Chine _ la route de la soie, sur la trace de Marco Polo

the 12,000 km of the Silk Road was for 2,000 years one of the main axis of the spread of civilization. This road was paved by generations of anonymous travelers and others, more famous like Marco Polo, who took it to China. At the heart of this intense commercial traffic that crossed the steppes and deserts of Central Asia, the Silk Road. The discovery of silk was attributed to the empress Xi Lingxi. She would have dropped a cocoon of silkworms in a cup of boiling tea, and by fishing it, she would have emptied a long, silky thread. Light, solid, bright, almost unalterable, silk has always been considered an exceptional fabric in the East as well as in the West. Its manufacture remained the secret of the Chinese for a long time, which increased its appeal and price. It was through the Silk Road that other techniques such as printing or the manufacture of paper were spread. In the cities that lined the road, knowledge and cultures mingled. On the stalls of the markets, Chinese parties were exchanged, but also the Indian cottonades, the fur of Siberia, the gold of Rome and Constantinople, the perfumes of Arabia and even the horses of Central Asia, The Chinese tracks of the Silk Road were created under the Western Ranges. Starting from Xi'an, they stretch over 2,000 km among the most hostile deserts, such as the Gobi or the Taklamakan. They also cross vast plateaus where the herds graze in summer. The climate there is harsh. In summer, the temperatures rise to more than 45 degrees. Spring and autumn are so short that they are barely noticeable. In winter, the temperature drops to minus 10 degrees. The starting point of the caravans set off on the Silk Road, Xi'an, the capital of China, for more than 1,000 years. Formerly called Chang'an, eternal peace, it is now the capital of the province of Shaanxi. It occupies a prominent place in the history of humanity, just like Rome or Constantinople. An essential witness of this historical role is the Great Pagoda of the Waxovan. It is at the foot of a 74-meter tower that the monk Xuanzang and his colleagues translated the Sanskrit texts they had brought from India by the Silk Road into Chinese. It is thanks to this translation that the Buddhist religion could spread throughout China. At the height of Buddhism, more than 300 monks lived in the courtyards and gardens of the monastery surrounding the pagoda. Another high place in the old capital is its temple dedicated to Confucius. Here is the most important collection of stones engraved in China. 1,095 pieces, including 114 steles, one of which contains a text attributed to Confucius and noted 15 centuries later by an imperial hand. These texts engraved in stone over the ages show the importance of writing in the eyes of the Chinese. Some were written nearly 1,200 years ago. Xi'an houses an important Muslim community the Rui. They descend from Arab merchants who settled in China in the Middle Ages and married Chinese women. The Rui are among the 18 million Chinese who claim to be Muslims. There are 9 million. They are recognized by their white robes and their beard. Located northwest of the city, their souk surrounds the Great Mosque founded in 742. Its architecture, reminiscent of the Ming temples, is characteristic of Chinese mosques. This mosque is the meeting point of the 30,000 Muslim Chinese in Xi'an. According to Chinese custom, the four gates of the old fortified city of Xi'an indicated the four cardinal points. They have undergone modifications. Most of the 14th century ramparts are still intact, like the round tower marking the southwest corner. In the Middle Ages, the layout of the city of Xi'an was so admired in Asia that it was copied by the kings of Silla in Korea to build their capital, Gyeongsu, then by the Japanese during the construction of Nara and Kyoto. Escaped from the Chinese architecture of the 15th century, the 27 meters of the bell tower. In the past, the bell was struck at dawn to announce the opening of the city gates. It is struck today to bring good luck. In the tower opposite, drums beat at dusk to mark the closing of the gates. It is around the renovated square that travelers meet to taste local specialties like the essential ravioli. Here, it is stuffed with about 50 different preparations before cooking it in oil, water or steam. Just as essential, the great show in costume evoking the epic of the Silk Road and the history of the region, cradle of Chinese civilization. The central theme of the ballets, the reign of Emperor Qin Shi Huangdi, the first unifier of