The ancient tea-horse road, like the Silk Road, played an important role in the development of the Chinese nation. With the cleaning of modern civilization, it gradually disappeared into the dust of history.
But its history and value will shine forever.
The ancient tea-horse road originated from the tea-horse exchange in the southwest frontier of ancient times, and flourished in the Tang and Song Dynasties, Ming and Qing Dynasties and the middle and late World War II. It is a non-governmental international trade channel with caravan as the main means of transportation.
There are three ancient tea-horse roads in China:
The first is the Shaanxi-Gansu Tea-Horse Ancient Road, which is the main road for Chinese mainland tea to return to Malaysia westward.
The Shaanxi-Gansu tea-horse ancient road is one of the main routes of the ancient Silk Road. The main means of transportation is camel. Tea horse refers to selling tea to horses (tea and horses here are commodities). Shaanxi-Gansu tea-horse ancient road is a route for Shaanxi businessmen to exchange tea and horses in northwest China. From Chang 'an and Hanzhong to Gansu, Ningxia and Xinjiang, it was connected with the Silk Road in the Tang Dynasty and went to Central Asia and Europe, becoming one of the main routes of the Silk Road.
The second is the Shaanxi-Kangzang Tea-Horse Ancient Road, which has been called the Southwest Silk Road by the academic circles in recent years.
Beginning in the Tang Dynasty, it was formed by Shaanxi merchants and the tea-horse exchange in the ancient southwest frontier. During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the government controlled tea sales in different regions, and the most prosperous tea-horse trading market was in Kangding, which was called the ancient tea-horse road. Therefore, the Shaanxi-Kangcha-Ma ancient road was a tea-ma ancient road that could sell tea to all parts of the country at that time.
The Sichuan-Tibet tea-horse ancient road is a part of the Shaanxi-Kangcha-horse ancient road. It starts from Ya 'an in the east, the tea-producing area in Yazhou, passes through Arrow Furnace (now Kangding), reaches Lhasa in Tibet in the west, and finally reaches Bhutan, Nepal and India. It is nearly 4000 kilometers long and has a history of 1300 years. It is an indispensable bridge and link between ancient Tibet and the mainland.
The third is the ancient tea-horse road in Yunnan and Tibet. The ancient tea-horse road in Yunnan and Tibet was formed in the late 6th century. It started in Yiwu and Pu 'er, the main tea-producing areas in Xishuangbanna, Yunnan Province, and passed through today's Dali Bai Autonomous Prefecture, Lijiang City and Shangri-La, then entered Tibet and went straight to Lhasa. Some also re-exported India and Nepal from Tibet, which was an important trade channel between ancient China and South Asia. Pu 'er is a unique commodity producing area and transit distribution center on the ancient tea-horse road.
Historical evolution:
In the old days, the path of communication between Changdu and other places was naturally formed by long-term walking of people and animals.
In the 7th century, Tubo rose on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. At the beginning of the Tang Dynasty, Tubo went south, built an iron bridge on the Jinsha River in Zhongdian, and opened the Yunnan-Tibet passage.
In the Song Dynasty, the main market of tea-horse trade moved to the southwest.
The Yuan Dynasty vigorously opened up post roads and set up post stations.
The Ming Dynasty continued to strengthen the construction of post roads.
In the Qing Dynasty, the postal organization in Tibet was renamed as "Tang", and the management of Tang Station was more strict and meticulous.
In the late Qing Dynasty and the early Republic of China, the number of tea merchants increased greatly.
In the middle and late period of War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression, the ancient tea-horse road became the main international commercial channel in the southwest rear area.
1950 years ago, Qamdo became the commercial center of eastern Tibet.
There are three main historical routes of the ancient tea-horse road: Qinghai-Tibet line, Yunnan-Tibet line and Sichuan-Tibet line.
The ancient tea-horse road on the Yunnan-Tibet line appeared in the Tang Dynasty, which is roughly similar to today's Yunnan-Tibet highway.
The ancient tea-horse road originated from the "tea-horse exchange" in the Tang and Song Dynasties.
Because Kang and Tibet belong to the alpine region, the altitude is above three or four kilometers. Ciba, milk, ghee, beef and mutton are the staple foods of Tibetans. In the alpine region, you need to eat high-calorie fat, but there are no vegetables, it is hot and dry. Excessive fat is not easy to decompose in the human body, and tea can not only decompose fat, but also prevent dryness and heat. Therefore, Tibetans have created the plateau lifestyle habit of drinking butter tea in their long-term lives, but tea is not produced in Tibetan areas.
