0:00:02 > 0:00:05This is the story of a trade route that changed the world.
0:00:09 > 0:00:12A route that was over 5l,000 miles long.
0:00:16 > 0:00:18It began with a single commodity.
0:00:20 > 0:00:23A material spun from the cocoon of a moth
0:00:23 > 0:00:26that became the clothing of emperors.
0:00:30 > 0:00:32This was the Silk Road.
0:00:32 > 0:00:35It ran all the way from China's ancient capital
0:00:35 > 0:00:37through Central Asia,
0:00:37 > 0:00:40through mythical cities such as Samarkand,
0:00:40 > 0:00:45or Persepolis, until it reached the bazaars of Istanbul.
0:00:45 > 0:00:46The merchants of Venice.
0:00:49 > 0:00:52It ran through deserts and oases.
0:00:52 > 0:00:55I'll get to see the Silk Road treasures of Iran,
0:00:55 > 0:00:58now once more opening to travellers like me.
0:00:58 > 0:01:00I'm starting to think that I may have actually been
0:01:00 > 0:01:03an Iranian merchant in a former life.
0:01:03 > 0:01:06And it ran through valleys and over mountain passes.
0:01:06 > 0:01:10From Alexander the Great to Genghis Khan,
0:01:10 > 0:01:13emperors and princes fought to control the Silk Road.
0:01:13 > 0:01:15It was worth fighting for.
0:01:15 > 0:01:19Along its many miles, there was money to be made.
0:01:19 > 0:01:23But the peoples on the Silk Road not only bought and bartered goods,
0:01:23 > 0:01:26they also exchanged ideas and techniques
0:01:26 > 0:01:29on which Western Europe would one day depend.
0:01:29 > 0:01:32Paper, gunpowder and musical instruments.
0:01:36 > 0:01:38The Silk Road cut across borders
0:01:38 > 0:01:42and brought cultures into contact and conflict.
0:01:43 > 0:01:46In this episode, I'll travel 2,000 miles
0:01:46 > 0:01:49in the footsteps of the ancient Chinese envoy
0:01:49 > 0:01:52who first made the Silk Road possible.
0:01:52 > 0:01:55I'll meet the goddess who discovered silk
0:01:55 > 0:01:57and I'll find out that on the Silk Road,
0:01:57 > 0:02:00business didn't even stop for death.
0:02:01 > 0:02:05He was expecting to collect on those loans in the afterlife.
0:02:20 > 0:02:21I'm a historian,
0:02:21 > 0:02:25and Venice has always had a special fascination for me.
0:02:27 > 0:02:31It has a central, vital place in European history -
0:02:31 > 0:02:35but there's something strange about it. Something mysterious.
0:02:35 > 0:02:40Charles Dickens once described Venice as an hallucination.
0:02:40 > 0:02:42When he visited here in 1844,
0:02:42 > 0:02:45he was unable to rid himself of the feeling that somehow,
0:02:45 > 0:02:50strangely, weirdly, Venice wasn't a European city at all,
0:02:50 > 0:02:52but an Oriental one which, in his own words,
0:02:52 > 0:02:56"was troubled by the wild, luxuriant fantasies of the East".
0:02:59 > 0:03:04He wrote to a friend, "The wildest visions of the Arabian nights
0:03:04 > 0:03:07"are nothing to the Piazza of St Mark.
0:03:07 > 0:03:09"Opium couldn't build such a place."
0:03:12 > 0:03:15Wherever he looked, he saw the Orient.
0:03:16 > 0:03:19Windows everywhere that belonged to the Arab world.
0:03:22 > 0:03:26Venice is full of traces of the trade on which its wealth was based.
0:03:26 > 0:03:29Memories of a network of business connections
0:03:29 > 0:03:32known today as the Silk Road
0:03:32 > 0:03:35that once stretched across the Mediterranean Sea,
0:03:35 > 0:03:36into the very heart of Asia.
0:03:39 > 0:03:42Once you're aware that these traces are there to be seen,
0:03:42 > 0:03:44you find them everywhere.
0:03:44 > 0:03:47The Doge's Palace in St Mark's Square.
0:03:48 > 0:03:50The ornaments to its roofline
0:03:50 > 0:03:53and the repeated pattern of squares on its facade.
0:03:55 > 0:03:57Well, these aren't European at all.
0:03:57 > 0:04:00They're modelled on Muslim styles of architecture.
0:04:04 > 0:04:07North of the Grand Canal, approaching the edge of Venice,
0:04:07 > 0:04:09we find this.
0:04:11 > 0:04:14Does he look Italian to you? I don't think so.
0:04:16 > 0:04:19Statues like these advertised the presence of people
0:04:19 > 0:04:23who traded in the exotic artefacts and produce, not of Europe,
0:04:23 > 0:04:25but of another world entirely.
0:04:29 > 0:04:32And then, around the corner, a stern-looking fellow
0:04:32 > 0:04:35with a strange metal nose and a pack on his shoulders.
0:04:37 > 0:04:40The fading letters spell out the word Rabarbaro.
0:04:40 > 0:04:42It's the Italian word for rhubarb,
0:04:42 > 0:04:46a plant that first came here from China along the Silk Road.
0:04:46 > 0:04:49No Silk Road, no rhubarb crumble.
0:04:51 > 0:04:53And here's my favourite.
0:04:53 > 0:04:56A house, so the story goes, built by three brothers,
0:04:56 > 0:04:59the Mori brothers, in the 1120s.
0:04:59 > 0:05:00The Palazzo del Cammello.
0:05:02 > 0:05:04The House of the Camel.
0:05:04 > 0:05:08But it's not merely a matter of decorations and carvings.
0:05:08 > 0:05:11It goes deeper than the skin of this old city.
0:05:11 > 0:05:15Commerce is always about more than just the exchange of money.
0:05:15 > 0:05:18If I walk away from a trader with a set of Chinese bowls
0:05:18 > 0:05:20or a barrel of gunpowder, a ream of paper,
0:05:20 > 0:05:23or a text explaining the principles of algebra,
0:05:23 > 0:05:26I'm obviously carrying more than the objects themselves.
0:05:26 > 0:05:28I'm carrying ideas.
0:05:28 > 0:05:31Ideas that can change my life, that of my country,
0:05:31 > 0:05:35sometimes completely, whether I want to admit it or not.
0:05:35 > 0:05:36So here's my question -
0:05:36 > 0:05:39exactly how much does Venice
0:05:39 > 0:05:42and all of Europe really owe to the Silk Road?
0:05:44 > 0:05:48So I'm going on a journey from China through Central Asia,
0:05:48 > 0:05:51through Iran, to Turkey and back here to Venice.
0:05:53 > 0:05:56A very similar journey was made by Marco Polo,
0:05:56 > 0:06:00the Venetian travel writer, trader and explorer extraordinaire
0:06:00 > 0:06:03more than 700 years ago.
0:06:03 > 0:06:07When Marco Polo returned to this great city, he wrote a book.
0:06:07 > 0:06:11Now, I'm going to take one with me instead, to write in - a journal,
0:06:11 > 0:06:12but also a scrapbook,
0:06:12 > 0:06:17somewhere to put photographs of the places and people that I will meet.
0:06:17 > 0:06:20I'm also going to have a few sketches to put in here, as well,
0:06:20 > 0:06:23of the people, of the creatures I might hope to meet.
0:06:23 > 0:06:25Sketches of princesses, of conquerors.
0:06:25 > 0:06:28Now, today, these pages are blank,
0:06:28 > 0:06:30but come with me, watch me fill them -
0:06:30 > 0:06:33and the first thing I'm going to put in here is a map.
0:06:36 > 0:06:41This is China and this is where my journey begins.
0:06:41 > 0:06:47In the 3,000-year-old city that once upon a time was China's capital.
