The Silk Road is an important way for ancient Chinese culture to travel to the West. It is the bridge of economic and cultural communication between the west and China.

The so-called Silk Road is defined as the continental passage from Chang An in the east to Rome in the west, which is started by Zhang Qian. The passage has a north and a south branch. The south branch starts from Dunhuang, go out of the Yang custom and along the Kunlun mountain range to reach Da Yuzhi( now is Xin Jiang and northeast of Afganistan), Anxi(now Iran) Tiaoshi (Arab peninsula) finally reached the Empire of Rome. The northern route begins at Yumen custom, along the Southern range of Tianshan Mountain, through Dawan, Kangju, and finally goes together with the South branch. These two branches are called the Silk Road on the land.

Moreover, there are two silk roads that are less popular.  One is the silk road of Southwest. It starts in Sichuan, to Yunnan, to River Yilovadi, and to Menggong located in northern Burma and then goes through the Dun River to reach Mopal in India and go along Heng River range to Southeast India and then Iran Pleatu. This road is much earlier than the land road. In 1986, the archeologists found the mysterious Sanxingdui ruins, which have a history of 3000 years. There are a lot of remains related with ancient Greece and West Asia cultures. Among them there are a golden stick which has a length of 142 centimeters and the God tree which has a height of around four meters and some copper stuff. The experts argued that it is possible that the remains went into China through the communication of East and West. If this is accurate, the Silk Road formed as early as 3000 years ago.

The fourth Silk Road is from Guangzhou. People took the boat along Lajia channel (now Malacca) to Bangladesh, India and Western Africa. This is called Silk Road in the sea. According to the remains in Somali located in East Africa, the road formed in the Song Dynasty.

Silk Road in the sea connected China with the ancient cultural countries and promoted the communication among these areas. It is called the road of conversation between East and West. According to historical materials, Marco Polo came to China through this road.