Bike tour along the Southern Silk Road Chamadao

Today we cycle along the ancient “Tea and Horse Caravan Road” (or Chamadao in Chinese), which is sometimes also referred to as the “Southern Silk Road of China”, although silk was actually not included in the goods transported over it.

This caravan road in the southwest of China is far less known than its “big brother”: the famous Silk Road. Chamadao means “the tea and horse road” indicating its importance in the trade of tea and horses. Horse caravans transported goods like tea, sugar and salt from Yunnan and Sichuan to Tibet. The Tea and Horse Caravan Road also served as an important corridor for communication between the ethnic minority groups of the region as well as economic and cultural exchange between China and India.

On the way we will explore several Naxi villages, visit a Naxi family and cycle to two important stations along the ancient Tea and Horse Caravan Road: Shuhe and Baisha. We will have lunch in Baisha, the former capital of the Naxi Kingdom, located on the Lijiang plains, through which the Mongols led by Kublai Khan invaded the Nanzhao Kingdom and conquered the Chinese Imperial armies in the 13th century. Baisha's old Taoist/Buddhist frescoes are some of the last of their kind in China and show a gathering of immortals and deities of both religions.