0:06:47 > 0:06:49Xi'an.
0:07:05 > 0:07:09Every evening in Xi'an's old city, the market comes to life.
0:07:12 > 0:07:15Xi'an has always been seen as the beginning of the Silk Road.
0:07:17 > 0:07:20The streets are bustling and narrow,
0:07:20 > 0:07:24but I feel a little like Charles Dickens did in Venice.
0:07:24 > 0:07:26I'm not entirely sure where I am.
0:07:28 > 0:07:30Chinese writing is everywhere,
0:07:30 > 0:07:34but China and Chinese food is rather harder to find.
0:07:36 > 0:07:41Hm. Lamb kebabs, which I'm pretty sure is a Turkish dish.
0:07:41 > 0:07:45Everywhere I look, there are people wearing Islamic prayer hats.
0:07:45 > 0:07:49And this is nothing new. It's not some recent wave of immigration.
0:07:53 > 0:07:58I think you'll agree, I could be forgiven if I became confused.
0:07:58 > 0:08:01And the fact that there's been a Muslim community here
0:08:01 > 0:08:04since the 8th century is entirely due to the Silk Road,
0:08:04 > 0:08:07to the lines of trade and communication it established.
0:08:07 > 0:08:11The Muslims who came here weren't tourists or captives,
0:08:11 > 0:08:13they were traders.
0:08:21 > 0:08:24And all around me in Xi'an's ancient city
0:08:24 > 0:08:26is the world the Silk Road delivers.
0:08:27 > 0:08:29The market, trade.
0:08:31 > 0:08:35And it reminds me that consumer society is nothing new.
0:08:39 > 0:08:42Even something as simple as this.
0:08:42 > 0:08:44White China, blue decoration.
0:08:44 > 0:08:47Now, China's porcelain was incredibly fine,
0:08:47 > 0:08:49but further down the Silk Road,
0:08:49 > 0:08:52I'll find local versions in inferior, thicker clay
0:08:52 > 0:08:57with the same basic shapes, the same basic colour scheme.
0:08:57 > 0:09:01In this single object, you can begin to see the power of the Silk Road.
0:09:05 > 0:09:07Everything sells on the Silk Road -
0:09:07 > 0:09:10and where trade leads, cultures follow.
0:09:13 > 0:09:16The next morning, the market's closed for business.
0:09:19 > 0:09:23In the gardens just beside it, the world seems Chinese again.
0:09:26 > 0:09:30What could be more Chinese than this collection of buildings?
0:09:32 > 0:09:36These eaves, these roofs, this dragon.
0:09:36 > 0:09:38But once I've reached the largest building
0:09:38 > 0:09:42which stands in these gardens, plainer than the others,
0:09:42 > 0:09:46but still apparently very Chinese, I find this.
0:09:46 > 0:09:48RHYTHMIC CHANTING
0:09:53 > 0:09:56It's a mosque. The Great Mosque of Xi'an.
0:09:56 > 0:09:58There's been one here since the 8th century.
0:10:00 > 0:10:05As mixed messages go, this has to be one of the biggest I have ever seen.
0:10:05 > 0:10:08TARDIS levels of strangeness.
0:10:08 > 0:10:14Outside, one place, but inside...another.
0:10:19 > 0:10:22Trade brought these people here and religion came with them
0:10:22 > 0:10:26as inevitably, as naturally as their luggage.
0:10:26 > 0:10:30China was a magnet to traders. For more than a thousand years,
0:10:30 > 0:10:32it was a place of innovations and inventions.
0:10:32 > 0:10:35And, with a regularity that I, as a Westerner,
0:10:35 > 0:10:38feel I have to take personally,
0:10:38 > 0:10:41they came up with these things time and time again
0:10:41 > 0:10:43hundreds of years before we did.
0:10:49 > 0:10:51I'm still in Xi'an, visiting a museum
0:10:51 > 0:10:55dedicated to just one of those vitally important inventions.
0:10:56 > 0:10:58But which one?
0:10:59 > 0:11:02It's not immediately obvious what's going on here.
0:11:02 > 0:11:07This man appears to have it in for a pile of moistened vegetable matter.
0:11:09 > 0:11:11He passes his work on to these ladies,
0:11:11 > 0:11:14who remove the last traces of bark.
0:11:21 > 0:11:25Then a man thrashes at it in a bath until it's broken down entirely.
0:11:26 > 0:11:28What are they up to?
0:11:32 > 0:11:34Ah, it's paper.
0:11:34 > 0:11:38One of those ideas that seems so obvious once you've had it.
0:11:41 > 0:11:43China may have developed paper
0:11:43 > 0:11:46before the time of Christ, for wrapping medicines.
0:11:46 > 0:11:49Writing came later -
0:11:49 > 0:11:53but China's official histories have always dated it 105 AD
0:11:53 > 0:11:55and named the inventor.
0:11:55 > 0:11:57It was a court eunuch,
0:11:57 > 0:12:00a civil servant named Cai Lun, who invented paper.
0:12:00 > 0:12:03The absence of testicles in the Chinese civil service
0:12:03 > 0:12:05were seen as a positive advantage.
0:12:05 > 0:12:08There were fewer distractions.
0:12:08 > 0:12:11Cai Lun was completely focused on his career.
0:12:11 > 0:12:14Now, it has been claimed that he took credit for an invention
0:12:14 > 0:12:16that wasn't really his -
0:12:16 > 0:12:20but he was immediately promoted and has been remembered ever since.
0:12:23 > 0:12:25Here's a new statue of him.
0:12:27 > 0:12:30As well as paper, many other things were invented in China,
0:12:30 > 0:12:34travelled along the Silk Roads and transformed European life.
0:12:34 > 0:12:36From the relatively trivial, the umbrella,
0:12:36 > 0:12:40to the absolutely vital, such as printing.
0:12:43 > 0:12:46Then there's gunpowder and the magnetic compass
0:12:46 > 0:12:49and certain kinds of suspension bridge, certain kinds of pump,
0:12:49 > 0:12:52techniques for deep drilling, rotary fans, wheelbarrows,
0:12:52 > 0:12:55crossbows, kites, the casting of iron, canal locks.
0:12:55 > 0:12:58Once the Silk Road was established,
0:12:58 > 0:13:02there were moments when ideas and commodities were traded along it.
0:13:02 > 0:13:04Now, paper is a good example.
0:13:04 > 0:13:09Until 751, it was an exclusively Chinese technique.
0:13:09 > 0:13:12But then Muslim and Chinese forces met in battle
0:13:12 > 0:13:16way out beyond China's western borders, in a place called Talas.
0:13:16 > 0:13:18The Chinese were defeated.
0:13:18 > 0:13:22And amongst those captured were a band of hapless papermakers.
0:13:22 > 0:13:26Within 50 years, paper was being made in Baghdad,
0:13:26 > 0:13:29but it wasn't until the 12th century that it reached Europe.
0:13:33 > 0:13:36But none of this could happen until there was a Silk Road -
0:13:36 > 0:13:41and that didn't happen until after China became a single kingdom.
0:13:41 > 0:13:44Xi'an is home to the Terracotta Army,
0:13:44 > 0:13:46the construction of which was ordered by the man
0:13:46 > 0:13:51responsible in the 3rd century BC for creating China.
0:13:51 > 0:13:55China is named after him. He was the Qin Emperor.
0:13:57 > 0:13:59When he died in 210 BC,
0:13:59 > 0:14:03his clay god was ready for installation in an elaborate tomb.
0:14:03 > 0:14:068,000 life-sized figures,
0:14:06 > 0:14:09130 chariots and 600 horses.
0:14:09 > 0:14:12A marriage of art and power.
0:14:16 > 0:14:19The dust from the army's construction has long since settled.
