Tea Horse Road 

News: Recently, China’s Ambassador to India, Xu Feihong, shared a post on X about the historic Tea Horse Road, a trade route spanning over 2,000 km that connected China to India through Tibet.

About Tea Horse Road 

• It is an ancient trade route connecting China to India via Tibet. It spanned over 2,000 km, passing through challenging mountainous terrain.
• The Tea Horse Road was not a single route but rather a network of interconnected paths that originated in southwest China and extended to the Indian subcontinent.
• The two primary routes traversed cities such as Dali and Lijiang in Yunnan province before reaching Lhasa in Tibet. From there, they branched out into present-day India, Nepal, and Bangladesh.
• These routes have elevations as high as 10,000 feet.
• It dates back to the Tang dynasty (618-907 CE). Buddhist monk Yijing (7th century) documented early trade on this route.
• It initially facilitated trade in sugar, textiles, rice noodles, Tibetan gold, and herbs. By the Song dynasty (960-1279 CE), it became focused on tea and horses.

Economic & Cultural Importance

• Tea Trade: Tibetans highly valued tea, using it as food and currency.
• Horse Trade: China needed Tibetan horses for military and transport.
• Cultural Exchange: Facilitated trade in medicine, textiles, and religious ideas.
• Contributed to the development of Lijiang as a major trade hub.