The Tang-Tibet Road And The Tea-Horse Road

Sichuan and Yunnan in southwest China are major tea producing areas since ancient time. So some people guess that Tibet, which is near Sichuan and Yunnan, had tea since Han Dynasty. However, the Tibetans, who held Princess Wencheng in high esteem, chose to believe that it was she who brought tea to Tibet. In early years of Tang Dynasty, Songzan Gambo (617-650), who just founded a slavery regime in Tibet, sent envoys to the capital of Tang to pay respect to Emperor Taizong (begin from 626 to 649) and asked for a marriage. Taizong decided to pick a pong— in his relatives and married her to Tibet. In 641, the team escorting Princess Wencheng to Tibet set forth from capital Chang'an (today's Xi'An of Shaanxi Province), went along the north hank of River Wei and across Long Mountain to Qinzhou (today's Tianshui of Gansu). Then they went on westward through Hezhou (today's Linxia of Gansu) and the Yellow River until they reached Qinghai. They passed Longzhi to Shancheng (today's Xining of Qinghai), along River Qiang (today's Yaowang River) in the direction of southwest They climbed over Zi Mountain (today's Bayankara Mountain) and went across River Maoniu (today's Tongtian River), past Yushu region and over Dangla Mountain to Nagchu in north Tibet At last they arrived at the Tibetan capital Lhasa (today's Lhasa), opening a new chapter in the history of amity between Tang and Tibet.

Princess Wencheng brought to Tibet medicine, calendar, vegetable seed, textile and brewing technique, and tea. It is said that on arriving in Tibet, princess Wencheng wasn't accustomed to the climate and diet there. She drank half a cup of milk at breakfast and drank half a cup of tea to dispel the strong smell. Later she just mixed milk and tea together, adding pine nut core, ghee, etc.. thus giving birth to buttered tea. a drink much loved by the Tibetans.

It is recorded in history records that some of the tea leaves introduced to Tibet at that time were produced in Anhui, Zhejiang, Hunan, Hubei and Sichuan. Starting from the time when Princess Wencheng married to Tibet, envoys came back and forth between Tang Dynasty and Tibet making frequent business. The Tang-Tibet Road quickly flourished in these circumstances. This road is not only for transportation and business between inland China and Qinghai and Tibet since Tang Dynasty, but is the only way from China to Nepal, India and other countries. It has existed for over 1300 years until this day.

The introduction of tea leaves greatly changed the life of the Tibetans. They have folk ballads like this—"food of Han partly fills your stomach while tea of Tibet keeps you full ' and 'one would rather starve for three days than not drink tea for one day." This is because the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau in scarce in vegetable and milk there live on meat and milk, while lea does not only help digest but provides necessary vitamins for human body.

In response to the huge need for tea leaves, a trade channel like the Silk Road emerged. Among the mountains and high peaks in the southwest frontier of China, people opened the most beautiful, most dangerous and most exciting road in the world. For thousands of years, innumerable horse teams come and go on this road. This is the historic 'Tea-Horse Road." It took its primary shaped in Western Han, when it was called “Shu Shen Du Dao," meaning the road between Sichuan and India in Chinese With ihe increasing frequency of business focused on tea leaves, this road bloomed since Tang Dynasty and kept being strengthened in later limes, developing into the biggest and most complex business network in the Asian continent.

In history, Tea-Horse Road has had three major trunks—the Tang-Tibet Road (today's Qing (Qinghai)-Zang (Tibet) trunk) and the two lines later called Dian (Yunnan)-Zang (Tibet) trunk and Chuan (Sichuan)-Zang (Tibet) trunk. Dian-Zang line starts from Xishuangbanna and Simao in south Yunnan, through Lincan& Baishan, Dali, I.ijiang, Zhongdian and Deqin to Changdu, Ltfuhi and Lhasa of Tibet. Chuan-Zang line sets out from Ya'an of Sichuan, through Kangding to Changdu to meet Dian-Zang bnr and then radiates to the whole Tibet through Lhasa. After that tea leaves are told to the other side of Himalaya—India, and other south Asian countries. Among these three Tea-Hors Road, the Tang-Tibet Road developed early. The other two got to be rapidly developed because Tibetans were more and more interested in tea from Sichuan and Yunnan. They were not just for bantering of tea for horses either. Gangs of horse teams shuttled back and forth, dealing in tea leaves and food from Sichuan and Yunnan, medicine and wool of Tibet, and jewelry and spice from India and other countries. To make transportation easier, Yunnan tea leaves were mostly made into bricks or blocks, which were tidy and nice and easy to be packaged and loaded. For thousands of years the Tea-Horse Road has become a key band in the cultural, economic and religious blending of all nationalities in Yunnan, Sichuan and Tibetan areas. It has also become a crucial channel for Chinese tea and Chinese culture to be spread to the world, because through the hands of one merchant after another, the Chinese, the Indian, and the Persian carried tea leaves to the faraway West Asia and Europe.