China more than 200 years before our era and builder of the Great Wall. The necropolis of Emperor Qin Shi Huangdi was discovered about 30 km east of Xi'an guarded by thousands of clay warriors. The site, which the peasants updated by chance in 1974, houses 6,000 statues in order of battle on 14,000 square meters. The soldiers mount the guard east of the imperial grave. Their hairstyle indicates their rank in the Chinese army. The majority of the army and land consists of fantasy dressed in a simple tunic devoid of leather. In addition to fantasy, archers, knights and even a staff are distributed in different pits. The emperor rests 1 km from the main pit in a huge underground palace unexplored yet, covered by an imposing tumulus. Xi'an, capital of the Chinese Empire for 1,100 years, was the gateway to the Silk Road. This is where the large caravans of merchants gathered before heading west, crossing the most dreaded deserts on the planet and crossing the highest peaks in the world. For merchants, the Silk Road is still there. Camels have been replaced by motorcycles and trucks, but the huge markets still exist. About 150 km west of Xi'an is already the Kansu, a province stretching between the eastern Tibet and the steppes of Mongolia. At the border of the provinces of Shaanxi and Kansu, weekly fairs are held by Muslims, recognizable by their hats. They are not Wu, but Mongolian. The regions that cross the Silk Road house an incredible mix of populations. At the intersection of the roads that the caravans took through Kansu, Lin Xia, 700,000 inhabitants, half of whom are Muslims, played a major role in the spread of Islam from Central Asia. Nicknamed the Little Mecca, Lin Xia is a pilgrimage site and a center for classical works in Arabic and Persian. No less than 1,700 mosques are built on the territory of Lin Xia's autonomous province. Crossed by the Yellow River, the province of Kansu is a link between the Chinese world and that of Central Asia. There is no rice there, the main crops being corn and wheat. But on these yellow, fertile and volatile lands, we also harvest at the end of summer eggplants, potatoes, peppers, giant cabbages, pears and sunflower seeds. Devastating the mountains, the rivers feeding the Yellow River are captured by farmers to irrigate the fields. On these lands, generous when it rains, but not fertile when water is scarce, agriculture is a hard labor. The region is mainly rural. Built on a plateau, the Labrang Monastery suddenly puts the traveler in touch with the Tibetan universe. It is one of the six establishments of the sect of the Yellow Beads, founded by a Lama erudite in 1709. The monastery is now placed under the spiritual authority of the 6th reincarnation of the Lama. Already designated, the 7th has not yet reached adulthood. There are only a dozen temples left out of the 80 the monastery had in the 18th century. Plundered during the Cultural Revolution, they have been reopened since 1980. From dawn to dusk, Buddhists, mostly from remote areas, make their pilgrimage. Four hours of walking, prayer and prostration around the monastery. Every time the mill turns, a prayer flies to the Buddha. Teaching plays an important role in Tibetan Buddhism. Six colleges grant the Tibetan diploma of higher education. Each college has its own temple, where Tibetan medicine courses, esoteric teaching, astronomy, high and low theology and the teaching of the wheel of time Some of these disciplines require 15 years of study. Music, painting and dance Every year, in the 7th lunar month, students in theology are subject to a passing exam to become a lama. They must answer the questions quickly without being disturbed by the manifestations of their comrades. It is difficult to concentrate in such an atmosphere. Around, the huge plateaus in the south slide towards Tibet. A semi-nomadic population mainly avoids breeding. The tents of the shepherds are moved as the seasons change. Cavaliers and merits, the Tibetans raise here the horses that were paid at the price of gold during the Silk Road. These animals were the strength of the Tibetan kingdom in the Middle Ages. Poor in grazing, China did everything in history to conquer new ones in order to ensure the raising of horses essential to the control of the vast empire. The plateaus around Labrang are the domain of the zoos, a crossroads of cows and yaks that find abundant food and water from the glaciers. Meeting point for nomads and Tibetan farmers, Siare, a hillside at an altitude of 900 meters. In a happy mess, we meet the population of the region and find everything necessary