An examination of the map shows the area traversed
by the tea-horse trade road is a world of sky-scraping mountains,
with rivers meandering through them from south to north. Stone
slabs used to pave the ancient road are filled with horse
hoofprints. Mani stone mounds by the road are painted or carved
with Buddhas and Buddhist tenets. In the mountain caves by
the road, however, white bones are often seenˇ.
Roughly speaking, there are two routes:
Meals for the horse traders comprised of buttered tea and
roasted highland flour.
Route One:
going from Xishuangbanna and Simao, home to
Puer tea (via Dali, Lijiang, Zhongdian, Benzilan and Deqeng)
in Yunnan Province to Zugong, Bamda, Rewoqe, Zayu or Qamdo,
Lholung, Benba, Jiali, Gongbogyangda, Lhasa, Gyangze and Yadong
in Tibet, before going on to Myanmar, Nepal and India.
Route Two:
going from YaˇŻan in Sichuan to Qamdo via Luding,
Kangding, Litang and Batang before merging with Route One
to Lhasa.
The routes were almost indiscernible until
horses and yaks in their tens of thousands created a definite
path with their hoofs.
Introduction
