Q: How was the term "Silk Road" introduced to the West?

A: China is the “hometown of silk”, and silk was the most representative of the goods exported by China on the Silk Road. At the end of the 19th century, German geographer and traveler Ferdinand von Richthofen called the Silk Road routes die Seidenstrasse (‘the Silk Road’) or Seidenstrassen (‘silk roads’) in his book ‘China’. The term was quickly accepted by Western academics and the public.

Editor: Ye Ke