for everyday life. The village lives essentially on the edge of the monastery of Labrang, which it ensures the subsistence and maintenance. The road goes to Russia, that is, west of the Yellow River, a natural corridor between the snowy mountains and the Mongolian deserts. The corridor of Russia was borrowed by the caravans of merchants or the military columns. Surrounded by corn fields, the villages are here small fortresses with their walls of clay or brick. Around, the earth is often dry and the peasants worry about the 300 millimeters of annual rain. The 720 kilometers of track connecting Siare to Lanzhou were crossed by the merchants of the Silk Road in 18 stages. Lanzhou, capital of Kansu, more than 2 million inhabitants. Its importance lies in its strategic position at the entrance of the corridor of Russia, a stop and a transit point for trade between Mongolia, Sichuan and Tibet. In the past, the crossing of the Yellow River was carried out by rafts made of oxtail or sheepskin. Since 1909, an iron bridge with five arches crosses the river. In the central square, as in any Chinese city, the population is accustomed to traditional sports like tai chi or qigong and to less traditional dances like disco. Lanzhou, faithful to its vocation, is the gateway to the only railway to the northwest of China, the Beijing-Urumqi line, 3,774 kilometers extended to Kazakhstan. First sight of the Chinese wall. For some, the journey lasts up to 35 hours and the cars quickly take up camping areas. In the stages, the rain is a must despite the calm of the hostesses and the relaxation of the guests. At the other end of the corridor of Russia, Tiayuguan, or the Tiayu Pass. At its gates begins the Gobi Desert. An ancient stronghold blocking the narrowest passage of the corridor of Russia, Tiayuguan became a modern city in 1965 welcoming the second steel mill of China. Tiayuguan, 100,000 inhabitants, also produces chemical fertilizers, cement, copper and iron from the ore extracted from the neighboring mountains. 5 kilometers to the west, history resumes with another portion of the Chinese wall. It was under the Han dynasty that the Great Wall was extended in this region to protect the caravans against the Radziya of the Xiongnu, nomads related to the Han. But the great page of history of Tiayuguan was written under the Ming dynasty. It was in the 14th century that the citadel was erected to watch over the pass. A 25-kilometer-wide pass between the Silian Mountains and the Mazong Mountains, beyond which, for the Chinese, began the barbaric world. It is said that the design of the fort was so meticulous that at the end of the work there was only one brick left in addition to the architect's predictions. At the foot of the snow of the Silian Mountains, the train of Central Asia cuts through the desert a few steps away from the remains of the Great Wall. A tower of gays no longer watches over the vertiginous canyon at the bottom of which the green water flows from the glaciers. Not far from the fortifications, in 1972, a shepherd discovers, by chance, an old necropolis. 1,400 tombs at the bottom of which paintings on bricks retrace different aspects of everyday life in the 3rd century BC. Once across the pass of Tiayuguan, the traveler enters the southern part of the Gobi Desert. A terrible and fascinating desert with its rocky expanses and snow-covered mountains. To protect the caravans, the brigands, the posts of gays gave information to the patrols by smoke signals during the day and by fire at night. Today the road is safe although the winds sometimes make the traffic difficult. Often they trigger small harmless tornadoes. Sometimes they blow in brutal gusts that project the desert stones on buses and trucks. Temperatures can vary from 45°C to minus 10°C. But all travelers, caravans, researchers, pilgrims, evoke the strength of the wind in the Gobi Desert. At the extreme northwest of Kansu, Tunhuang, at the end of the green. Tunhuang is the first real oasis since the Corridor of Russia. 750 square kilometers irrigated by the waters of the distant glaciers. 