Some people think that several thousand years' Chinese ancient history refers to a story of West China and this story originates from the historical Silk Road. In 1877, the German geographer, Richthofen, gave the name Silk Road to the road from the ancient Chang'an City (today's Xian City) in China to the Mediterranean. It is a legendary overland trade route between China and the Mediterranean. Trips along the road are a feast to the eyes and it abounds with fascinating historical records and priceless relics. A famous Chinese literate Ji Xianlin said, 'In this world, Greece, Iran, India and China have the most profound civilization and greatly brilliant history. These four great civilizations have a conflux in Dunhuang and Xinjiang regions. This conflux, actually, is at Dunhuang, the very elite section of the Silk Road.'The Silk Road runs to Gansu Province with a total length of over 1,600 kilometers (994 miles).
In Gansu, the Silk Road crosses Lanzhou, Wuwei, Tianshui, Zhangye, and Jiuquan along the Hexi Corridor with its mountains and deserts where it reached Jiayuguan - the giant barrier of the Great Wall. Then, at Dunhuang, the key point along the route, it divides into three separate ways through Xinjiang, including the north, middle and south ways.
