The Grand History of the Silk Road: When Ancient China Encountered the World

For more than two thousand years, China's favorable geographical conditions fostered a distinctive tradition of unity under a single empire and the resilient continuity of Chinese civilization. Yet from the time Zhang Qian opened up the Western Regions, successive dynasties sent countless envoys, monks, and merchants westward, each with their own mission and purpose. They crossed the mountains and deserts of the west or sailed across the seas, seeking a wider world beyond China. The goods and ideas they brought back profoundly shaped the lives of the Chinese people. Thus the Silk Road was born.

This is a two-thousand-year history of cultural exchange between ancient China and the Western world, as well as a sweeping account, from the Chinese perspective, of the Silk Road's origins, flourishing, transformation, and decline. Drawing on meticulous historical research and writing in an engaging, accessible style, the author brings to life the remarkable journeys of the diplomats, monks, and explorers who shaped the route. During the Western Han dynasty, Zhang Qian traveled west as an envoy to establish ties with the Greater Yuezhi and the Wusun, hoping to join forces against the Xiongnu and open the road to the Western Regions. In the Tang dynasty, Xuanzang journeyed to India to obtain Buddhist scriptures. By the Song dynasty, maritime trade flourished in the southeast, sending porcelain and silk overseas. During the Ming and Qing dynasties, strict bans on maritime trade gradually brought the Silk Road into decline.

The Silk Road was not only a historical route of conquest, faith, trade, and empire. In today's new era, it is also a path to the future that will shape the course of human civilization.