0:14:19 > 0:14:21But this business in Xi'an
0:14:21 > 0:14:24is dedicated to producing exact replicas,
0:14:24 > 0:14:26using red clay from the same pits.
0:14:28 > 0:14:31We could easily be in the 3rd century BC.
0:14:31 > 0:14:33Qin Emperor has just died,
0:14:33 > 0:14:37work on the last few ranks of his funeral guard is underway.
0:14:39 > 0:14:43There were deliberate attempts to convey a variety of faces.
0:14:44 > 0:14:45Look into their eyes.
0:14:49 > 0:14:52Here is a ruthless veteran of the wars of conquest.
0:14:54 > 0:14:57And here's a young man who's only just signed up.
0:15:00 > 0:15:03And here are some soldiers who disappointed the emperor.
0:15:09 > 0:15:12And here is the figure of the emperor himself.
0:15:14 > 0:15:17There's more than a hint of self-satisfaction
0:15:17 > 0:15:18about his bearing, don't you think?
0:15:18 > 0:15:20And if there's a sense
0:15:20 > 0:15:23that the faces of all the soldiers are portraits,
0:15:23 > 0:15:25then perhaps this is, too.
0:15:25 > 0:15:28Perhaps some memory is preserved here of the face of the man
0:15:28 > 0:15:33who first forced China, despite itself, to become one realm.
0:15:33 > 0:15:35And, of course, in real life,
0:15:35 > 0:15:38these glorious robes were all made of silk.
0:15:40 > 0:15:43The company's founder, Mr Han, has been working
0:15:43 > 0:15:45on these figures for more than 20 years.
0:15:45 > 0:15:49Why do you think the emperor chose to be buried with his soldiers?
0:16:01 > 0:16:03So, planning to fight in the afterlife.
0:16:03 > 0:16:06What do you think he would've been like if you'd met him?
0:16:37 > 0:16:39Do you think his soldiers would have been frightened of him?
0:16:46 > 0:16:48From the Terracotta Army,
0:16:48 > 0:16:51we learned that the unification of China was no accident.
0:16:51 > 0:16:54It was achieved by force of arms.
0:16:54 > 0:16:57Even in death, the Qin Emperor wanted to leave a reminder
0:16:57 > 0:16:59that China was armed to the teeth
0:16:59 > 0:17:03and that he and his successors wanted more.
0:17:03 > 0:17:06Enough is never enough.
0:17:11 > 0:17:13The court of the Qin Emperor was dangerous.
0:17:13 > 0:17:18One sacked advisor fled the court and left this opinion behind...
0:17:18 > 0:17:21"The King of Qin is like a bird of prey.
0:17:21 > 0:17:23"There is no beneficence in him.
0:17:23 > 0:17:26"He has the heart of a tiger or a wolf.
0:17:26 > 0:17:31"If his ambitions for the empire are fulfilled,
0:17:31 > 0:17:33"all men will be his slaves."
0:17:38 > 0:17:43This army shows that in the century before the Silk Roads opened up,
0:17:43 > 0:17:46China was ready for conquest and expansion,
0:17:46 > 0:17:49but it can show us something else, as well.
0:17:49 > 0:17:53Humans are all life-size and the horses must be, too.
0:17:53 > 0:17:55But they're all tiny.
0:17:57 > 0:18:01In the Qin Emperor's day, all China had was little ponies,
0:18:01 > 0:18:04almost too cute for combat -
0:18:04 > 0:18:08and that remained true for decades after the emperor's death...
0:18:14 > 0:18:17..until a world-changing journey took place.
0:18:17 > 0:18:21It's a journey that China has recently decided to celebrate
0:18:21 > 0:18:25outside Xi'an's ancient city in a carefully antique style.
0:18:26 > 0:18:29On a roundabout in the middle of a business district.
0:18:30 > 0:18:34I'm not sure what I'm seeing here, I haven't been in China long enough,
0:18:34 > 0:18:38but I strongly suspect that art and power are still in bed together.
0:18:42 > 0:18:4450 years after the death of the Qin Emperor,
0:18:44 > 0:18:48there was a new dynasty in charge, the Han dynasty.
0:18:48 > 0:18:50And there was an emperor, Wudi,
0:18:50 > 0:18:52who wanted to deal with the barbarians
0:18:52 > 0:18:55who plagued the edges of his territory.
0:18:56 > 0:18:59The Chinese called these people the Xiongnu.
0:19:01 > 0:19:04Now, the Xiongnu, quite possibly the people that we call the Huns,
0:19:04 > 0:19:07were experts at mobile warfare,
0:19:07 > 0:19:10and they were more than an irritant. They were a threat.
0:19:12 > 0:19:15There were rumours of other people far to the west,
0:19:15 > 0:19:18potential allies in the war against the Xiongnu.
0:19:18 > 0:19:21So the emperor sent an envoy, Zhang Qian,
0:19:21 > 0:19:23on a mission of discovery.
0:19:25 > 0:19:27And here he is.
0:19:28 > 0:19:31It was a long and difficult journey,
0:19:31 > 0:19:33and what this sculpture commemorates
0:19:33 > 0:19:36is what he brought back more than ten years later.
0:19:38 > 0:19:42China's horses were tiny, but the nomads had fabulous steeds.
0:19:42 > 0:19:45So much more impressive than anything in China
0:19:45 > 0:19:48that Zhang Qian declared them heavenly.
0:19:50 > 0:19:54After Zhang Qian returned with tales of these heavenly horses,
0:19:54 > 0:19:56magnificent animals of great stamina,
0:19:56 > 0:19:58which you could ride, if you were brave enough,
0:19:58 > 0:20:01which descended from dragons which sweated blood,
0:20:01 > 0:20:04it was all too much for his emperor to resist.
0:20:04 > 0:20:09Here was the perfect warhorse, which is exactly what China needed
0:20:09 > 0:20:11to defend and extend its borders.
0:20:11 > 0:20:15So almost immediately, Zhang Qian was sent back
0:20:15 > 0:20:18to do the first ever iconic Silk Road deal.
0:20:18 > 0:20:22He would exchange silk for these heavenly horses.
0:20:23 > 0:20:27Zhang Qian's journey would lay the very foundations of the Silk Road.
0:20:28 > 0:20:32But before I retrace his steps, I'm travelling 700 miles
0:20:32 > 0:20:36from Xi'an to the green hills near the city of Chengdu.
0:20:37 > 0:20:40I want to learn more about the miraculous commodity
0:20:40 > 0:20:43on which all this was based - silk.
0:20:44 > 0:20:47And there's someone I want to pay my respects to.
0:20:47 > 0:20:50The person who discovered that fibres from the cocoon
0:20:50 > 0:20:53of the silk moth could be unwound and woven.
0:20:55 > 0:20:58Archaeologists have found and carbon-dated traces
0:20:58 > 0:21:01of silk manufacture from about 5,000 years ago.
0:21:01 > 0:21:04But, pardon me, that's mere science.
0:21:04 > 0:21:07The Chinese prefer to believe that the discovery
0:21:07 > 0:21:12was made by a goddess in about 2,000 BC.
0:21:12 > 0:21:14Good afternoon, Silk Mother.
0:21:16 > 0:21:19The Silk Mother dominates this lush, green landscape
0:21:19 > 0:21:21two hours' drive from Chengdu.
0:21:24 > 0:21:28The worship of the Silk Mother is about 4,000 years old
0:21:28 > 0:21:30and still continues.
0:21:30 > 0:21:32This statue is recently built.
0:21:32 > 0:21:36Mrs Woo and Mrs Liung are its caretakers.
0:21:36 > 0:21:39Very kindly, they've agreed to talk to me...
0:21:39 > 0:21:41at the same time.
0:21:41 > 0:21:43Why do people still revere the Silk Mother?
