Where did the Tea Horse Road start and end?
It began from Simao (a major tea-producing area) and led to Lhasa, crossing Pu’er in Xishuangbanna, Dali, Lijiang, and Shangri-La, and continuing to Nepal, Burma, and India. It was thus the critical trade route connecting Yunnan to Southern Asia.
Where was the Tea Horse Road located?
Southwest China
The Tea Horse Road was a network of caravan paths winding through the mountains of Sichuan, Yunnan and Tibet in Southwest China. It was more famous for being a tea trade route.
Why was the Tea Horse Road important?
An astonishing feat abounding with staggering perils and danger, the Tea Horse Road was so important that a former trade route—the Southwest Silk Road (Xi’nan Sichouzhilu), which connected China with neighboring countries (and along which goods such as silk, jade, wool, furs, salt, and silver were transported from east …
What did the Tea Horse Road trade?
The network once ferried horses and silver from Tibet to China in exchange for tea, but people also traded salt for tea, ivory for gold, and religious instruction for food and shelter.
How did the Tea Horse Road get its name?
In addition to tea, the mule caravans carried salt. The route earned the name Tea-Horse Road because of the common trade of Tibetan ponies for Chinese tea, a practice dating back at least to the Song dynasty, when the sturdy horses were important for China to fight warring nomads in the north.
How did tea get to Tibet?
Tea Was Introduced to Tibet It is believed that in AD 641, Princess Wencheng travelled all the way to Tibet to marry Songtsen Gampo, the thirty-third king of the Yarlung Dynasty of Tibet. Due to the cultural exchange between Tibet and Tang Dynasty, tea was first introduced into Tibet.
Where did tea come from?
The story of tea begins in China. According to legend, in 2737 BC, the Chinese emperor Shen Nung was sitting beneath a tree while his servant boiled drinking water, when some leaves from the tree blew into the water. Shen Nung, a renowned herbalist, decided to try the infusion that his servant had accidentally created.
How was tea traded?
Tea was exchanged for everything from ponies to jewels, dried herbs, and spices. In addition to the Silk Road, another, smaller path, containing a caravan network, called the Tea Horse Road also became important in facilitating the tea trade in China and Tibet.
Who puts butter in tea?
These trade routes brought tea into Tibet from China. Later, butter was added to the tea that was brought from China as butter is and was a staple in Tibetan cuisine. By the 8th century, it was common to drink tea in Tibet. In the 13th century, tea was then used in Tibetan religious ceremonies.
How did tea drinking spread?
Sea Trade Routes Increase the Spread of Tea Throughout the World. The sea trade routes between China and the Western world actually occurred in 1517, when the Portuguese trade ships first docked in Guangdong, China. Tea was sold and purchased in drug stores before it was sold as a common drinking beverage.
Is the Silk Road still used today?
In the 13th and 14th centuries the route was revived under the Mongols, and at that time the Venetian Marco Polo used it to travel to Cathay (China). Part of the Silk Road still exists, in the form of a paved highway connecting Pakistan and the Uygur Autonomous Region of Xinjiang, China.