Resembling the famous silk road, the ancient tea road located in southwestern china was an important gateway for transportation and communication between ancient china and west asia. In addition to the story of the tea, the tea horse road is the story of the men muleteers and their mules that traveled long and perilous journeys from yunnan and sichuan over dangerous roads in hostile weather conditions with their precious cargoes of tea bound for tibet, nepal, and later, india and burma. A team of tibetans, a westerner, and a cast of characters met along the way travels and documents the ancient tea horse road, sipping tea at all hours and. Files are available under licenses specified on their description page. Cultural heritage tourism and the ancient tea horse road of southwest china article pdf available in international journal of china studies 12 october 2010 with 126 reads how we measure reads. Natives at breakfast, movable chow shop, canton, china keystone view co. China and islamic civilization silk road foundation. Come back with us in time on a journey through spectacular landscapes that link the varied cultures of chinas southwest. Travels with the last of the himalayan muleteers, published in 2008. Fuchs authored the ancient tea horse road trip length. China before the rule of mao zedong natives at breakfast, movable chow shop, canton, china keystone view co. Hada and the tale of the tea horse road shine news. Trade and commerce in ancient india ithihas day trading strategies.
History, culture, spectacular scenery, friendly locals and great walking all combined. Ancient tea horse road applies for unesco heritage status. Join jeff for a welcome dinner and enjoy his introduction to the ancient tea horse road pass by coconut palms and banana trees as you drive along the mekong river to the stilted bamboo houses and buddhist pagodas of ganlanba trek to a dai minority village and local monastery hidden in the hills spend your second. Pdf cultural heritage tourism and the ancient tea horse. Earliest tea as evidence for one branch of the silk road across the tibetan plateau. In modern times, passage through the ancient tea horse road from yaan via changdu to lhasa depends on old roads and yaks. China, tourism, cultural heritage, ancient tea horse road. Full list episodes the ancient tea road english sub viewasian, resembling the famous silk road, the ancient tea road located in southwestern china was an important gateway for transportation and communication between ancient china and west asia. The world heritage application of the ancient tea horse road, jointly carried out by china, mongolia and russia, will serve as an example for international cooperation, according to sergey kalashnikov, chairman of russia international cooperation association. Earliest tea as evidence for one branch of the silk road. Keoni auditorium, imin international conference center. He gained prominence with his successful bid to become the first westerner to trek the entire yunnantibet ancient tea horse road, stretching almost six thousand kilometers through the himalayas and a dozen cultures, documented in the book the ancient tea horse road. Regional identity in the context of a rising china gary sigley. Basketball field in the middle of tea grooves near ancient tea horse road, yunnan province, china touristoriented pizzeria in shuhe, on the historic tea horse road outside lijiang, yunnan, china lijiang,yunnan april,2017.
The ancient tea horse road was a trade route mainly through yunnan, sichuan and tibet. In the 1990s, when hus father took over the hada business, laborers were replaced by machines and post offices took the places of porters. It was added to by a route from a second source, the tea mountains of sichuan, and the combined network of stone roads and mountain trails became known as the tea horse road, cha ma dao. Ancient tea horse road gyalam and may not be correct. Over seven gruelling months, canadian jeff fuchs took on the challenge of following traditional muleteers along this twelvehundredyearold route. It was a giant platform for the political economic social and cultural intersection of different ethnic groups and a gigantic lifeline stretching on the yunnanguizhou plateau and the qinghaitibet plateau. An epic journey of tea, mountains, and memories, that opens up a rarely acknowledged part of china and asias ancient past, the ancient tea horse road is a grinding adventure of will, wit, and fuchs frequent tea thirsts. The yunnantibet tea horse road was similarly formed in the late 6th century. In the far southwest of peoples republic of china prc, guo and her sister. The politics of cultural routes in the world heritage canon the ancient tea horse road of yunnan, china the ancient tea horse road.
Thirty years of reform and openness have brought great changes to the peoples republic of china. The past and present of the ancient tea horse road. Though yunnan is in southwest china, far from the major cities in the east, it is easily accessible by air. In the 21st century, the legacy of the teahorse road has been used to promote a. It began from simao a major teaproducing area and led to lhasa, crossing puer in xishuangbanna, dali, lijiang, and shangrila, and continuing to nepal, burma, and india. The tea, the medicine and other commodities were transported by mabang groups of travelers with horses, the special mode of transportation in the southwestern. Again by contrast, the name tea horse road in chinese chamadao was in official use from at least the time of the tang dynasty 618907. Previously the oldest physical evidence of tea was from chinas. The world heritage application of the ancient tea horse road, jointly carried out by china, mongolia and russia, will serve as an example for international cooperation, according to sergey. A cup of butter tea in kangding city can reflect a colorful culture and local history. Life along the tea horse road is briefly reignited in. Life along the tea horse road is briefly reignited in a passionate and unforgettable adventure. Jeff fuchs is a canadian explorer, mountaineer and writer. Identity politics and narratives conclusion chapter seven cultural heritage protection in china.