0:21:59 > 0:22:03Do you teach your children to revere the Silk Mother, as well?
0:22:41 > 0:22:43The Silk Mother wasn't always a goddess.
0:22:46 > 0:22:50Over 4,000 years ago, she was merely human. An emperor's wife.
0:22:50 > 0:22:52Her name was Leizu,
0:22:52 > 0:22:57married to an emperor who was himself more a myth than a reality.
0:22:57 > 0:23:02He reigned from 2697 to 2597 BC.
0:23:02 > 0:23:03A whole century.
0:23:05 > 0:23:08In myths, emperors lived that long.
0:23:08 > 0:23:10One day, she was drinking tea in her garden
0:23:10 > 0:23:12underneath a mulberry tree
0:23:12 > 0:23:16when the cocoon of a silk moth fell out of a branch into her teacup.
0:23:20 > 0:23:23She tried to pick it out, but ended up pulling on a thread.
0:23:23 > 0:23:28Because in scalding heat, the cocoon had begun to unravel.
0:23:28 > 0:23:30And she pulled and she pulled and soon,
0:23:30 > 0:23:34every branch of every tree in the garden was covered in silk.
0:23:36 > 0:23:39So grateful were the Chinese people for her discovery
0:23:39 > 0:23:43that they promoted Leizu. They made her into a goddess.
0:23:59 > 0:24:01Every year at the same time,
0:24:01 > 0:24:05the silk manufacturers of China harvest their cocoons.
0:24:05 > 0:24:08And I'm lucky enough to be here when it happens. It's late October.
0:24:12 > 0:24:16It's almost as if they re-enact the Silk Mother's discovery every year.
0:24:16 > 0:24:21Local farmers arrive with their cocoons, the unique source of silk.
0:24:24 > 0:24:274,000 year ago, before the Silk Roads were established,
0:24:27 > 0:24:32it would have been impossible to see this anywhere else in the world.
0:24:32 > 0:24:35Silk moths could be found only in China.
0:24:37 > 0:24:38Inside each of these cocoons,
0:24:38 > 0:24:43there's a living caterpillar in the process of transforming into a moth.
0:24:43 > 0:24:46I'm really not sure what to make of this place.
0:24:46 > 0:24:49The first thing that hits you is the smell. It smells a bit like a farm.
0:24:49 > 0:24:51And there's this weird noise,
0:24:51 > 0:24:55sort of clicking and clacking as they sort through the tables.
0:24:55 > 0:24:57It really is very odd.
0:25:00 > 0:25:03The cocoons are sorted for colour and quality.
0:25:07 > 0:25:09And then, this.
0:25:09 > 0:25:11Each cocoon is a tiny tragedy.
0:25:15 > 0:25:18They're plunged into boiling water to loosen the threads
0:25:18 > 0:25:21of which they're made,
0:25:21 > 0:25:24so the making of silk has two outcomes.
0:25:24 > 0:25:27A pile of tiny, sodden caterpillar corpses...
0:25:31 > 0:25:34..and this extraordinarily beautiful glossy thread.
0:25:44 > 0:25:47It looks like human hair.
0:25:47 > 0:25:51As though a million Rapunzels have just donated.
0:25:57 > 0:26:00Silk was and is magical.
0:26:00 > 0:26:04The strength of its threads rivals anything we can synthesise.
0:26:04 > 0:26:08When woven into fabric, it has a natural sheen.
0:26:08 > 0:26:12It can be made into luxuriant materials with soft, buttery folds
0:26:12 > 0:26:15or into almost transparent wisps,
0:26:15 > 0:26:19an invitation to extremely bad behaviour.
0:26:19 > 0:26:21Silk itself has been used as money
0:26:21 > 0:26:25and it has become the very stuff of history, too.
0:26:28 > 0:26:32Traded for jewels and jade, traded for weapons and cosmetics,
0:26:32 > 0:26:35traded for slaves, traded from East to West.
0:26:36 > 0:26:38The Romans would desire its secrets,
0:26:38 > 0:26:44and eventually, after centuries of envy, and by espionage, secure them.
0:26:44 > 0:26:47It would become the ultimate commodity.
0:26:49 > 0:26:52This extraordinary thread was the engine of the Silk Road trade
0:26:52 > 0:26:57and between about 200 BC and 1400 AD,
0:26:57 > 0:27:00it was of absolutely vital importance,
0:27:00 > 0:27:04not just to the history of China or to the history of Central Asia,
0:27:04 > 0:27:07but to the history of the world.
0:27:07 > 0:27:11And without the cultural contact, it inspired the changes it generated.
0:27:11 > 0:27:15The ideas and inventions that arose along the Silk Road,
0:27:15 > 0:27:18well, we Westerners would still be counting on our fingers,
0:27:18 > 0:27:23writing on leather and thinking that the earth is flat.
0:27:25 > 0:27:28When Xang Qian set out on his journey to the West,
0:27:28 > 0:27:33China had had silk for at least 2,000 years.
0:27:33 > 0:27:36His journey would end that monopoly.
0:27:36 > 0:27:39Silk would go West, just like Xang Qian.
0:27:39 > 0:27:44His journey was arduous, risky, slow.
0:27:44 > 0:27:47Mine will be more comfortable.
0:27:47 > 0:27:49I want to get to one of the places he'll have passed through,
0:27:49 > 0:27:51or near to,
0:27:51 > 0:27:55a city which, in his day, sat at China's Western edge.
0:27:55 > 0:27:58It's a place called Dunhuang,
0:27:58 > 0:28:01over 1,000 miles, 24 hours, two trains.
0:28:03 > 0:28:07It's not exactly a bullet train, it's more of the turtle train.
0:28:07 > 0:28:09I meant tortoise!
0:28:09 > 0:28:12HE LAUGHS
0:28:12 > 0:28:16After Xang Qian, this journey to the West became commonplace.
0:28:16 > 0:28:19Not just because of horses, but because one of the first things
0:28:19 > 0:28:21that arose from his journey
0:28:21 > 0:28:23was a trading partnership with another race
0:28:23 > 0:28:28who would become of central importance to the Silk Road history.
0:28:28 > 0:28:30Xang Qian made contact with a group of people
0:28:30 > 0:28:33whose stock-in-trade was trade itself.
0:28:33 > 0:28:37The Sogdians, who lived in the heart of central Asia.
0:28:37 > 0:28:39They could sell anything.
0:28:39 > 0:28:43If only they were alive today, Alan Sugar would be spoilt for choice.
0:28:43 > 0:28:45He'd probably hire the lot.
0:28:47 > 0:28:49The Sogdians were of Persian descent.
0:28:49 > 0:28:53Here, we see them bearing tribute to the Persian Emperor,
0:28:53 > 0:28:57accompanied by a camel, their pack animal of choice.
0:28:57 > 0:29:02The Chinese sent more envoys to these Sogdian traders.
0:29:02 > 0:29:06China reached out to the West, trade began to flow and with it,
0:29:06 > 0:29:11ideas, religions, commodities of every sort.
0:29:11 > 0:29:15Cosmetics, rare oils, works of art, weapons of war and slaves.
0:29:17 > 0:29:21On the Silk Road, everything and anybody was for sale.
0:29:21 > 0:29:24There would be deals, there would be battles,
0:29:24 > 0:29:25and Europe's future,
0:29:25 > 0:29:28when it would discover the new and startling things
0:29:28 > 0:29:30the Silk Road had to offer, grew closer.
0:29:32 > 0:29:35Imagine that this train contains not people,
0:29:35 > 0:29:37but ideas and inventions
0:29:37 > 0:29:40that will arrive in Europe and change everything.
0:29:40 > 0:29:44Imagine that it contains paper, stirrups, gunpowder, compasses.
0:29:46 > 0:29:49That's the power of the Silk Road.
