The Silk Road usually refers to the commercial roads in northern Europe and Asia, in contrast to the ancient tea-horse road in the south. In the Western Han Dynasty, Zhang Qian and Ban Chao went to the Western Regions in the Eastern Han Dynasty, starting from Chang 'an (Jin 'an) and Luoyang, passing through Gansu and Xinjiang, reaching Central Asia and West Asia, connecting Mediterranean countries. This road is also known as the "Silk Road on Land" to distinguish the other two traffic routes named "Silk Road" in the future. Because silk products have the greatest influence on the goods transported to the west, it is named. Its basic trend was set in the Han Dynasty, including three routes: South Road, Middle Road and North Road.
The Silk Road in a broad sense refers to the long-distance commercial, trade and cultural exchange routes that have been formed since ancient times and spread all over Eurasia, even including North Africa and East Africa. In addition to the above routes, it also includes the Grassland Silk Road, which was formed in the 5th century, the Maritime Silk Road, which played a great role in the Song Dynasty, and the Southern Silk Road, which appeared at the same time as the Northwest Silk Road and replaced the Northwest Silk Road as a communication channel on the road in the early Song Dynasty.
Although the Silk Road is the product of the joint efforts of countries along the route to promote economic and trade development, many people believe that Zhang Qian of China has opened a new era of Sino-foreign exchanges by making two missions to the western regions. And successfully opened the last bead curtain between East and West. Since then, this route has been stepped out of the "national highway", and ambassadors and businessmen from all countries have poured in along the road opened by Zhang Qian. From princes and nobles to beggars and prisoners, they all left footprints on this road. This east-west passage closely links the Central Plains and the Western Regions with Arabia and the Persian Gulf. After centuries of continuous efforts, the Silk Road extended westward to the Mediterranean Sea. Broadly speaking, the eastern section of the Silk Road reached South Korea and Japan, and the western section reached France and the Netherlands. Italy and Egypt can also be reached by sea, becoming the road of friendship for economic and cultural exchanges between Asia, Europe and Africa.