In the mainland, both civil servants and military campaigns need a large number of mules and horses, but the supply is in short supply, while Tibetan areas and the border areas of Sichuan and Yunnan produce good horses. As a result, tea-horse complementary trade, that is, "tea-horse mutual market" came into being.
Stories on the ancient road
First, Sichuan-Tibet ancient tea ceremony
From the Tang Dynasty, tea from Mianzhou, Zhou Shu, Qiongzhou and other places in Sichuan flowed into Tibet, which began the history of Tibetan people drinking tea, and the road of tea export to Tibet appeared. In the Tang Dynasty, the Qinghai-Tibet Highway was the main traffic route between Tibet and the Central Plains.
In the Tang Dynasty, the external expansion of the Tubo dynasty, except the southern line, almost all passed through Qinghai. The northern line competes for Hexi and Longyou, the western line competes for Anxi four towns, and the eastern line competes for Jiannan. The diplomatic contacts between Tang and Fan, such as visiting relatives, interviews, engagement, etc., were all from Tianshui, Dafeichuan, Hot Springs, Heyuan and Tongtianhe to Luodian (now Lhasa). Princess Wencheng and Princess Jincheng also entered Tibet through Qinghai. The communication avenue between the Central Plains and Tibet in the Tang Dynasty was the Qinghai-Tibet Road, not the Sichuan-Tibet Road. The tea ceremony in which mainland tea was exported to Tibet in the Tang Dynasty was naturally Qinghai-Tibet Road. With the disintegration of the Tubo dynasty, Tibetan areas in the Song Dynasty were in a state of their own fighting, and the Qinghai-Tibet Highway lost its role as a military artery and an official road.
However, since tea was introduced into Tibetan areas in the Tang Dynasty, it has the special function of helping digestion and relieving greasy food, which makes livestock people who drink meat and milk generally drink tea. All ethnic groups in the northwest sell horses and buy tea at the border. In order to obtain war horses, the Song Dynasty decided to carry out tea-horse trade in the northwest. After Xining in the Northern Song Dynasty, Tea and Horse Department was established in Sichuan, which transported most of Sichuan's annual output of 30 million Jin of tea to Gansu and Qinghai, and set up hundreds of tea farms and dozens of horse farms. It is also stipulated that the famous camellia can only buy horses every year, and it is forbidden to use them. It can buy more than15,000 horses every year. As a result, the Qinghai-Tibet Highway changed from a military and political artery in the Tang Dynasty to a tea ceremony. Therefore, Chen Guanxun, the author of Tibet Annals, said that since the Tang and Song Dynasties, mainland travel has mainly entered Tibet through the Qinghai-Tibet Highway. "This road used to be an official road. It was first built and has been used since the Tang Dynasty."
From the Ming Dynasty, Sichuan-Tibet tea ceremony was formally formed.
During the Song and Yuan Dynasties, the government developed tea-horse trade with Tubo and other ethnic groups in Liya, Diaomen (now) and other places, but the quantity was small, and the tea sold could only be used by local ethnic minorities. In the Ming Dynasty, the government stipulated that Zhagan Temple and the tribute mission in Tibet should be received by Sichuan and Shaanxi provinces respectively, and the envoys of the Ming Dynasty also entered Tibet from Sichuan and Shaanxi respectively. Since the tea transported to the northwest and imported into Tibetan areas in the Ming Dynasty only accounted for one tenth of Sichuan's output, that is, 6,543.8+0,000 Jin, it paid for the tea needed by "Tea Fama" in Gansu, Qinghai and Tibet, and the rest of Sichuan tea was imported into Tibetan areas by Liya. The main purpose of monks and secular leaders in Tibetan areas such as Tibet to pay tribute to the Ming court is to obtain tea. So they paid tribute from Sichuan-Tibet Road. "Tea from, from Diaomen, Li Ya to Dogan, Wu Si warehouse, used more than five thousand miles. People on the land can't live without it for a day "(Record of Ming Taizu, Volume 25 1).
So in May of the thirty-first year of Hongwu (1398), four tea warehouses were set up in Sichuan. "Sichuan Buzheng was ordered to move Wen Tianquan to recruit six times. The next year, the tea class was lost to the Diaomen tea teacher, and the rest were sent to the new warehouse for safekeeping, to listen to business transactions, and to compete with Xifan City.
