According to historical records, Guangzhou became the starting point of the Maritime Silk Road in the Eastern Jin Dynasty. Foreign trade involves fifteen countries and regions. During the Tang and Song Dynasties, Guangzhou became the largest port in China and a world-famous oriental port city. The route from Guangzhou to the Persian Gulf countries via the South China Sea and the Indian Ocean was the longest route in the world at that time. In the Yuan Dynasty, Guangzhou was replaced by Quanzhou as the largest port in China, but it was still the second largest port in China. In the 2000-year history of the Maritime Silk Road, compared with other coastal ports, Guangzhou is considered to be the only enduring port. In the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, Guangzhou was in a "one-stop" situation for a long time. During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, there were already three routes on the Maritime Silk Road from Guangzhou. 1784, the American "Queen China" visited Guangdong, marking the opening of the direct air route between the United States and Guangzhou.

"Flower Pagoda and Light Pagoda are the symbols of a city. The winners said that the city is like a big ship, two towers and five floors."

-Qing Qu Dajun's Guangdong Xinyu (volume 19) describes Guangzhou as a "great ship".

There are enough historical materials and cultural relics to prove that the earliest port of departure of the Maritime Silk Road is Guangzhou. Simply put, Guangzhou was a huge commodity distribution center at that time and the "Canton Fair" of the world. Because of its popularity, Indian businessmen in China during the Tang and Song Dynasties even took Guangzhou as the name of China. Tang Yijing recorded in the biography of seeking dharma from the Western Regions of the Tang Dynasty that "Guangzhou is also there"; Zanning's biography of becoming a monk said: "Indians are called Guangfu (Guangzhou) Chinamen."

What were the things in the Canton Fair at that time? According to Song Yaohui's Draft, Guangzhou mainly exports gold, silver, lead, tin and other hardware raw materials and handicrafts such as porcelain, silk, cloth and silk, while imports mainly luxury consumer goods, spices, medicines, dental implants, rhinoceros horns and corals.

At present, there are more than 20 sites on the Maritime Silk Road, including Nanhai Temple, Huaisheng Temple Lighthouse, Guangxiao Temple, Ancient Tomb of Muslim Sages, Hualin Temple, Lotus Pagoda and Shamian Western-style architecture. Among them, Huaisheng Temple is the earliest mosque where Islam was introduced into China. With the development of the Maritime Silk Road in Guangzhou, foreign trade income became the financial dependence of the Southern Dynasties.

The opening of the Maritime Silk Road made China's foreign trade flourish at that time. Kyle Poirot, an Italian in Yuan Dynasty, came to China from the land Silk Road and returned to China from the Maritime Silk Road. His travels recorded many "spice islands" along the coast of South Asia and the Indian Ocean.