Tea Horse Road in NGM

Apr 20, 2010 1 Replies

Nice article called "The Forgotten Road" in the May issue. Lovely "then and now" scenery, interesting discussion of old-time economics, and a nice shot of a basket of Yiwu maocha



Available on-line at



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-DM


If you like to know more details, there is a book name searching for The Ancient Tea Horse Road.

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The Tea Horse Road wound its way through Yunnan, traveling thousands of kilometers down paths, round trails and over bridges, spread out like a web with strands reaching as far as Tibet, Burma, India and Nepal. The brave men who carried tea along this road faced arduous cliffs and bridges, harrowing cable-crossings, bandits and thieves and the loneliness of the mountain nights. Even the tea itself seemed to grow wiser for having made the journey, though this great road carried much more than tea; it was as much a cultural thoroughfare, blending ethnic groups, art, music, religion and folklore. And though the old trails are paved over, and it is now trucks rather than horses that carry most goods, the heroic men who blazed these trails can still be heard in the distance─laughing and singing to the beat of the jangling bells and clopping hooves.

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