In the second year of Tianshun (1458), it was stipulated in the Ming Dynasty that tea in Tibetan areas of Wu Si would be given to Tea and Horse Department in Diaomen. It also urged the tribute envoys in Tibetan areas of Wu Si to pay tribute from Sichuan-Tibet Road instead of Zhou Tao Road in Qinghai-Tibet.
In the second year of Chenghua (1470), the Ming court clearly stipulated that the tribute envoys of the four kings in Wu Si Tibetan areas who praised kindness, expounded education, clarified education and assisted education, and the Tibetan envoys in nearby Wu Si Tibetan areas all paid tribute from Sichuan Road. Tea and Horse Department was set up in Yazhou and Diaomen in the Ming Dynasty, and millions of kilograms of tea were transported to Kangqu and transported to Tibetan areas in Wu Si every year, thus extending the tea ceremony from Kangqu to Tibet. The communication between Wu Si's envoys in Tibet promoted the smooth flow of tea ceremony. Therefore, the Sichuan-Tibet tea ceremony, which developed from the tea trade, became an official road at the same time, replacing the status of the Qinghai-Tibet road.
Kangding was a desolate Yuan Ye in Yuan Dynasty. Local customs and Tibetan businessmen came here to exchange tea cloth with local products, so they had to set up tents and pots for accommodation. Only in the Ming Dynasty did villages form. With the southward migration of Tibetan-Chinese trade, it has gradually developed into a border tea trade center.
Since then, the barrier of "Han does not enter Han, Han does not enter Han" has been broken. A large number of Tibetan businessmen crossed Jingning Mountain and entered Kangqu, and a large number of Shaanxi businessmen and Sichuan businessmen also poured into Kangqu. In this city, which emerged as a result of the tea fair, Tibetan-Chinese trade is quite prosperous through the medium of "pot village". Become a big city in Xiqiao. In a word, the entry of Sichuan tea into Tibet is an important factor to promote the development of Sichuan-Tibet transportation and the rise of towns in Sichuan-Tibet Plateau.
The Qing dynasty further strengthened the management of Kangqu and Tibet, set up post stations, relaxed the transportation of tea into Tibet, and made Arrow Furnace a gathering place for tea along the South Road, further prospering the Sichuan-Tibet tea ceremony. In this way, the "path tea ceremony" from Ya 'an, Anshan, Ma Yue, Tian Quan, Luding to Kangding, from Ya 'an, Yingjing Dayue Xiangling, Feiyueling and Luding to Kangding, and then from Kangding to Yajiang, Litang, Batang, Jiangka, Chaya and Qamdo to Lhasa, and from Kangding to Ganning, Daofu and Luhuo. This tea ceremony from Ya 'an to Kangding and Kangding to Lhasa is not only the road to Sichuan and Tibet in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, but also the road to Sichuan and Tibet today. The Sichuan-Tibet road is rugged and difficult to travel, and its development is very arduous.
When transporting tea from Ya 'an to Kangding, a small part of it is carried by mules and horses, and most of it is carried by manpower, which is called "piggyback". The journey depends on the severity, ranging from 40 miles a day to 2-30 miles a day. Take a short rest on the way, don't unload your shoulders, and support your back with a T-shaped pestle. The pestle head is made of iron, and each pestle should be placed on a hard stone. Over time, the stone left a nest mark, which is still clearly visible today. From Kangding to Lhasa, in addition to wading through mountains and rivers, we have to pass through many sparsely populated grasslands, dense forests and vast plains. To climb a steep rock wall, two horses meet and there is no escape. We have to negotiate the price, throw the thin horse under the hanging rock and let another horse pass. Wade through turbulent rivers and towering snow peaks.
Long-distance transportation, wind and rain, mules and horses carrying cattle and grazing, the pack team must bring their own armed self-defense and carry curtains with them. Accommodation is mainly catering, and the daily trip is only 20-30 miles. Coupled with the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, the weather is cold, the air is thin and the climate is unpredictable. The folk proverb says: "It's two or three, the snow harvests the mountain;" Four, five, six, tears streaming down her face; 789, take it easy; Ten winters of wax, like a crawling dog, vividly describes the situation in It's Hard to Walk. The development of Sichuan-Tibet tea ceremony also promoted the rise of towns along Sichuan-Tibet Road. Luding, known as the west furnace gateway along the Dadu River, was just a "Xifan village" in the late Ming and early Qing Dynasties. Belonging to Shencun Boiling Dam, it is an important checkpoint for tea to enter the arrow furnace along the south road.
In the 45th year of Kangxi (1706), the iron cable bridge was built. Foreign businessmen gathered in Luding to do business.
