Jade Road

Jade, the beauty of stone, with its gorgeous appearance and warm endoplasmic has been highly valued and respected. The emergence of jade is related to the development of human aesthetic concept. Jade has a history of nearly ten thousand years in China, and has experienced the process from beautiful stone to ritual jade, and then to secularized jade. Located in Chengdu Jinsha Site Museum, the Jade Road covers an area of about 1000 square meters. It is composed of large jade and a number of small pebbles. It is a children's favorite paradise. There are more than 2000 pieces of jade unearthed from Jinsha site, which is rich in variety. It is the site with the most jade unearthed in the Bronze Age of China. The jade materials of Jinsha jade mainly come from the Western Sichuan Plateau. Jinsha jade has beautiful shape, brilliant color and exquisite craftsmanship. It is mainly made for religious and sacrificial activities. The jade road shows the hard journey of Jinsha ancestors in jade mining and jade attacking.

Jade Road

The "Jade Road" running through the East and the West was an important channel for the early communication between Chinese and Western trade and cultural exchange. It takes Xinjiang Hotan as the center, transports Hotan jade to the East and West wings, and gradually reaches the Central Plains along the Hexi corridor or the northern prairie to the East. The jade road has a history of more than 6000 years,

The existing evidence proves that this "Jade Road" was 3000 years earlier than the "Silk Road".

Later, the bronze road and the Silk Road were complementary concepts. The bronze road was active in the Xia, Shang and Zhou dynasties.

The predecessor of the Silk Road

Taking Hetian jade as the medium, the jade road not only opened up the way for the follow-up Silk Road, but also played an important role in spreading oriental culture and art, and communicating economic, technological and cultural exchanges between the East and the West.

For thousands of years, the "Jade Road" may not be the same, "Jade Road" has brought us Hotan jade, but also a side of the ancient world. At least, the Hetian jade of "China" supported by archaeological evidence proves the existence of this "Jade Road", which is 3000 years earlier than the "Silk Road".

main line

Ancient ancestors from the Kunlun Mountains and Hotan area, from near to far to the East and West wings extension, the Hotan jade to far away places. To the East through Gansu, Ningxia, Shanxi, into Henan; to the west through Uzbekistan, to the Mediterranean coast of Eurasia countries. This is the earliest "Jade Road". The western route of King Mu of Zhou is the East Route of this ancient road.

Historical records

The "Jade Road" was redeveloped during the reign of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty. The merchants transported a large amount of silk and medicinal materials from the Central Plains to the western regions, and brought back a large amount of jade and local specialties when they returned. It is famous for transporting jade. Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty set up "Yumen pass" in Gansu Post station, where jade entered the country.

More than 2000 years ago, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty sent Zhang Qian to the western regions twice, starting from Chang'an (now Xi'an), passing through Gansu and Xinjiang to central and Western Asia, and connecting the European region along the Mediterranean Sea. Since then, this Eurasian transportation artery has become a bridge between the three main cultures of China, India and Greece. Since silk was the main commodity that China transported to Europe through this road, German geologist Richthofen praised it as the "Silk Road" at the end of the 19th century, which was recognized by the world.

More than 1700 years ago in the Western Jin Dynasty, a number of ancient bamboo slips were unearthed from the Warring States tombs in Jixian County, Henan Province. Among them, a biography of emperor Mu was compiled, which recorded King Mu of Zhou driving eight horses to the West nearly 3000 years ago.

King Mu of Zhou started from the Central Plains, passed through Gansu, Inner Mongolia and Xinjiang, and finally arrived at the Western foot of Kunlun. At that time, Xiwangmu, the tribal leader of matriarchal society, not only entertained King Mu of Zhou, but also presented him with eight chariots of precious stones, leaving a good story. On his way back, King Mu of Zhou got a lot of jade from some jade mining and carving tribes and returned with a full load. This may be the earliest and more reliable historical record of Hetian jade entering the Central Plains from Xinjiang. Mr. Guo Moruo wrote a poem: "the national jade comes out of Kunshan mountain, and the bamboo goes to the west to record the year. The Central Plains Queen Mother traces, presents the jade to celebrate peace. "

In the Tang Dynasty, in order to ensure the unimpeded trade routes, Anxi capital was set up in kuci to build a city and garrison troops in Khotan. In the later dynasties, the economic and cultural exchanges on this ancient road, which was mainly based on the trade of jade and silk, became more and more prosperous. There are poems as evidence: "to follow the Han Dynasty to send thousands of treasures, and to answer the king of the dynasty less Wan piluo" (Tang Dufu); "to pick the green stones by the jade river, and to collect the East yisangma" (yuan · Uygur poet Mazu Chang).

archaeological excavation

In June 2002, the Institute of Archaeology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and CCTV jointly organized an exploration team to trek through the Kunlun Mountains to carry out on-the-spot investigation of the Hetian jade deposit, the original site of baiyuhe seed material and the transportation route of ancient jade. Along the way, the team found a large number of jade specimens and traces of ancient people's activities, and found a lot of evidence about the formation and development of "Jade Road".

unearthed relic

Archaeology has confirmed that there were jade mining and carving tribes in Xinjiang more than 3000 years ago, and Hetian jade began to flow into the mainland of China. More than 700 pieces of jade were unearthed from Fuhao Tomb of Shang Dynasty in Yin Ruins of Henan Province, among which 300 pieces were analyzed, most of them were Hetian jade. Fuhao is the wife of King Wuding of Shang Dynasty and the first female military commander in Chinese history. During her lifetime, she led 13000 troops to attack Guifang country in the West and plundered a lot of jade and its products.

Experts from Gansu and Qinghai Qijia culture and other prehistoric cultural sites unearthed a lot of Hetian jade, the former Soviet Union Uzbekistan history records, more than 2000 years BC Xinjiang Jasper found data analysis, and even speculated that there may be five or six thousand years ago, "Jade Road" prototype.

Address: No.2 Jinsha Ruins Road, Qingyang District, Chengdu

Longitude: 104.011959

Latitude: 30.679342

Tel: 028-87303522

Ticket information: 80 yuan per person.

1、 For full-time students, group visit is free with reservation form; for individual visit, half price discount is implemented with student card; for parents who bring minors (under 18 years old), full ticket for parents and free ticket for minors.

2、 The old people who hold the "senior citizen's preferential treatment card" in Chengdu will enjoy half price during the golden week and free tickets for the rest of the time; the old people who hold the "senior citizen's preferential treatment card" in Sichuan will enjoy half price discount; the old people aged 70 and above will enjoy free tickets with their ID cards.

3、 Retirees, disabled persons and servicemen with valid certificates are free of charge.

Opening hours: Jinsha Site Museum is open 365 days a year, and the daily opening hours are 8:00-17:30.

Chinese PinYin : Yu Shi Zhi Lu