01  The Overland Silk Road
  Zhang Qian opened up the Silk Road
  Xi’an, the starting point of the overland Silk Road
  Dunhuang amazing the world
  Ancient civilizations in the gold hinterland
  Convergence of civilizations in the Fergana Valley
  Papermaking that changed the history of the world civilizations
  Xuanzang’s pilgrimage to the west for Buddhist sculptures
  Persian Empire on the Silk Road
  Baghdad, the Silk Road hub of the Arab Empire
  Arriving in ancient Rome in Europe
02  The Maritime Silk Road
  “Guangzhou’s maritime passage”, the predecessor of the Maritime Silk Road
  The birth of the Maritime Silk Road
  Quanzhou, the starting point of the Maritime Silk Road
  The road of the princess’s marriage alliance to the Persian Gulf
  Zheng He’s great voyages to the Western Oceans
  The spice road to Arabia
  Ancient friendship between China and Africa
  The silver-silk trade between China and the Americas
  East China Sea route to Japan and Korean Peninsula
03  BRI Keep Going
  Great shared dreams
  Six economic corridors: Major arteries of international economic cooperation
  Sihanoukville Special Economic Zone, Cambodia’s new industrial area
  The first cross-sea bridge of the Maldives
  Serbia’s dream factory has again become a source of local people’s pride
  Mombasa-Nairobi Railway, a rising star in Kenya
  Ties between Djibouti and China
  Dushanbe, capital of Tajikistan, is ushering in a warm winter
  Papua New Guinea: The story of the APEC meeting’s host
  The “magic rice inventor” in Madagascar
  Hope for a good harvest in Sri Lanka
  Lesotho’s cattle and sheep eat “Chinese grass”
  East-West cultural exchanges between Volvo and Geely
  Brazil’s “north-to-south power transmission”
  “Beijing Hospital” in Ethiopia
  China-guided, Iran-built Tehran subway
  Shougang Hierro Peru S.A.A.: From a pioneer to a pathfinder
  Duisburg, a small German city transformed thanks to China Railway Express
  Gwadar, a desert-changed international port
Conclusion: BRI connects the Chinese Dream with the world’s dream

    Xi’an, the starting point of the overland Silk Road
    1,300 years ago, in Chang’an (now Xi’an, capital of Shaanxi province), the capital of the Tang Dynasty, envoys from all over the world were dressed up and left for Danfeng Gate of Daming Palace early in the morning to attend a diplomatic banquet hosted by Emperor Xuanzong in Linde Palace. In addition to military officers and civil officials, the poets Jia Zhi, Cen Shen, Wang Wei and others were invited to attend the event. Jia Zhi and Cen Shen first wrote several gorgeous poems portraying scenes of the court. How could Wang Wei compete? Looking at the envoys around him, Wang exclaimed: The guards in red turbans could not stop saying that it was getting cold at night, so the Shangyi officials presented the emperor with luxuriant fur coats. Officials entered the magnificent palace to attend the imperial court sessions in the early morning, and envoys kowtow to the crowned emperor with a diadem. While envoys from the Western Regions toasted in the splendid palace with the emperor, exotic merchants settled in the west market in a secular atmosphere to engage in trade with the Tang people.
    At that time, Chang’an had become an international metropolis inhabited by envoys and residents from dozens of states. As a saying goes, “There are 100,000 people from northern tribes among the one million people in the ancient capital”.
    They were mostly “merchants from the countries or regions outside the Central Regions” who came from Sogdiana (in today’s five central Asian countries), Persia (now Iran) and Abbasid Caliphate (now the Arab region) via the Silk Road. In addition to Tang Dynasty’s currency in circulation, currencies from Western Regions like Sassan (now Iran) were also circulated in the market. While engaged in negotiations or “business banquets”, Tang people as well as those from the west would often drink in the tea or wine shops, whose proprietors also hailed from many countries or regions. In the shops, there were often dancing girls from Sogdiana and Abbasid Caliphate, in fine make-up, who held wine sets to pour florid wine for merchants or sons of high-ranking officials.
    One after another, China’s trade delegations left Chang’an for the Western Regions.
    The Giant Wild Goose Pagoda, also in Chang’an, was a quiet place, in sharp contrast to the bustling scenes of the west market: The famous Chinese monk Xuanzang was leading his disciples to translate thick Buddhist scriptures brought back from Sindhu (now India). The tall pagoda was built under the direction of Xuanzang to preserve the Buddhist scriptures and Buddha statues brought to Chang’an via the Silk Road. Xuanzang devoted his life to these sutras, and was laid to rest in the Xingjiao Temple on the outskirts of Chang’an.
    Buddhism was introduced from the Kushan Empire in northern India to Central Asia and Xinjiang via the Silk Road in the late Western Han Dynasty, and from the Western Regions to the Central Plains in the Eastern Han Dynasty. Xuanzang’s preaching and pilgrimage to collect Buddhist scriptures promoted the development of the Silk Road and the cultural exchanges between China and India, making Chang’an in the Tang Dynasty one of the major Buddhist centers in the world. The emperor, nobles, and scholars, as well as common people, adopted the custom of worshiping and making offerings to Buddha. Buddhism has since interconnected with Chinese civilization and become increasingly secularized in China, integrating many Chinese cultural elements. Chang’an became the starting point of the Silk Road since Zhang Qian’s diplomatic mission to the Western Regions: From the 1st century to the 2nd century, the four empires, namely, Roman Empire, Parthia, Kushan and China’s Han Dynasty, were connected by the Silk Road from west to east. China’s products like silk, iron, peach, and apricot; Parthia’s grape, pomegranate, ostrich, etc.; Kushan Empire’s gold coins and Roman Empire’s glass wares, among others, formed a huge circulation network along the Silk Road.
    From the 3rd century to the 5th century, nomads from the steppes of northern Eurasia moved southward in waves one after another, and the four empires of Eurasia crashed one by one, but the Silk Road continued, and many nomads joined its trade network. Chang’an, the capital of many regimes from the Sixteen States period to the Northern Dynasty, remained an important hub of trade between the East and the West along the Silk Road. A large number of Sogdian people living in Central Asia bought silk from the Central Plains, and imported jade, agate pearls, and other items from the Western Regions, earning high profits by transporting goods and lending money.
    The early Tang Dynasty also marked the peak period of the entire Silk Road. Before long, as the Tang Dynasty’s internal turmoil weakened it, the dynasty lost control over the states in the Western Regions. Consequently, the Silk Road gradually declined. The once-magnificent Daming Palace vanished from history, but the Wild Goose Pagoda has become the centerpiece of the BRI logo. The pomegranate was brought from the Western Regions by Zhang Qian. Now, in spring, pomegranate flowers can be found everywhere in Xi’an as its city flower.