ABSTRACT
The term Seidenstraße(n) (“Silk Road(s)” or “Silk Route(s)”) was first invented by Ferdinand von Richthofen, a German geographer. In 1860, Richthofen joined in the expedition to the Far East with a German economic mission and later conducted geographical and geological studies in China for almost four years starting in 1868. The Silk Road fundamentally was a trade route built on the basis of the economic and cultural development of countries and kingdoms along the Road, which were the origins and most developed areas of ancient civilization of mankind. Under the narrow definition proposed by Richthofen, the Silk Road started from the ancient capital Chang’an, a political, economic, and cultural center of ancient China, connecting Asia, Africa, and Europe. The Western Han dynasty started a brand-new era in the exchanges between China and foreign countries, lifting the barriers between the East and the West.
