Answer
In the ancient civilization, there is trading line traversing Eurasia, east from Chang’an to Mediterranean area. That is the Silk Road, or Silk Road, which is a great achievement in the human history, promoting the cultural, commercial, religious exchange between the old East and the West. It is a series of trade lines covering regions of the Asian continent, extending over five thousand miles on land and sea. In addition to the cultural and religious exchanges, trade on the Silk Routes was also a prominent part in the development of the ancient civilization of nations including China, Egypt, Persia, India and Rome and so on. The Silk Road had paved the path for the modern world and further communication between the east and west.
This paper aims to illustrate the characteristic components of international trade along the Silk Road in the Pre-Mongol era mainly involving the following aspects: the traders, merchandises, their means of transport and the most important the trade routes. Besides these, this paper also attempts to give some thoughts of old China, one of the most typical countries along the Silk Road which had made great contribution to the success of Silk Road, as an example to promote the international trade on the Silk Road.
In order to have a good and comprehensive understanding of the international trade along the Silk Road, this paper will explain the trades in details mainly from the aspects of the traders, merchandises, their means of transport and the most important the trade routes.
Along the Silk Road Chang’an and Rome were the two cities standing at the very ends of this long trade line which is too long for ancient people to finish the whole line. Therefore the commerce was indirect, as merchandises were passed from one merchant to another in a limited region until those goods appeared on the market of Chang’an and Rome.
In those international trades, people in the central and west part of the Asian continent, who lived along the middle part of the Silk Routes, were taking geographical advantages, being in the dominant place in the trades. The Sogdians, the Persians, the Greeks and Jews were the most successful traders along the Silk Road. For instance, among those traders the groups of Sogdians from Samarkand were the mainstream and controller in the trades in Central Asia. While Greeks and Jews were the early merchants in the trades along the Silk Road.
From the name, it is easy to know the merchandise on the Silk Road must have silk. However, silk is not the only goods. In the very beginning, some costly horses and the seeds of plants were sold to China. Later other goods like woolen products, exotic carpets and textiles like curtains and blankets were also carried to China. Those products deeply impressed Chinese at that time by their unique methods of procession and weaving. Meanwhile camels, armaments, metal like gold and sliver, scarce stones and other glass products were also very palatable for Chinese. For instance glass from Samarkand was appreciated as a result of its good quality, which was regarded as extravagant merchandise. In the category of the goods to China, there were furs, wool, exotic embryos, fruits, sheep and other animals.
In the fascinate stories along the Silk Road, animals play an important role. They were not only the major transport at that time but the faithful friends in that dangerous and boring trading journey. On one hand Animals like sheep and chevres offered necessities of daily life. On the other hand horses and camels not only met the local demands but were also the critical part for the development and success of the international trade and commerce.
Camels were the most common transport along the Silk Road. Therefore it is common to find the camel caravans on the road, forming a typical image of the Silk Road. In most cases, the number of camels in a caravan was not fixed which ranged from dozens to hundreds, resting with the scale of the caravan. And along the Silk Road those camels lined. Meanwhile due to the journey was long crossing different regions the camel caravan always contained many different ethnicity.
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