20,000 inhabitants in the middle of the desert. In the 2nd century, the city housed 76,000 souls. It was a vital step for the supply of caravans. In summer, the temperature is such that all life stops between noon and 4 p.m., even on the market, where peasants give up to watch their stall. Under the hall, the abundance of vegetables and fruits does not allow to imagine that a few hundred meters away reigns the most total desert. The supply of travelers has always been a priority for Tunhuang, hence the proliferation of small restaurants. At the end of a street lined with apricot trees, sand dunes seem to want to penetrate the city. Yes, the desert of pebbles has given way to the desert of sand. Every evening, dozens of curious people stroll the dunes to accompany the sunset. It is said in the region that once an entire army was buried under the sand, and that we still hear the complaints of the soldiers when the wind blows. The camels of Bactrian were the natural means of transport of the Silk Road. Very resistant, coming from Afghanistan, they can weigh up to 700 kg and fast for a month. Caravans drink their milk, feed on their meat, and dress in their wool. Travelers from all over the world go to Tunhuang every year. The reason? The Mogao cliffs, the set of rupestrious paintings and the richest Buddhist statue in the world. We owe this treasure to the vision of a monk from the 4th century. Around the year 366, a monk named Lazu arrived from Siam after a stay in India where he brought Buddhist manuscripts. But when he arrived here, he found no lodging, no food. One evening, as he watched the sunset, he saw the incarnation of a thousand Buddhas He perceived a sign of Buddha and decided to dig the first cave. But today, we are not sure of the place where this first cave was dug. The only certainty is that we have here 492 caves in perfect condition. 2,415 figurines and 45,000 square meters of colored frescoes decorate the walls of the Mogao caves. The whole thing has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1987. Two and a half hours from here, the rocky Gobi has regained its rights. To the northwest of Tuen Hwang, is Yumen Guan, the pass of the Jade Gate which was borrowed by the caravans of the Silk Road. In the center, as in all the passes, a fortification ensured its defense. The towers often had an interior courtyard where the families of the soldiers lived. The walls are made of a torch where earth, straw and stone Each fortification is visible from its neighbor which allows a perfect surveillance of the pass. Over the centuries, the defense walls have been sculpted by wind erosion. The water from the neighboring lake brought a little freshness to the caravan which then approached one of the most deserted parts of the Silk Road. Only the extreme dryness of the climate allowed these remains of the Great Wall to cross the centuries. Like the forts of the region, the basic material for the construction of the wall was the mixed earth of straw and stone. Between the Gobi Desert and that of the Taklamakan, the road slides north of Urushi towards the lands of the Kazakh riders. The Tian Shan, the heavenly mountains, give the site the unexpected appearance of an alpine landscape. Throughout the year, the Kazakhs transhumed with their herds and although they were incited to sedentary life, the yurt, the traditional tent, remains very present in the landscape. It is the habitat best adapted to the climate and their way of life. Around a wooden building, the yurt is covered with several layers of feathers, a non-woven stock made of agglomerated camel hair. The decoration is made of traditional carpets and sometimes modern objects. In a corner, the kettle whistles for the tea with butter served to the guests. In the villages, the sedentary Kazakhs often set up their yurts in the courtyards of the houses. Indeed, they cannot give up nomadic life. Less than an hour from the snowy peaks and the immense grasslands, Urushi arises. This recent city is the capital of the Autonomous Region of the Uyghur Turks of the Sintiang, the former Chinese Turkestan. At an altitude of 900 meters, its factories and commercial activities are the pivot of the regional economy. The region is an old passageway of caravan traffic, but Urushi is a recent city on the scale of the history of silk roads. It only became important in the 19th century by becoming the capital of the Sintiang. Today, it is an ultra-modern city, like all Chinese regional metropolises. The 1.5 million inhabitants of Urushi do not count less than 13 different ethnicities, among which the Uyghur Turks are the majority. This is why the inscriptions are still in Chinese and Uyghur on the facades of the buildings. The flag of the People's Republic federates all its origins. The strong Uyghur ethnicity gives the Sintiang a particular status, that of an autonomous region, like Tibet or Inner Mongolia. In the east, the eternal snow of the Bogdap peak appears 70 km from the city. A look at the shopping streets gives an idea of the economic importance of this capital. In the modern city, the