Chinese silk is known in European sites (such as Hochdorf) by 500 BC. At this time trade was probably indirect, the Chinese making gifts of silk, mirrors and other luxuries to their troublesome Central Asian neighbours and these eventually finding their way west, having passed through many hands.
Around 130 BC, however, the expedition of Zhang Qian gave the Chinese first-hand knowledge of the states to the west of Central Asia. At much the same time, the rulers of these western states were becoming increasingly interested in establishing direct trade links with the source of eastern luxury goods and raw materials.
By 60 BC the Chinese had won control of the major oasis towns that formed the links in the trans-Asia caravan routes. Military units were stationed in these towns to protect Chinese traders against their hostile nomad neighbours, and many bureaucrats also resided here.
The Kushans, a group of nomad stock, controlled an empire stretching from India through the western part of Central Asia from the 1st century AD and they also promoted trade, along with Buddhism which spread along the trade routes into China.
Although this is known as the Silk Road, there were in fact a number of routes through this region, their location governed by the geography of this exceptionally hostile terrain, with its cold deserts and high, forbidding mountains.
Oases attracted settlers of many nations, a fact reflected in the diversity of languages, religions, scripts and art styles found in these caravan city states. The fall of the Chinese Han dynasty in AD 220 caused a decline in Silk Road trade and the opening up of the sea routes in the south.