0:29:49 > 0:29:54It brings change. Unstoppable, inevitable change.
0:29:56 > 0:29:59Change on the Silk Road could be fundamental,
0:29:59 > 0:30:01it could travel in almost any direction.
0:30:04 > 0:30:08Xang Qian's journey brought him to Dunhuang.
0:30:08 > 0:30:12He was near what would become the middle of the Silk Road,
0:30:12 > 0:30:15a territory occupied by one people after another,
0:30:15 > 0:30:18conquered, reconquered, taken and lost.
0:30:23 > 0:30:26In the second century after Christ,
0:30:26 > 0:30:29that process of constant change brought Buddhism to China.
0:30:31 > 0:30:36By Xang Qian's day, Dunhuang was a vibrant focus for Buddhist culture,
0:30:36 > 0:30:38with a complex of almost 500 caves,
0:30:38 > 0:30:44full of Buddhist imagery, statuary and art - the Mogao Caves.
0:30:44 > 0:30:47They've been included in UNESCO's list
0:30:47 > 0:30:50of World Heritage Sites since 1987.
0:30:51 > 0:30:55Inside, they are monumental, massively varied.
0:30:57 > 0:31:00There are Buddhas who could step on you and never notice.
0:31:02 > 0:31:06Amidst it all, there was room for images that evoked
0:31:06 > 0:31:10the sometimes unpleasant realities of life along the Silk Road.
0:31:12 > 0:31:17Well, here's proof that this trading business wasn't all fun and games.
0:31:17 > 0:31:19Here, we've got some bandits with their swords
0:31:19 > 0:31:22lying in ambush for some Silk Road traders.
0:31:24 > 0:31:27But the biggest moral we can draw from these caves
0:31:27 > 0:31:31has more to do with relations between East and West -
0:31:31 > 0:31:35our failure to grasp how much Europe owes to the Silk Road.
0:31:37 > 0:31:39As the 19th century drew to a close,
0:31:39 > 0:31:42a huge cache of documents was discovered here.
0:31:42 > 0:31:47Documents dating from between the third and 10th centuries AD.
0:31:47 > 0:31:51Archaeologists from Europe, Russia and even Japan
0:31:51 > 0:31:53descended on Dunhuang.
0:31:53 > 0:31:57Imagine, for the next few minutes, that you're one of them.
0:31:57 > 0:32:00You are an explorer and archaeologist,
0:32:00 > 0:32:03Hungarian-born, British by choice.
0:32:03 > 0:32:07The year is 1907 And your name is Aurel Stein.
0:32:08 > 0:32:11Here you are. Neat, freshly washed and combed.
0:32:11 > 0:32:15The embodiment of Western civilisation and all its values.
0:32:22 > 0:32:26You discover that the Mogao Caves are in the charge of the abbot
0:32:26 > 0:32:28of the nearby Daoist monastery.
0:32:30 > 0:32:33You meet the abbot and you take a picture of him.
0:32:33 > 0:32:36He looks a bit simple and shabby.
0:32:36 > 0:32:38And that's how you treat him.
0:32:38 > 0:32:39Shabbily.
0:32:41 > 0:32:45You expend a certain amount of energy on charming the abbot
0:32:45 > 0:32:49and you gain access to the cell where the documents were found.
0:32:51 > 0:32:55You discover a solid mass of manuscript bundles,
0:32:55 > 0:32:57rising to nearly ten feet.
0:32:57 > 0:33:03You later calculate that's almost 500 cubic feet of documents.
0:33:03 > 0:33:06You also note that in other caves, there are paintings
0:33:06 > 0:33:08dating from the Tang Dynasty -
0:33:08 > 0:33:11that's from the 7th to the 9th centuries.
0:33:11 > 0:33:14You take your pick, having to rip them off the walls.
0:33:14 > 0:33:18You also take your pick of the documents,
0:33:18 > 0:33:20including the Diamond Sutra,
0:33:20 > 0:33:23the earliest printed book ever discovered,
0:33:23 > 0:33:25dating from the 9th century.
0:33:25 > 0:33:31And then you convince Abbot Wang that £130 is more than enough
0:33:31 > 0:33:33for all of these treasures.
0:33:33 > 0:33:34And then you leave.
0:33:35 > 0:33:39You load 29 cases of your plunder onto the backs of camels
0:33:39 > 0:33:42and take everything back to Britain.
0:33:42 > 0:33:46That, as they say, is how we rolled in 1907.
0:33:46 > 0:33:49Aurel Stein was no worse, and certainly no better,
0:33:49 > 0:33:53than the other archaeologists from Germany, France, Russia,
0:33:53 > 0:33:55who saw China's weakness in those years
0:33:55 > 0:33:58as a opportunity to plunder her past.
0:34:00 > 0:34:03For Mr Wang Zhu-Dong, the director of the Mogao Caves,
0:34:03 > 0:34:06the wounds are still fresh.
0:34:06 > 0:34:07How do you feel about the fact
0:34:07 > 0:34:11that so many wonderful treasures were taken away from you?
0:34:38 > 0:34:40Could you talk a little
0:34:40 > 0:34:45about the extraordinary variety of material that was in the cave,
0:34:45 > 0:34:49and particularly, all the languages that the documents were written in?
0:35:25 > 0:35:26How...
0:35:26 > 0:35:28would you like to move forward,
0:35:28 > 0:35:31considering that all of these treasures
0:35:31 > 0:35:32are now spread around the world?
0:35:32 > 0:35:35Do you think that they should be brought back?
0:35:54 > 0:35:56This truth would have been lost on Aurel Stein.
0:35:58 > 0:36:02He returned many times to Dunhuang to strip it of antiquities.
0:36:06 > 0:36:09On his second visit, in the desert,
0:36:09 > 0:36:12he discovered a postbag lost in the fourth century,
0:36:12 > 0:36:14containing undelivered letters,
0:36:14 > 0:36:18several written by the silk road's legendary traders -
0:36:18 > 0:36:19the Sogdians.
0:36:22 > 0:36:25Translated, they revealed the stock phrases
0:36:25 > 0:36:27of Sogdian courtesy and goodwill.
0:36:32 > 0:36:36"It would be a good day for him who might see you happy.
0:36:36 > 0:36:40"It would be a good day for him who might see you healthy and at ease".
0:36:40 > 0:36:42And my favourite one of all -
0:36:42 > 0:36:45"When I hear news of your good health,
0:36:45 > 0:36:47"I consider myself immortal."
0:36:50 > 0:36:52Written as they are by Sogdians,
0:36:52 > 0:36:54most of the letters are about business,
0:36:54 > 0:36:57reports to employers of what they have to sell,
0:36:57 > 0:36:59what's selling well, what is selling badly.
0:36:59 > 0:37:02Silver, linen, unfinished cloth, pepper
0:37:02 > 0:37:06and powdered white lead - a cosmetic - are referred to.
0:37:06 > 0:37:10All the letters dated from early in the fourth century.
0:37:10 > 0:37:14They speak to us across a gulf of 1,700 years.
0:37:16 > 0:37:19One of them was written by a Sogdian woman named Miwnay
0:37:19 > 0:37:23to her errant husband, called Nanaidhat, who had abandoned her.
0:37:23 > 0:37:27After the standard Sogdian messages of goodwill,
0:37:27 > 0:37:29her real feelings become apparent.
0:37:31 > 0:37:33"Behold", she writes,
0:37:33 > 0:37:36"I am living badly, not well, wretchedly.
0:37:36 > 0:37:38"And I consider myself dead.
0:37:38 > 0:37:41"Again and again I send you a letter,
0:37:41 > 0:37:44"but I do not receive a single letter from you.
0:37:44 > 0:37:47"And I have become without hope towards you.