horses of today are made of concrete. As an oasis and water to cool down, the inhabitants of Urushi do not fight than the Ongsan Park. The pagoda of the Red Hill dominates the city. Legend has it that a dragon settled at the foot of the hill. He let his belly drain in the riverbed that crosses the city and thus caused catastrophic floods. Pagodas were decided to be built on each hill. The dragon fled and since then there have been no more floods. To reach Turfan, we go along the Monts-Celestes, a natural border of 2,000 km long. Traffic is dense in this region which for more than 2,000 years has been controlling the northern trade route. Along the road are the Karezes. Karezes in Turkish means an ingenious system of wells and underground irrigation channels. Underground because on the surface the evaporation of water would be too fast. This system has existed for about 2,000 years. In the past, it was private property and now it is organized by the state. It is a very dry oasis. It rarely rains, but it snows in the large mountains which are more than 4,000-5,000 m. So we often have snow. Sometimes the water is not abundant enough. Sometimes we have too much water for the flood, for example. But we always have water. This mountain water is a real blessing in the hottest and driest region of China. Caught at the foot of the mountains and driven by the 3,000 km of Karezes, the water has enabled to irrigate a gorge called the Valley of Raisins because the richness of the places are the vineyards. Introduced in this hostile country long before our era, the Raisin, without seeds, was part of the tribe that the city gave to the emperors of China. The grapes were then transported in plumbed crates bathing in the ice of the mountains to the court of Xi'an. Today, the dry Raisins of Turfan are famous throughout China. After harvesting, the grapes are placed in dryers whose wall allows a dehydration under the combined effects of heat and wind. This one blows one day out of three in violent gusts. Turfan is also nicknamed the Valley of Winds. In Turfan, the majority of the 170,000 inhabitants are Uyghurs, the most important ethnic group of Xinjiang. Of the 6 million, they speak a Turkish language and are from the nomadic tribe from the south of Lake Baikal. They live in square houses, spacious and comfortable, built of dry earth. They are Muslim. Women wear a scarf and men wear a dopa, a small square hat whose color varied according to the region of origin. The water of the square houses allows each house to have its own vineyard, but also a vegetable garden that brings a little freshness to the front of the house. As everywhere in China, support activities round the household economy. The Uyghur houses often house sewing workshops. Their products are sold all the way to Europe. At the heart of the house, a bakery? No, the bedroom. In fact, a platform where the family sleeps, heated by a brick oven, the kang. The heat of the kang provides naps and a perfect pre-baking of bread. Sedentary since the 12th century, the Uyghurs are still very attached to their nomadic traditions, especially their music and their rhythmic dance that the Chinese court in the Middle Ages was crazy about. A unique example of the Muslim architecture of Central Asia, the Emin Mosque and the pride of the Uyghur oasis in Turpan. Designed by an Uyghur architect in 1777, its minaret is a fuselage of simple sun-dried bricks that rise to the sky. Like in Urumqi, the dual nationality implies the writing of all the language signs, Uyghur and Chinese. A strong fine punishes the offenders, even if it is the menu of a small restaurant. Since the beginning of the Silk Road, the city of Turpan is a resting place for caravans between the low temperatures of the mountains and the torrid heat of the deserts. The basin of Turpan is the lowest land site after the Dead Sea. The center of the basin is 154 meters below the sea level. The activity there is intense throughout the day, except between 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. Before and after, as if the inhabitants wanted to catch up with the lost time, the fixed and moving shops overflow with activity. A legend tells that the Uyghurs descend from the loves of a man and a lioness. The soldiers who killed the young man, the lioness took refuge in the mountains where she gave birth to 10 boys, ancestors of the Turkish tribes of which the Uyghurs are from. At the gates of the city, the desert is called Taklamakan. In Turkish, it means the one who enters there never comes out again. 