The Resurgence of the Ancient Tea and Horse Road

In the past few days, the Mabang Road Ethnic Culture and Art Museum has been free open to the public in Lijiang, Yunnan. The museum is adjacent to the Black Dragon Pool Park, it shows the panorama of the Ancient Tea and Horse Road via a 200-meter-long miniature stereoscopic model, which consists of 1,700 figures, 200 buildings,500 horses and mules, and many other animals and plants. The local artists have taken 3 years to finish these vivid models. They reemerge the natural conditions, religions, social customs and the process of the ancient caravans making their arduous trips over land and water from Yunnan to Tibet. In addition, the museum also uses the videos showing many beautiful landscapes and the relics on the road.

The ancient caravans traversed the beautiful Shangri-La

Ancient Tea and Horse Road

The road stretched across more than 4,000 kilometers mainly in Southwest China's Sichuan and Yunnan provinces and the Tibetan Autonomous Region. Just as the Silk Road, the Ancient Tea and Horse Road disappeared with the dawn of modern civilization, but both routes have played very important roles in the development of China. Different ethnic cultures, such as the Dai, Yi, Han, Bai, Naxi and Tibetans, have met, fused and developed along the road. For thousands of years, it treaded by human feet and horse hoofs in the mountains of Southwest China, bridging the Chinese hinterland and the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. Along the unpaved and often rugged road, tea, salt and sugar flowed into Tibet, while horses, cows, furs, musk and other local products came out. The ancient commercial passage, dubbed the "Ancient Tea-Horse Road", first appeared during the Tang Dynasty (618-907), and lasted until the 1960s when Tibetan highways were constructed.

Staring at the vivid models, the artist was lost in a muse

Some volunteers visited the Museum

Please view the highlights of Ancient Tea and Horse Road from Tibet Travel Tours and Yunnan Tour Packages .

[By Sage - ChinaFactTours.com]