Revisit the Silk Road

Tian Siyang basks in the beauty of the desert near Dunhuang, Gansu Province. Photo: Courtesy of Tian Siyang

Surrounded by a vast expanse of desert as far as the eye could see, 26-year-old Tian Siyang was struck by the thought that she was traveling along the same dusty trail that imperial envoy Zhang Qian in Western Han (206BC - AD25) first traversed on camelback more than 2,000 years ago - an excursion that would pave the road for trade between China and Europe.

"To travel along the Silk Road was a dream of mine," said Tian. "I wanted to set foot on the soil that our ancestors treaded thousands of years ago and see what it was like for myself."

Tian fulfilled her dream of traveling along the ancient merchant route in September this year, when she spent 13 days with her husband and in-laws retracing the path from central China to Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, the route's Chinese border.

Her interest in the Silk Road was piqued last year, when she watched a CCTV-produced documentary, Silk Road: The Journey Goes On, which presented the stories of 56 ordinary people living along the historical trade route today. The journey exceeded her expectations.

"I thought it would be beautiful in a desolate way, an endless stretch of yellow, lifeless, uninhabited deserts," Tian said. "But after the trip, I realized that my idea of what it would be was too limited."

"The landscape was very colorful and varied."

In June this year, 33 sites along the Silk Road were placed onto the UNESCO World Heritage List, with 22 of those sites in China. In the wake of the announcements, the China National Tourism Administration announced at the China International Travel Mart held in Shanghai last month that 2015 would "the year of Silk Road tourism", themed "Beautiful China - Journey along the Silk Road."

Traveling the Silk Road

Since its inclusion on the UNESCO World Heritage List, travel agencies in China have intensified their efforts to promote the historical trade route as a tourist destination.

A search on ctrip.com, one of China's largest online travel agencies, yields more than a dozen guided tours starting in Beijing. According to data published by the company, bookings for Silk Road tours more than doubled in the week following its inclusion on the UNESCO World Heritage List.

"The Silk Road being listed on the UNESCO World Heritage List this year made me take the decision to make the trip," said Wang Qichen, a 20-year-old engineering student who traveled the Silk Road in July.

Established during the Han Dynasty (206BC - AD220), the Silk Road flourished until the late 16th century as a means of facilitating commercial and cultural exchange between China and a number of countries linking it to Europe.

The road, which begins in the former Chinese capital of Xi'an, Shaanxi Province, stretches more than 6,000 kilometers through Gansu Province, Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, Qinghai Province and Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region into countries and regions such as Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan.

Wang traveled along the Silk Road by signing up with a number of local tour groups. He said that the most memorable part of his trip on the historical trade route was visiting the ancient merchant town of Dunhuang, a literal oasis amidst the desert plains of Gansu Province.

"The Mogao grottoes [a collection of nearly 500 temples that lie in the southeast of Dunhuang] embody China's recent history," said Wang. "Besides marveling at the magnificent sculptures, seeing the traces of the damage caused both by Chinese people and foreign intruders made me feel proud and angry at the same time."

For Tian, the highlight of her Silk Road journey was the Maijishan grottoes, a labyrinthine maze of caves and Buddhist statues carved into the side of the Maiji Mountain cliff face around 1,600 years ago.