300,000 square kilometers, huge gas and oil reserves, it is considered the most dangerous desert in the world. At an altitude of 1,335 meters, there is Kashgar, which the Chinese call Kashhe. At the foot of the Pamir chain which forms the border with Pakistan, it is the largest oasis city in Central Asia. Those who walk these streets are Uyghurs, of course, but also Pakistanis, Tajiks, Kyrgyz or Kazakhs. The Turkish republics of Central Asia are very close. Pekin is far away. Kashgar is the gateway to the major trade routes to India, Persia and Samarkand. Today, like during the Silk Road, the city is a center for trade and commerce. During Muslim holidays, the Qurban and the Bayram, more than 80,000 people gather at the Haidkar Mosque. Built in 1442, the building houses a prayer room supported by 140 pillars of carved wood, painted in green, the color of Islam. More than 3,000 kilometers from the Chinese capital, what time is it? Here you see the local time, it is three and a half o'clock. But in Pekin, it is five and a half. Because here we have different hours, summer time, winter time, local time and Pekin time. But if you take the plane, the train or anyway, if you are a tourist, you are always told the time of Pekin. 2,000 years of trade have made Kashgar an exceptional artisan center. Near the mosque, the old neighborhood houses dozens of shops. Gold is its domain. Jewels are made in the moment. Just place an order and a few minutes later, the elegant can wear their earrings. The workshops are not far away. Dozens of young apprentices are waiting behind the showrooms. They make the finest jewels by welding a few lamps. Next to the jewelers, the dentist's office attracts customers with very didactic signs. Just like the tailor or the watchmaker. The Uyghurs have a rich musical tradition. Among their popular instruments, the dotar, a string guitar, and the ravap, a six-string mandolin. Sometimes, the colorful facade of a Uyghur house stands out. In the city center, 180,000 inhabitants benefit from a water plan where they can, at leisure, forget the rigors of a climate whose temperatures always make the big difference between day and night and between winter and summer. Another oasis, the old cemetery surrounding the Abar-Roja mausoleum. Here rests Concubine Parfumée, the favorite of Emperor Tianlong. Concubine Parfumée was originally from Kashgar. 18 meters high, a statue of Mao rescued from the campaign of deboloning which affected most of the grand timonier's effigies. At his feet, on Sundays, the schoolchildren come to dance, each one following his folklore. But on Sundays, Kashgar, as the Chinese call it, becomes Kashgar again, the Turk, the huge caravan that crossed the Silk Road when the merchants of the Limitrof countries met the caravans. Nothing, or so little, has changed. Nothing has changed except perhaps billiards, a true national sport whose tables invade the streets. Merchants, caravans, shepherds and caravans come by thousands of surrounding oases to the Sunday bazaar which is located on the east bank of the Tumam River. But the crowd is only apparent. For centuries, the bazaar of Kashgar has obeyed unchangeable rules. Each activity has its specific location. Particularly popular is the sector of the war-horses. Back to the source, with the silk market. Women buy the precious threads with which they will embroider the festive clothes and men's hats. If you paint the hard eggs red, it is not in reference to certain ideologies but as a sign of happiness. In the middle of the dense crowd, the lambs make their way with a punch. A tea made for thirst but also for more bizarre ingredients. Impregnated with traditional Chinese medicine, the dried reptiles fluidify the blood or lubricate the bones. Another resurgence of the Silk Road, the beast fair. The caravans, after crossing the summits of the Pamirs, exchanged their yaks and horses for camels before heading east. At one point or another, merchants always go to the spectacular horse market. As 2,000 years ago, the horsemen always present their mounts at the gallows in the middle of the crowd. For centuries, this road has been like no other the royal road of commerce but also that of history, religion, cultures and ideas. Today, only horses continue to run the steppes. At the end of the 15th century, when the great navigators opened the road of the Indies, the Silk Road also became a maritime road. On the paths of the legendary Orient, boats replaced caravans. And world trade followed its course from the Red Sea to the Sea of ​​China, away from the deserts and mountains of Central Asia, far from the traces of Marco Polo.