Xuantong three years (19 1 1), set up the county government. 1930, with more than 30 merchants, has become a transshipment place for goods between the mainland and Kangding.
After the Opium War, in order to invade Tibet, British imperialism tried to use Indian tea instead of China tea for marketing in Tibet. They think that once Indian tea can replace Sichuan border tea, Britain can monopolize Tibet's politics and economy. To this end, British imperialism even invaded Lhasa by force and forcibly exported India and tea to Tibet. Since then, Sichuan tea has become a weapon to resist the British invasion of Tibet.
Opposing the sale of printed tea and protecting the sale of Sichuan tea has become an important part of opposing the British invasion of Tibet.
Faced with the political and economic crisis brought about by the sale of printed tea, the local government in Tibet strongly advocates banning printed tea from entering Tibet. The 13th Dalai Lama personally appealed to the Qing court, demanding that the Qing government cooperate to stop selling Indian tea. Liu, the governor of Sichuan in the Qing Dynasty, even advocated banning the printing of tea to avoid endless troubles.
Zhang, who was ordered by the Qing court to negotiate the Tibet-India Trade Charter with Britain, took into account the interests of Sichuan tea, the Sino-Tibetan economy, government taxes and the interests of tea farmers and tea merchants, and also opposed Britain's invasion and sales of printed tea in Tibet to protect the sales of Sichuan tea. Later, in order to oppose the British invasion of Tibet and defend the frontier, Sichuan Governor Zhao Erfeng set up a border tea company in Ya 'an to support people in Xizang's boycott of printing tea. The company improved tea varieties, rectified Sichuan tea, set up a branch factory in the arrow-beating furnace, and broke the restriction that the side tea was not baked. And set up tea sales semicolons in Litang, Batang and Changdu to reduce intermediate links and quickly transport Sichuan tea to Tibet. Sichuan tea has become a weapon for the Han and Tibetan people to resist British imperialism's invasion of Tibet and dump printed tea.
During the Republic of China, due to the civil war, Indian tea was sold in large quantities to Tibetan areas, and the local upper class in Tibet attacked the border areas of Sichuan under the instigation of British imperialism, resulting in a military conflict between Sichuan and Tibet. The close ties between the two sides have weakened, and Sichuan tea is still popular between Sichuan and Tibet.
The second is the ancient tea-horse road on the Yunnan-Tibet line.
The ancient tea-horse road on the Yunnan-Tibet line appeared in the Tang Dynasty, which was closely related to the outward expansion of the Tubo dynasty and the trade activities of Nanzhao.
In 678 AD, Tibetan forces entered the northern part of Xi 'er Lake in Yunnan.
In 680, the Shenchuan Governor's Office was established, and Tubo set up officials in Nanzhao, collecting taxes from Bai Man and Wu Man and apportioning officials. The trade between the two sides has also developed by leaps and bounds, and tea-horse trade is one of the important contents.
The traffic route between Nanzhao and Tubo is similar to the Yunnan-Tibet Highway, that is, starting from Dali, Yunnan, going north to Jianchuan, then going north to Lijiang, crossing Tieqiao City, going north along the Yangtze River, passing through Luozilan to Yulai City, going forward to Yanjing, and then going north along the Lancang River to Magan (now Mangkang, Tibet) and Zuogong, and entering Tibet in two ways: all the way through Basubanda and Chaya. From Basu to Bomi, through Linzhi to Lhasa.
As the oldest trade route in the world, the ancient tea-horse road connects Yunnan, Sichuan and Tibet, and reaches as far away as Myanmar, Nepal and India. It has become an important channel for trade and cultural exchanges between China and South and West Asia.
The ancient Yunnan-Tibet tea-horse road from Xishuangbanna brought Pu 'er tea to the world. The ancient Sichuan-Tibet tea-horse road from Ya 'an, Sichuan, made Ya 'an side tea.
For thousands of years, countless caravans and porters have used their courage, diligence and wisdom to open up trade channels in the southwest border and walked out of the "most thrilling road" on this land; It has also realized the integration of multi-ethnic groups in southwest China and the exchange of many cultures.
Today's ancient tea-horse road has been replaced by roads, railways and even air transportation. The once lively ancient road gradually became barren.
"No matter how high the mountain is, climbing it will always lead to the top of the mountain; No matter how long the road is, if you go on, you will definitely arrive. "
Perhaps the ancient tea-horse road has come to an end, but the spirit of adventure, pioneering, perseverance and unity of the ancient tea-horse road will never reach the other side.