第一章：丝路启幕：长安与东西方交流的起点 / Chapter 1: The Opening of the Silk Road: Chang'an and the Starting Point of East-West Exchange

如果有人告诉你，丝绸之路只卖丝绸，那你最好把他带到新疆维吾尔自治区博物馆，让他看看3800年前“小河公主”的干尸——这位深目高鼻的欧洲人种女性，葬在罗布泊西岸的沙土里，陪葬品里有中原的丝织品、中亚的毛毯，还有西亚的青铜器。这具干尸本身就是最好的证据：早在张骞“凿空”西域的一千年前，欧亚大陆的东西方就已经通过沙漠、草原、高原的隐秘通道，交换着货物、技术和人群。“丝绸之路”这个名字，本身就是后人给东西方交流史贴上的第一个、也是最持久的标签。

一、被名字误解的丝路：不止是丝绸的流通网络

If anyone tells you that the Silk Road only traded silk, you’d better take them to the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region Museum to see the 3,800-year-old mummy of the “Princess of Xiaohe” — this European-featured woman, buried in the sand on the west bank of Lop Nur, was buried with Central Asian wool blankets, West Asian bronze ware, and of course, silk textiles from the Central Plains. The mummy itself is the best evidence: a full thousand years before Zhang Qian’s mission to the Western Regions, East and West had already exchanged goods, technologies, and people through hidden routes across deserts, grasslands, and plateaus. The name “Silk Road” itself is the first, and most enduring, label posterity has stuck onto the history of East-West exchange.

学界至今对“丝绸之路”的定义仍有分歧：1877年德国地理学家李希霍芬（Ferdinand von Richthofen）首次提出这一术语时，仅指代中国到中亚撒马尔罕的陆路贸易通道；而20世纪后，随着海上贸易、草原路线、西南山地路线的考古发现不断涌现，越来越多的学者倾向于用“丝绸之路网络”（Silk Roads Network）指代整个欧亚大陆的跨区域贸易体系。汉唐时期往来于丝路上的货物，丝绸的占比从未超过20%：中亚的良马、波斯的银器、大食的香料、于阗的和田玉、西域的玻璃器，还有后来的茶叶、瓷器、造纸术、冶铁技术，才是丝路上流通的大宗商品。我们今天聊丝路，首先要撕掉“只卖丝绸”的标签，才能看到这条通道上流动的鲜活文明。

The academic circle still has disagreements on the definition of the “Silk Road”: when German geographer Ferdinand von Richthofen first proposed this term in 1877, it only referred to the land trade route from China to Samarkand in Central Asia; after the 20th century, with the continuous archaeological discoveries of maritime trade, grassland routes, and southwestern mountain routes, more and more scholars tend to use the “Silk Roads Network” to refer to the entire cross-regional trade system of the Eurasian continent. During the Han and Tang dynasties, silk accounted for no more than 20% of the goods traded along the Silk Road: fine horses from Central Asia, silverware from Persia, spices from the Arab Empire, Hetian jade from Khotan, glassware from the Western Regions, and later tea, porcelain, papermaking technology, and iron smelting technology were the bulk goods circulating on the Silk Road. When we talk about the Silk Road today, we must first tear off the label of “only selling silk” to see the vibrant civilization flowing on this route.

二、先秦时期的欧亚交流雏形：比张骞早千年的贸易之路

Long before Zhang Qian’s mission, the embryonic form of East-West trade across Eurasia had already taken shape along three main routes.

第一条是横贯中亚的“玉石之路”（Jade Road）。距今5000年的新疆和田地区，就已经是中原王朝获取玉石的核心产地：商朝妇好墓出土的700多件玉器，经检测大部分来自和田，说明早在公元前1300年，就已经有商队沿着塔里木盆地边缘的绿洲，将和田玉运到中原腹地。这条路线后来也成为丝路的核心路段，只不过当时的人更看重玉石的价值，所以被称为“玉石之路”。

The first is the “Jade Road” running across Central Asia. As early as 5,000 years ago, the Hotan area of Xinjiang had already become the core source of jade for the Central Plains dynasties: more than 700 jade artifacts unearthed from the tomb of Fu Hao, a consort of the Shang Dynasty, were detected to be mostly from Hotan, indicating that as early as 1300 BC, caravans had already transported Hotan jade to the hinterland of the Central Plains along the oases on the edge of the Tarim Basin. This route later became the core section of the Silk Road, but people at that time valued jade more, so it was called the “Jade Road”.

第二条是穿越西南山地的“蜀身毒道”（Shu-Bactrian Road），即从四川盆地出发，经云南、缅甸，到达印度河流域的贸易通道。三星堆遗址出土的印度洋贝壳、东南亚象牙，以及缅甸北部出土的战国时期蜀地铜器，都证明这条路线在先秦时期就已经通畅。这条路线后来也成为丝路的重要组成部分，负责将中国的丝绸、蜀布运往印度，再从印度运回中亚的宝石、波斯的银器。

The second is the “Shu-Bactrian Road” crossing the southwestern mountains, that is, the trade route starting from the Sichuan Basin, passing through Yunnan and Myanmar, and reaching the Indus River Valley. The Indian Ocean shells and Southeast Asian ivory unearthed from the Sanxingdui site, as well as the Warring States Period copper ware from Shu unearthed in northern Myanmar, all prove that this route was already open in the pre-Qin period. This route later also became an important part of the Silk Road, responsible for transporting Chinese silk and Shu cloth to India, and then bringing back Central Asian gems and Persian silverware from India.

