The ancient tea-horse road is an ancient traffic route formed by the tea-horse trade between the mainland and the border areas in China history, which is divided into Sichuan-Tibet Road and Yunnan-Tibet Road.
The ancient tea-horse road, which exists in the southwest of China, is a folk international trade passage with caravan as the main means of transportation, a corridor for economic and cultural exchanges in the southwest of China, and the seventh batch of national key cultural relics protection units.
Introduction to origin:
The well-preserved sites of the ancient tea-horse road include Lashihai in Lijiang, Shaxi Ancient Town in Jianchuan County, Yi people in Xiangyun County, Dali, Yunnan Province, and Nakori in Pu 'er City.
The ancient tea-horse road originated from the "tea-horse trading market" in the Tang and Song Dynasties. Tibet is a mountainous area with an altitude of three or four kilometers above sea level. Ciba, milk, ghee, beef and mutton are the staple foods of Tibetan people.
In the alpine region, you need to eat fat and high-calorie food, but there are no vegetables. Ciba is hot and dry, and too much fat is not easy to decompose in the human body. Tea can decompose fat to prevent dryness and heat. Therefore, people in Xizang has created the plateau lifestyle of drinking milk tea, but there is no tea in Tibetan areas.
In the mainland, a large number of mules are needed for civil and military activities, but the supply is insufficient, while Tibetan areas produce good horses.
Tea-horse mutual market, that is, "tea-horse mutual market" came into being.
In this way, horses, furs, medicinal materials, tea, cloth, salt and utensils from Tibet crossed the mountains and valleys from the inland area from south to north, which prospered the social and economic development and formed the "ancient tea-horse road" that continues to this day.