0:37:48 > 0:37:50"My misfortune is this -
0:37:50 > 0:37:54"I have been in Dunhuang for three years, thanks to you.
0:37:54 > 0:37:58"Surely the gods were angry with me on the day I did your bidding.
0:37:58 > 0:38:03"I would rather be a dog's or a pig's wife than yours".
0:38:06 > 0:38:10It's a tantalising glimpse into her life.
0:38:10 > 0:38:11We know no more.
0:38:11 > 0:38:14And we want to.
0:38:14 > 0:38:16Was she OK?
0:38:16 > 0:38:17Did she get home? Did she remarry?
0:38:18 > 0:38:21Or did she die here?
0:38:21 > 0:38:23Have I walked over her grave?
0:38:27 > 0:38:29Lives we can understand,
0:38:29 > 0:38:31real lives were lived here,
0:38:31 > 0:38:33began and ended here.
0:38:34 > 0:38:36Dunhuang is full of such memories.
0:38:38 > 0:38:40Memories, too, of real choices.
0:38:40 > 0:38:44The fact that, at every oasis, at every city along the silk road,
0:38:44 > 0:38:47the trader faced moment of decision.
0:38:47 > 0:38:51In this case, it was, "How shall I cross the desert?"
0:38:51 > 0:38:55And then other little worries came hurrying along.
0:38:55 > 0:38:58Where can I sell what I'm carrying?
0:38:59 > 0:39:01Will what I'm carrying survive?
0:39:02 > 0:39:03Will I?
0:39:06 > 0:39:11Today, tourists can hire camels for a ride across the dunes.
0:39:11 > 0:39:14They are the right kind of camels, Bactrian, two-humped.
0:39:14 > 0:39:18The Chinese had known the breed for centuries by the time Zhang Qian
0:39:18 > 0:39:21set off on his journey and, for centuries more,
0:39:21 > 0:39:26it would remain the most important pack animal along the silk road.
0:39:26 > 0:39:28So, yes, ride camels -
0:39:28 > 0:39:32but this is where the authenticity begins to stutter slightly.
0:39:32 > 0:39:35Come in, number 591. Your time is up.
0:39:37 > 0:39:41The camel trek brings the tourists to Crescent Lake.
0:39:41 > 0:39:45A real enough oasis. Certainly once a real stop on the silk road.
0:39:45 > 0:39:50But, by the 1990s, the oasis had largely run dry.
0:39:50 > 0:39:53Apparently, ever since, it's been regularly topped up.
0:39:54 > 0:39:59The desert is entirely real, but today it is tame enough to walk in.
0:39:59 > 0:40:01Tame enough to write on.
0:40:02 > 0:40:05It's no longer what it was...
0:40:05 > 0:40:07which was terrifying.
0:40:10 > 0:40:13The desert that stretched to the west of Dunhuang
0:40:13 > 0:40:15was the stuff of fables.
0:40:15 > 0:40:19130,000 square miles of extreme aridity.
0:40:19 > 0:40:22A graveyard for the unwise silk roader -
0:40:22 > 0:40:23the Taklamakan.
0:40:28 > 0:40:32People are unsure of where the name derives from, or its exact meaning -
0:40:32 > 0:40:36but none of the possible translations are very appealing.
0:40:36 > 0:40:38The place of ruins.
0:40:38 > 0:40:40The abandoned place.
0:40:40 > 0:40:42The place to leave behind.
0:40:46 > 0:40:49You couldn't go through it, there was no water.
0:40:49 > 0:40:52West of Dunhuang, you made your choice.
0:40:52 > 0:40:54You go to the desert's north, or its south.
0:41:06 > 0:41:08Eventually, you came to a gate.
0:41:08 > 0:41:10There was once one here,
0:41:10 > 0:41:14and the Great Wall of China stretched out on either side.
0:41:14 > 0:41:17This is the Yangguan. The Yang Pass.
0:41:17 > 0:41:20You paid your toll and passed through.
0:41:22 > 0:41:25If you were a trader, you thought about your return.
0:41:25 > 0:41:30What you might exchange your silk, your cosmetic, your paper for.
0:41:30 > 0:41:31You thought about profit.
0:41:32 > 0:41:35But exiles came this way, too.
0:41:35 > 0:41:37This was China's western edge.
0:41:37 > 0:41:41It became a place that inspired poetry about loss,
0:41:41 > 0:41:44the painful separation of friends.
0:41:44 > 0:41:50"On the long road from the Yang Pass, not one person returns.
0:41:50 > 0:41:53"Only the geese on the river fly south for the winter".
0:41:55 > 0:41:56Or...
0:41:56 > 0:42:00"The morning rain of Weicheng dampens the dust.
0:42:00 > 0:42:04"The guesthouse is green, like fresh willows.
0:42:04 > 0:42:07"Let's finish one more cup of wine, dear sir.
0:42:07 > 0:42:11"West of Yangguan, you'll meet no more old friends".
0:42:14 > 0:42:17Here, at the edge of the Taklamakan, the Chinese authorities
0:42:17 > 0:42:20have done their best to supply what time has destroyed,
0:42:20 > 0:42:22or history never provided.
0:42:24 > 0:42:26This shaded viewpoint,
0:42:26 > 0:42:30wagons abandoned by the silk road traders
0:42:30 > 0:42:31and the Yang fortress,
0:42:31 > 0:42:34ruined by centuries of desert weather
0:42:34 > 0:42:37and recently rebuilt, cast in concrete.
0:42:42 > 0:42:46Inside, pillars carved with camels and caravans
0:42:46 > 0:42:49supply the necessary silk road branding.
0:42:49 > 0:42:53And, of course, there is another essential ingredient.
0:42:53 > 0:42:54Our old friend.
0:42:56 > 0:42:59Here is Zhang Qian,
0:42:59 > 0:43:02astride another one of those heavenly horses.
0:43:04 > 0:43:06The more I follow in Zhang Qian's footsteps,
0:43:06 > 0:43:10the further along the silk road I go, the more I find that China
0:43:10 > 0:43:15has put a great deal of effort into bringing it all back to life.
0:43:15 > 0:43:19The obvious reason is that the silk road is becoming a tourist route,
0:43:19 > 0:43:21which requires tourist destinations.
0:43:21 > 0:43:26Less obviously, China is reopening doors into its past,
0:43:26 > 0:43:29many of which have been shut since the days of Mao Zedong.
0:43:31 > 0:43:33History is once again permitted.
0:43:36 > 0:43:37I've made my choice.
0:43:37 > 0:43:41I'll take the Northern passage along the edge of the Taklamakan.
0:43:41 > 0:43:44I want to get to an oasis city, called Turpan.
0:43:44 > 0:43:46And I'm beginning to wonder if, somewhere,
0:43:46 > 0:43:48I might see a heavenly horse for myself.
0:43:51 > 0:43:53I've travelled 500 miles.
0:43:53 > 0:43:56I'm still well within China's current borders.
0:43:56 > 0:43:59But it really doesn't feel like it.
0:43:59 > 0:44:01It feels as though I've gone much further.
0:44:01 > 0:44:04The writing on the wall looks like Arabic.
0:44:04 > 0:44:07I'm surprised, just as I was by the Great Mosque in Xi'an.
0:44:11 > 0:44:15Here in Turpan is a world of Islam.
0:44:15 > 0:44:19Mosques and minarets and faces that are not Chinese.
0:44:19 > 0:44:21These people are Uyghur,
0:44:21 > 0:44:24and the Uyghur are a vexed question.
0:44:24 > 0:44:27Their history is far from simple.
0:44:29 > 0:44:33The Uyghur have been here since the ninth century.
0:44:33 > 0:44:36The Chinese authorities treat them as a single minority,
0:44:36 > 0:44:40but even the briefest look at their faces reveals a mixed heritage.
