The "Silk Road" is also called "Silk Road". The overland Silk Road was a traffic road that crossed Asia and connected Asia, Europe and Africa in ancient times, with a total length of more than 7,000 kilometers, which was the longest commercial road in the ancient world. Its main route starts from the Weishui River Basin in China in the east, passes through the Hexi Corridor to the west, or passes through the channel in the north of Tarim River in Xinjiang today, crosses the Green Ridge (Pamir Plateau) in the west of Shule (now Kashgar), and goes westward through Dawan (now fergana valley) and Kangju (now near Samarkand); Or through the southern passage of Tarim River, cross the green ridge in the west of shache (now shache county), and then go west through Dayue (now the middle reaches of Amu River). The above two westbound routes will be in Lucheng (present-day Mali), then the west longitude, Duancheng (near Damgan in the southeast of Caspian Sea), A Man (present-day Hamadan), Sibin (present-day southeast of Baghdad) and other places, so as to reach the east coast of the Mediterranean and convey to all parts of ancient Rome. Its branch line also has the passage to the north of Tianshan Mountain and the westbound of Yili River Basin. This ancient east-west traffic avenue was formed after Zhang Qian's mission to the Western Regions in the Han Dynasty. About a thousand years after the second century BC, a large number of China silk and silk fabrics were transported westward through this road, so it was called the "Silk Road".

In addition to land, ancient China's external traffic routes also had sea passages. Sea routes, or direct westward flights from Quanzhou, Guangzhou, Hangzhou, Yangzhou and other ports in southern China; Or through the Yunnan-Myanmar channel, and then from southern Myanmar to the west by sea; Or transfer to ports in the Indian Peninsula via Central Asia and then transport by sea to the west. The most important one is the sea route from Quanzhou to Africa, Egypt, Kenya and other countries via Southeast Asia and West Asia, which is called the "Silk Road" at sea. Zheng He, a famous navigator in Ming Dynasty, once led his fleet to the Western Ocean for seven times, making great contributions to the economic and cultural exchanges between the East and the West.

Although the Silk Road is named for transporting silk and silk fabrics, the goods transported through the Silk Road are far more than these items, as well as lacquerware, porcelain, iron, tea and so on. The items spread from this road to the east include western glass, precious stones, grapes, pomegranates, walnuts, sesame seeds, cucurbits (cucumbers), garlic, carrots, etc., as well as Dawanma and figs. Four great inventions of ancient china (gunpowder, compass, papermaking and letterpress printing) also spread to the west through the land and sea Silk Road; Literature, art and religion from western countries have also spread to China. The Silk Road, like a gorgeous and tough silk tie, linked the ancient civilizations of mankind, communicated the wisdom and creativity of mankind, promoted the economic, cultural and technological exchanges between the East and the West in ancient times, strengthened the friendship and friendly exchanges between people of all countries, and played a huge historical role in the progress and development of human society.

The "Spice Road" was the main sea passage to communicate the trade between Asia, Africa and Europe in ancient times. In the 9th century AD, Venetian merchants bought cloves, cinnamon, cardamom, pepper and other spices produced in Southeast Asian islands in Constantinople, and resold them to Europe, which made huge profits. After the Europeans discovered the new sea route in the 15th century, the Portuguese and Dutch invaded the spice producing areas successively, and transported a large number of spices into the European market through unequal exchange and direct plunder, making amazing profits. This sea route that transports spices from Southeast Asian islands to European markets is called "Spice Road".