Silk Road丝绸之路

No highway in the world is as laden with romance and adventureas the Silk Road. As recently as the 1930s, travellers on the firststretch from Xi’an to Lanzhou would have to journey by pony, theoriginal ‘slow travel’. Although modes of transport have improvedsince then, only now do we see the introduction of the first everfull-colour guide to the entire 5,000-mile trading route, fromChina to the Mediterranean. Chris Bradley, one of the maincontributors to the newly published Insight Guides’ The Silk Road,takes you on a journey through the landscapes, history and culturesof the Road, as it traverses some 13 countries, highlightingeverything from the domes of Samarkand to the bazaars of Aleppo,the oasis of Turpan to the sands of the Taklamakan, and the wallsof Khiva to the ruins of Palmyra.

——难以想象的旅程
世界上还有哪一条路像丝绸之路那样充满浪漫与传奇色彩呢？
几千年前，这是一条从中国到地中海地区的商旅之路，也是一条朝圣之路，而丝绸只是被交易的众多奢侈品之一。在这条路上奔波的不仅有商人，还有旅行家、传教士、朝圣者，甚至侵略者。科技发明、宗教传统、哲学思想，甚至各地美食，都曾通过这条路得以在东西方之间传播。从这个意义上来说，丝绸之路是一条最古老、也是最重要的信息高速公路，为现代文明奠定了基础。
近年来，随着中国的开放和中亚各国的独立，这条穿越从山峻岭和沙漠荒原的古老商道，对旅行者来说，已不再是遥不可及的了。在丝绸之路上旅行从来都是极富挑战的，大多数障碍往往是无形的意识形态。今天，铁路线和输油管道贯通东西，旅游巴士也带来了越来越多游客，丝绸之路又成为众多旅行者的梦想之旅。