0:44:40 > 0:44:44Some look Caucasian, some look Turkish, some more Mongol.
0:44:44 > 0:44:47A few might even be Chinese.
0:44:47 > 0:44:50And that is their story.
0:44:50 > 0:44:53They arrived here from lands that had been conquered by the Mongols,
0:44:53 > 0:44:56settling around the edges of the Taklamakan desert.
0:44:56 > 0:44:59The language that they spoke was related to Turkish.
0:44:59 > 0:45:03But, once here, they interbred, converted to Buddhism,
0:45:03 > 0:45:07and were eventually conquered and converted by Islamic forces.
0:45:07 > 0:45:10On the silk road, tribes, even entire races,
0:45:10 > 0:45:13get knocked from place to place, like billiard balls.
0:45:17 > 0:45:19The Uyghur are living history,
0:45:19 > 0:45:20and Turpan itself
0:45:20 > 0:45:24is a cupboard containing several sorts of yesterday.
0:45:24 > 0:45:27One of them is an ancient tradition -
0:45:27 > 0:45:29that of Chinese wine.
0:45:30 > 0:45:34I'm here at entirely the wrong time of year to see grapes on the vines.
0:45:34 > 0:45:36If I were here in summer,
0:45:36 > 0:45:39I'd be sweltering in 40-degree heat at the very least.
0:45:39 > 0:45:4150 degrees is more common.
0:45:41 > 0:45:44But now people are getting ready for a winter
0:45:44 > 0:45:48that will be well below freezing, pulling the vines off their frames,
0:45:48 > 0:45:50so that they will be less exposed to the cold.
0:45:50 > 0:45:52It's going to be quite a long day.
0:45:56 > 0:46:00Grapes have been grown here for about 2,000 years.
0:46:00 > 0:46:02Some people say they were brought here by Zhang Qian.
0:46:04 > 0:46:07That, to me, it seems a bit...
0:46:07 > 0:46:11neat. As if everything momentous that happens on the silk road
0:46:11 > 0:46:14has to be attributed to that miraculous Chinese envoy.
0:46:15 > 0:46:19The truth appears to be that when Zhang Qian passed this way,
0:46:19 > 0:46:22the grapes were already here.
0:46:22 > 0:46:25Brought, perhaps, by the short-lived empire of Alexander the Great.
0:46:25 > 0:46:29When he finally returned to his emperor in China's ancient capital,
0:46:29 > 0:46:32Zhang Qian took some of those grapevines with him.
0:46:34 > 0:46:38It's a tradition that China has only recently learned to treasure.
0:46:38 > 0:46:42The Loulan Company in Turpan is a little more than 20 years old,
0:46:42 > 0:46:45but it draws on a much deeper history.
0:46:45 > 0:46:48It is named after a lost kingdom, once centred on Turpan.
0:46:48 > 0:46:51I am meeting the managing director, Mr Wang,
0:46:51 > 0:46:54in a boardroom lavishly decorated with reproductions
0:46:54 > 0:46:57of that kingdom's ancient glories -
0:46:57 > 0:46:59good wine, nice chairs,
0:46:59 > 0:47:01odd conversation.
0:47:02 > 0:47:04So what have we got here?
0:47:21 > 0:47:24That's absolutely delicious.
0:47:24 > 0:47:28It's nice to think of some silk road traders having a rest
0:47:28 > 0:47:31and sipping some wine in Turpan all of those years ago.
0:48:09 > 0:48:13With every answer, Mr Wang adds another thousand years
0:48:13 > 0:48:16to the history of winemaking in Turpan.
0:48:16 > 0:48:18It reminds me of the silk mother.
0:48:19 > 0:48:22China's history is so long...
0:48:22 > 0:48:26that all its tales grow in the telling.
0:48:26 > 0:48:27LAUGHTER
0:48:27 > 0:48:28THEY TOAST
0:48:32 > 0:48:35But some of Turpan's ghosts have much more substance.
0:48:37 > 0:48:42The Astana Cemetery lies 25 miles from Turpan itself.
0:48:42 > 0:48:45Its tombs contained bodies over 1,000 years old,
0:48:45 > 0:48:48mummified by the desert climate -
0:48:48 > 0:48:53and buried with many of them were contracts, records of deals done.
0:48:53 > 0:48:56One of the archaeologists who dug here was Aurel Stein,
0:48:56 > 0:49:00so we already know the fate of many of these fascinating documents.
0:49:00 > 0:49:01They are in Britain.
0:49:04 > 0:49:08These bodies are a husband and wife of the seventh century.
0:49:08 > 0:49:11I feel...a little uncomfortable.
0:49:11 > 0:49:14After all, they hardly invited me in.
0:49:17 > 0:49:19In another tomb, the body of a moneylender,
0:49:19 > 0:49:22called Zuo Chongxi, was discovered.
0:49:22 > 0:49:23The contracts found with him
0:49:23 > 0:49:27were particularly revealing about business on the silk road.
0:49:27 > 0:49:32We learn that he took payment in silver coins and bolts of silk
0:49:32 > 0:49:35and that, when he died, he was ensnaring a local farmer
0:49:35 > 0:49:36in a stifling debt.
0:49:39 > 0:49:41He was grasping, he was flinty.
0:49:41 > 0:49:43Think Ebenezer Scrooge.
0:49:45 > 0:49:50He was 57 when he died in the year 673,
0:49:50 > 0:49:53and the contracts reveal a small number of loans,
0:49:53 > 0:49:56which were outstanding at the time of his death.
0:49:56 > 0:49:59The implication being that he was expecting
0:49:59 > 0:50:02to collect on those loans in the afterlife.
0:50:05 > 0:50:07Zuo's standard rate of interest
0:50:07 > 0:50:12was a bloodsucking 10 to 15% a month.
0:50:12 > 0:50:14It reminds us that along the Silk Road,
0:50:14 > 0:50:16business was done scruple free...
0:50:17 > 0:50:20..and that payday loans are nothing new.
0:50:32 > 0:50:35If wine was indeed already being made here in Zuo's lifetime,
0:50:35 > 0:50:39it's easy to imagine his customers and clients making good use of it.
0:50:40 > 0:50:43People drank it to forget their debts.
0:50:49 > 0:50:53Zuo's ghost is one I'm happy to leave behind.
0:50:53 > 0:50:57It's time to leave Turpan and drive for a couple of hours to the West,
0:50:57 > 0:50:59towards the Tian Shan mountains.
0:51:03 > 0:51:06We are at least 100-miles north-west of Turpan.
0:51:06 > 0:51:08We've come out here to the mountains.
0:51:08 > 0:51:11It's staggeringly, breathtakingly cold,
0:51:11 > 0:51:13but we've come here because we've had a tip-off
0:51:13 > 0:51:16that there's a nomad out here with about 100 horses.
0:51:16 > 0:51:18So, I've come out to see if any of them
0:51:18 > 0:51:20are those wonderful heavenly horses.
0:51:20 > 0:51:23But I'm not sure what I'm going to find.
0:51:25 > 0:51:29Before we start filming, I glimpse a couple of large horses.
0:51:29 > 0:51:30But they disappear.
0:51:30 > 0:51:32The ones left behind look like something
0:51:32 > 0:51:34from the Shetland end of the scale.
0:51:34 > 0:51:37Even smaller than the Terracotta Army horses.
0:51:37 > 0:51:39There's certainly loads of them.
0:51:39 > 0:51:40I wonder why.
0:51:40 > 0:51:42So, I ask why.
0:51:42 > 0:51:44Stupid of me, really.
0:51:44 > 0:51:46Mr Ye, why do you have so many horses?
0:51:46 > 0:51:47QUESTION IS TRANSLATED
0:51:50 > 0:51:52HE SPEAKS OWN LANGUAGE
0:51:56 > 0:51:59We raise these horses in winter.
