Exploration of Historical Sites of Art and Culture Exchange on the Silk Road of Pre-Qin and Han Dynasties

Abstract The pre-Qin and Han Silk Road opened up the Central Plains Dynasty to the Eurasian- African continent, not only having extraordinary political, economic and cultural exchanges complementary strategic significance, but also becoming an irreplaceable important window and way for the Central Plains Dynasty to gain cognitive knowledge of the broader world. In particular, the exploration of the artistic and cultural relics and historical background of the Silk Road is a deep excavation and collation of historical materials of exchanges between the East and the West, especially between China and the nationalities in the Western regions in the fields of traditional politics, commerce, economy, art and culture. This depth of excavation and collation of historical materials, so as to clarify the origin of the Silk Road under different historical conditions and the background of its political, economic, art, and cultural significance in forming the civilisation of the countries along the route. This mutual understanding among various nationalities inevitably promotes the shared development of Eastern and Western civilizations. Therefore, the topic discussed in this paper is a retrospective and complementary approach to the Silk Road as a distant civilisation. This exploration is also another purposeful search for the roots of this road, which was known as the “Journey of Adventure” and “Journey of Intercommunication” from the pre-Qin Dynasty to the two Han Dynasties. Accordingly, this paper promotes the discussion from three aspects: the long historical context of the Silk Road, the channel of multi-ethnic art exchange constituted by Silk Road, and the exchange and dissemination of handicraft culture on the Silk Road, excavating these three rich historical materials is more in order to reveal the historical values of the Silk Road.