The ancient tea horse road, first appeared during the tang dynasty 618907, and lasted until the 1960s. Full episodes of the ancient tea road english sub viewasian. The ancient tea horse road china heritage quarterly. Shaxi ancient town at the crossroads of development. The translation of symbols, diachrony and synchronicity, as well as the consideration of humanity and society, are presented to the audience in the ancient tea horse road map. Pdf cultural heritage tourism and the ancient tea horse road of. The name of the road chamadao in the chinese records meaning the tea and horse road indicates its importance in the trade of tea and horses, but other products passed along it as well. Restored while this photo is most likely staged, it still bears some element of truth in how the chinese urban working class lived in the early century. The tea horse road or chamadao now generally referred to as the ancient tea horse road or.
The addition of the word gu or ancient, making the currently popular name chama gudao or ancient tea horse road is a much more recent designation. Earliest tea as evidence for one branch of the silk road across the. Traversing the ancient tea horse road with jeff fuchs. On the positive side the living standards of a vast proportion of the population have dramatically improved and china has now realized the long. As one of the first tea producing regions, yunnan was an important part of the trading network of the ancient tea horse road, also sometimes referred to as the southern silk. Phytoliths and biomolecular components extracted from ancient plant remains from changan xian, the city where the silk road begins and ngari ali in western tibet, china, show that the tea was grown 2100 years ago to cater for the drinking habits of the western han dynasty 207bce9ce, and then carried toward central asia by ca.
The tea, the medicine and other commodities were transported by mabang groups of travelers with horses, the special mode of transportation in the southwestern region of ancient china and thus the pathway was called the tea horse road. In ancient times, people in sichuan and yunnan provinces exchanged tea for horses or medicines with people in tibet. This article focuses on the trade routes in the western sichuan borderlands. Pdf the ancient tea horse road and the politics of cultural. Just 60 years ago, when much of asia still moved by foot or hoof, the tea horse road was a thoroughfare of commerce, the main link between china and tibet. Shuhe ancient town is one of the oldest habitats of lijiang and wellpreserved town on the ancient tea route. Route, or by sea, along the ageold routes of antiquity through the. Pdf the ancient tea horse road and the politics of.
Deep in the mountains of western sichuan im hacking through a bamboo jungle, trying to find a legendary trail. Film of colors in the cup explores the historical significance of kangding on the ancient tea horse road. Cha ma dao tea horse road to the chinese, gyalam wide road to the tibetans. An impressive sevenandahalf month journey, fuchs documents his experience in the ancient tea horse road. World heritage application of tea horse road promotes intl. The ancient tea and horse caravan road, the silk road. Gary sigley has been working at the university of western australia since 1997, though his time is split between western australia and china. Tea would travel along a pathway 0 years old, one which i myself would follow for over seven months.
One of the most fabled adventures of all time the 5,000kilometer tea horse trail predated the silk road and took in the span of the himalayas, and yet is barely known. Tea and horse caravan road, tea horse ancient road travel. As roads expanded and became regular trade and mail routes. Fuchs was the first documented westerner to have travelled by foot the legendary tea horse road and has led or been a part of over 30 expeditions in the himalayas. Chapter 12 the ancient tea horse road and the politics of cultural heritage in southwest china. What links here related changes upload file special pages permanent link.
Chinas ancient trade road to tibet by selena ahmed, michael freeman pdf, epub ebook d0wnl0ad this is the first comprehensive visual documentation of the tea horse road that takes the audience on a journey from the birthplace of the tea plant along the oldest trade route of tea. This was at least four to five hundred years earlier than the the southwest silk road through yunnan which opened in the seventh century ce and is known by historians as the tea horse road. Chinas ancient tea horse road cognoscenti books book 1. For an average person who can walk 30 or 40 kilometers per day, a trip to and fro would take one year. The rank and file of men in the caravan was made up of the chief muleteer called the head of the big wok. In the history, two important trade routes namely tangbo ancient road and tea horse ancient road linked the qinghaitibet plateau and the surrounding regions of china 34, 35. Chinas ancient trade road to tibet by selena ahmed, michael freeman pdf, epub ebook d0wnl0ad this is the first comprehensive visual documentation of the tea horse road that takes the audience on a journey from the birthplace of the tea plant along the oldest trade route of tea in the world. The ancient tea horse road refers to a network of trading routes linking the tea producing areas of yunnan mainly concentrated in the southeast of the. Chinese ancinet teahorse road, discover the ancient tea. Pdf thirty years of reform and openness have brought great changes to the peoples republic of china. The ancient tea horse road, which dates back to the 17th century, was a network of ancient trade routes that came into being after the silk road. It was a giant platform for the political economic social and cultural intersection of different ethnic groups and a gigantic lifeline stretching on. An introduction to the silk road last updated on 20180810 the silk road was an ancient network of trade routes that carried goods, culture, philosophy, and ideas from china all the way through eurasia to the mediterranean sea and back again.
Lux tea horse road hotels are built along the ancient trails up which horse caravans carried precious puer tea from the tea mountains in the far south of yunnan to lhasa in tibet. The tea and horse caravan road is one part of the ancient silk road, which stretched east to west and south to north across southwest china. Request pdf on jul 1, 2012, beth mckillop and others published islamic frontiers of china. The ancient tea horse road winds its way through some of the most unforgiving terrain on earth. Tea and prosperity along ancient trade route asian development. Horse caravans carried tea, sugar and salt from sichuan and yunnan to tibet and. The road includes ancient tea gardens, tea making techniques, ports and intangible cultural heritage. The road is a route known as the tea horse roads, made famous by. Muleteer protocol, in the ancient horse tea road, hefei. Yunnan was an important part of a centuriesold trade route.