China is one of the biggest tea production countries in the world. Tea has a history of 5,000 years in China. It is said Shen Nong was good at farming and he discovered tea by accident. An ancient road makes tea popular around China. It is the Ancient Tea Horse Road.
The Ancient Tea Horse Road can date back to the Han Dynasty. It then continued developing in the Tang, Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties. There were two main roads. One began in Sichuan province. The other began in Yunnan province. Each one ended in Xizang (西藏).
People in Xizang have a tea history of about 1,000 years. The weather in Xizang is dry and cold. People there need to eat a lot and keep warm. Tea can help them digest (消化). But tea can’t grow in Xizang. They used to sell their horses for tea. So tea and horses were traded through the Ancient Tea Horse Road.
In the past, horses carried bags of tea from Yunnan to Xizang. The trip took more than two months. In Sichuan, the road was very difficult for horses. So only people carried bags of tea. And each young worker carried 15 bags of tea. Each bag weighed 10 kg.
The Ancient Tea Horse Road not only served as a trading road, but also a bridge connecting different nationalities (民族)—such as Han and Xizangan people.
【小题1】Shen Nong was good at ________.| A．tea making | B．farming | C．carrying | D．trading |
| A．The Yuan Dynasty. | B．The Qing Dynasty. |
| C．The Han Dynasty. | D．The Tang Dynasty. |
| A．Yunnan | B．Guizhou | C．Sichuan | D．Xizang |
| A．Different kinds of tea were grown in Xizang. |
| B．Both tea and horses were traded through the road. |
| C．Horses were used in Yunnan and Sichuan to carry tea. |
| D．The trip from Sichuan to Xizang took over two months in the past. |
| A．Different Nationalities in China | B．Horse Trading in Xizang |
| C．The Ancient Tea Horse Road | D．Chinese Tea Production |