第三条是更早的“太平洋贸易网络”（Pacific Trade Network）。新石器时代，中国东南沿海的良渚文化就已经和太平洋岛国有了贸易往来：良渚出土的玉琮，在波利尼西亚群岛、复活节岛都有类似的出土文物，说明当时就已经有航海者跨越太平洋，交换玉器、陶器等货物。到了汉代，徐闻、合浦（今广东徐闻、广西北海）已经成为海上丝路的起点，和东南亚、印度半岛的贸易已经非常频繁，出土的汉代陶俑里已经有深目高鼻的胡商形象，说明当时已经有外国商人来到中国沿海贸易。

The third is the even earlier “Pacific Trade Network”. In the Neolithic Age, the Liangzhu Culture in the southeast coast of China had already had trade with Pacific island countries: the jade cong unearthed from Liangzhu has similar unearthed artifacts in Polynesia and Easter Island, indicating that there were already navigators crossing the Pacific Ocean to exchange jade, pottery and other goods. By the Han Dynasty, Xuwen and Hepu (now Xuwen, Guangdong and Beihai, Guangxi) had already become the starting point of the maritime Silk Road, and trade with Southeast Asia and the Indian Peninsula was already very frequent. The unearthed Han Dynasty pottery figurines already have the images of foreign merchants with deep eyes and high noses, indicating that there were already foreign merchants coming to trade in China’s coastal areas at that time.

这些零散的贸易通道，为后来官方丝路的开通打下了基础。只不过当时的贸易规模小，路线不固定，大部分是民间商队的自发行为，没有官方记录，所以直到张骞出使西域，中原王朝才第一次完整了解到西域和中亚的情况，丝路才从“民间小道”变成了“官方通道”。

These scattered trade routes laid the foundation for the later opening of the official Silk Road. However, the trade scale at that time was small, the routes were not fixed, and most of them were spontaneous acts of民间 caravans, with no official records. Therefore, it was not until Zhang Qian’s mission to the Western Regions that the Central Plains dynasty first fully learned about the Western Regions and Central Asia, and the Silk Road changed from a “folk path” to an “official channel”.

三、张骞凿空：汉武帝的军事目标如何开启贸易时代

Zhang Qian’s mission to the Western Regions in 138 BC was not originally for trade, but for military alliance.

当时西汉王朝刚刚建立，北方的匈奴是最大的威胁。汉高祖刘邦曾经亲率32万大军攻打匈奴，结果被围困在平城（今山西大同）的白登山上，七天七夜才突围成功，这就是历史上著名的“白登之围”。此后汉朝对匈奴采取和亲政策，每年送大量的丝绸、粮食给匈奴，换取短暂的和平，但是匈奴仍然经常南下劫掠，边境不得安宁。

At that time, the Western Han Dynasty had just been established, and the Xiongnu in the north were the biggest threat. Emperor Gaozu of Han once led an army of 320,000 to attack the Xiongnu, but was surrounded on Baiding Mountain (now Datong, Shanxi), and it took seven days and seven nights to break out, which is the famous “Siege of Baiding” in history. Since then, the Han Dynasty has adopted a policy of peace and affinity with the Xiongnu, sending a large amount of silk and food to the Xiongnu every year in exchange for short-term peace, but the Xiongnu still often went south to loot, and the border was not peaceful.

汉武帝刘彻即位后，决定改变对匈奴的政策，他听说匈奴的敌人大月氏（Dayuezhi，即巴克特里亚王国Bactria，在今阿富汗北部）被匈奴打败，国王的头都被匈奴单于做了酒器，大月氏部落西迁到了中亚的费尔干纳盆地，想要报仇。汉武帝就想联络大月氏，一起夹击匈奴，所以才招募使者出使西域。张骞当时是郎官，在皇宫里做侍卫，主动报名参加了使团，带了100多随从，从长安出发，向西进发。

After Emperor Wu of Han Liu Che ascended the throne, he decided to change his policy towards the Xiongnu. He heard that the Xiongnu’s enemy the Great Yuezhi (Dayuezhi, that is, the Kingdom of Bactria, now northern Afghanistan) was defeated by the Xiongnu, and the king’s head was made into a wine vessel by the Xiongnu Shanyu. The Great Yuezhi tribe moved west to the Ferghana Basin in Central Asia, wanting to take revenge. Emperor Wu of Han wanted to contact the Great Yuezhi to attack the Xiongnu from both sides, so he recruited envoys to go to the Western Regions. Zhang Qian was a lang official at that time, serving as a guard in the imperial palace, and took the initiative to sign up for the mission. He took more than 100 followers and set off from Chang’an to the west.

张骞的使团刚出发不久，就被匈奴俘虏了，匈奴单于把他扣了十年，还让他娶了匈奴的妻子，生了孩子，但是张骞没有忘记自己的使命，后来终于逃出来，继续向西，经过大宛（Ferghana）、康居（Kangju，今撒马尔罕附近），终于找到了大月氏。但是大月氏已经在中亚定居下来，土地肥沃，生活安逸，不想再回去和匈奴打仗了，张骞在那里待了一年多，没有达成联盟的目标，只能返回。返回的路上又被匈奴抓住了，扣了一年多，等到匈奴单于死了，他才带着妻子和剩下的随从