0:51:59 > 0:52:02We will sell the horse meat.
0:52:02 > 0:52:04The smoked horse meat.
0:52:04 > 0:52:09So, in the past 30 years, I have got more than 100 horses.
0:52:09 > 0:52:13'Ah, despite appearances, I'm in an abattoir.
0:52:14 > 0:52:18After a moment's respectful silence, I ask about the larger horses,
0:52:18 > 0:52:22and Mr Ye assures me that they are indeed heavenly.
0:52:24 > 0:52:29Somewhere in this fairytale forest is a heavenly horse,
0:52:29 > 0:52:32and Mr Ye has sent his lads off to try and heard it up.
0:52:32 > 0:52:36So, I'm expecting it to magically appear.
0:52:36 > 0:52:40It wouldn't surprise me if Little Red Riding Hood came along, as well.
0:52:47 > 0:52:49There he is.
0:52:49 > 0:52:50Not very big.
0:52:50 > 0:52:53Perhaps the heavenly horse was only something Zhang Qian
0:52:53 > 0:52:55had never seen before.
0:52:55 > 0:52:57A horse of normal size.
0:52:57 > 0:52:58Even so.
0:53:01 > 0:53:03You can only wonder what he thought when he first saw
0:53:03 > 0:53:07a horse of that size when he was used to such small ponies.
0:53:08 > 0:53:12He would have known that it was going to change his world.
0:53:13 > 0:53:16But when you look closely you can see that this horse
0:53:16 > 0:53:19is not in the best of condition.
0:53:19 > 0:53:24I wish I had met a heavenly horse that was prouder, freer, healthier
0:53:24 > 0:53:25and not for dinner.
0:53:30 > 0:53:33Zhang Qian wouldn't meet his heavenly horses
0:53:33 > 0:53:36until he was well beyond China's western border.
0:53:37 > 0:53:38So, westward I go.
0:53:38 > 0:53:42Another 300 miles to the city of Khotan.
0:53:48 > 0:53:51Close to the border, no more than 100 miles
0:53:51 > 0:53:56from Pakistan to the south-west, the Himalayas and India due South.
0:53:56 > 0:54:00Here, the population is about 90% Uyghur
0:54:00 > 0:54:04and their historical connections with the Silk Road are strong.
0:54:07 > 0:54:10Khotan was one of the first places outside of central China
0:54:10 > 0:54:12that began to cultivate silk.
0:54:12 > 0:54:16And legend has it that it came not as an official export,
0:54:16 > 0:54:19but by an act of subterfuge.
0:54:19 > 0:54:22In 1900, our old friend from Dunhuang, Aurel Stein,
0:54:22 > 0:54:25found some evidence to support that legend
0:54:25 > 0:54:27in some desert ruins 80 miles from here,
0:54:27 > 0:54:29and he did what he always did -
0:54:29 > 0:54:32he removed it, labelled it and took it to the British Museum.
0:54:32 > 0:54:34I've brought along a sketch.
0:54:46 > 0:54:47So the story goes,
0:54:47 > 0:54:51a Chinese princess was offered in marriage to the king of Khotan.
0:54:51 > 0:54:53But being unhappy about being reduced
0:54:53 > 0:54:55to a term in a diplomatic deal
0:54:55 > 0:54:58and fearing a life without any sort of luxury here
0:54:58 > 0:55:00in this distant province,
0:55:00 > 0:55:03she decided to take matters into her own hands.
0:55:03 > 0:55:05Before she left on her journey,
0:55:05 > 0:55:09she hid silk worms and mulberry seeds in her head dress.
0:55:09 > 0:55:12Thus, the secret of silk cultivation made its escape
0:55:12 > 0:55:16from the Chinese heartland and it's been here ever since.
0:55:19 > 0:55:22Khotan's markets and bazaars are full of silk fabrics
0:55:22 > 0:55:24to this very day.
0:55:24 > 0:55:26And for at least 1,000 years,
0:55:26 > 0:55:28they've been making it in this style.
0:55:28 > 0:55:30Known as Atlas silk.
0:55:30 > 0:55:32I've been waiting 2,000 miles to see this.
0:55:36 > 0:55:38The silks embrace colour with a wild abandon.
0:55:38 > 0:55:41Nothing is supposed to blend tastefully,
0:55:41 > 0:55:43it's all designed for maximum impact.
0:55:43 > 0:55:45It's so bright that if you look at it
0:55:45 > 0:55:48and then look away you get flashing after-images.
0:55:48 > 0:55:51In fact, it's quite difficult to explain just how much
0:55:51 > 0:55:54this Atlas silk pokes you in the pupils.
0:55:54 > 0:55:56It's as if the colour decisions are all made
0:55:56 > 0:56:00on the basis of which is most likely to cause retinal detachment.
0:56:00 > 0:56:01I love it.
0:56:02 > 0:56:04The results insist very loudly indeed
0:56:04 > 0:56:09that although the Uyghur territories have been part of China's dominions
0:56:09 > 0:56:14for over 200 years, the makers of this fabric are not Chinese at all.
0:56:14 > 0:56:16Many Uyghur don't even speak Chinese.
0:56:19 > 0:56:23Khotan very clearly identifies itself as a Silk Road city.
0:56:23 > 0:56:27Everywhere I've been in China there have been new tourist opportunities
0:56:27 > 0:56:31and statues commemorating figures from the rich bed of history.
0:56:31 > 0:56:36China wants to remind itself and us that in the days of the Silk Road
0:56:36 > 0:56:39it was a place of commerce and creativity.
0:56:39 > 0:56:42That however it spent the 20th-century,
0:56:42 > 0:56:45it wants to do business now.
0:56:45 > 0:56:47And doesn't want anything else to matter.
0:56:52 > 0:56:54Beyond Khotan, the desert reasserts itself.
0:56:57 > 0:57:00But today, the Chinese government refuses to listen
0:57:00 > 0:57:03to what the sand has to say.
0:57:03 > 0:57:05They're editing the desert.
0:57:08 > 0:57:12Flattening dunes, planting hardy grasses.
0:57:12 > 0:57:14Pushing it all back -
0:57:14 > 0:57:16or trying to.
0:57:16 > 0:57:18More than 2,000 years later,
0:57:18 > 0:57:23and they're still not letting this godforsaken place get in their way.
0:57:23 > 0:57:27There's more than a little of the spirit of Zhang Qian in all of this.
0:57:27 > 0:57:29I can still feel his yearning presence
0:57:29 > 0:57:31faithfully doing his emperor's bidding.
0:57:31 > 0:57:35Constantly pushing westward, making contacts.
0:57:35 > 0:57:38Each contact maturing into a deal done
0:57:38 > 0:57:41and each deal carrying with it an extra little burden
0:57:41 > 0:57:44of cultural change and contact.
0:57:44 > 0:57:48Once he got through this desert he'd come to a mountain pass.
0:57:48 > 0:57:49And once through that mountain pass
0:57:49 > 0:57:53he would come to the kingdom of the Sogdians.
0:57:53 > 0:57:56An entire world waiting for what China had to offer.
0:57:56 > 0:57:58For what China had to sell.
0:58:03 > 0:58:05I'm following him West.
0:58:07 > 0:58:10In the next episode, hidden valleys.
0:58:10 > 0:58:12The art of the Sogdians.
0:58:12 > 0:58:14The ancestor of the lute.
0:58:16 > 0:58:19A ceramic paradise, built by captive artisans
0:58:19 > 0:58:21for one of the most ruthless conquerors
0:58:21 > 0:58:23the world has ever seen...
0:58:24 > 0:58:26..and the Central-Asian cities
0:58:26 > 0:58:30where modern mathematics and astronomy were born.