Trading Silk for Horses: The Surprisingly Simple Origins of the Silk Road

The explorer Zhang Qian had told Emperor Wudi that there was a special breed of horses of great stamina in the Fergana Valley, which would equip China with a formidable cavalry. Delighted, the emperor allowed the trading of silk with the inhabitants of the Fergana region, which led to what would become the Silk Road. A first-century B.C. poem, part of the chronicle of China’s history, the Shiji, marks the arrival of the first of these steeds: The heavenly horses arrive from the Western frontier / Having traveled 10,000 li, they come with great virtue. / With loyal spirit, they defeat foreign nations / And crossing the deserts, all barbarians succumb in their wake! Later, during the Tang period, the horse became a status symbol, a kind of sports car of its day. The breed, however, no longer exists, and is preserved only in paintings and sculptures.