For thousands of years, only humans and horses treaded the mountains of Southwest China as they followed an ancient pathway through the Chinese hinterlands and the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.

Along the unpaved and rugged pathway that was formed, commodities like tea, salt and sugar flowed into Tibet. Meanwhile, horses, cows, furs, musk and other local products made their way to the outside world. The road was called the tea-horse ancient road, and it stretched across more than 4,000 kilometers, mainly through Southwest China's Sichuan and Yunnan provinces and the Tibetan Autonomous Region.

Along the ancient road lived more than 20 minorities.Concentrations of beautiful and mysterious natural landscapes and traditional cultures developed in various sites, including Dali old city, Lijiang old city, Shangrila,Yarlung Zangbo River Grand Canyon, Potala Palace. The road features temples, rock paintings, post houses, ancient bridges and plank roads. It is also home to many national minorities and their dances and folk customs.

Tens of thousands of traveling horses and yaks created a definite pathway with their hooves on the once-indiscernible road. Today, although even such traces of the ancient road are fading away, its cultural and historic values remain.

No matter what is happening in the world, three types of things in the tea-horse ancient road will continue to exist:the beautiful and rustic nature scene, inviolable religion and simple Tibetan people.

This ancient road features the imposing scenery and a soul-stirring quiet. Sometimes, things seem static and the surrounding mountains stand silent. There is a kind of beauty in the desolation that may easily lead people to believe they are experienced a prehistoric place when they visit.

參考中文譯文

幾千年來(lái)，在中國(guó)內(nèi)地與青藏高原的群山之間，只有人類和他們的馬匹循著這條古道穿梭于西南部的群山峻嶺之間。??

順著這條行人走出來(lái)的崎嶇不平的道路，一些商品像茶葉、鹽和糖進(jìn)入到了西藏。與此同時(shí)，馬、牛、皮毛、麝香等當(dāng)?shù)禺a(chǎn)品也走向了外面的世界。這條道被稱為“茶馬古道”，綿延縱橫4，000多公里，主要途徑中國(guó)西南部的四川省和云南省，以及西藏自治區(qū)。?

這條古道兩邊，生活著20多個(gè)少數(shù)民族。不同的地方有著各自美麗而神奇的自然風(fēng)光和傳統(tǒng)文化，比如：大理和麗江古城，香格里拉，雅魯藏布江大峽谷和布達(dá)拉宮。古道的兩旁有廟宇、巖石壁畫(huà)、驛站、古橋和木板路，還有少數(shù)民族舞蹈和民族服裝。?

成千上萬(wàn)匹馬和牦牛用它們的蹄子走出了一條清晰可見(jiàn)的道路，時(shí)至今天，雖然這條古道的蹤跡已漸漸消失，但它的文化和歷史價(jià)值仍然存在。

不管這個(gè)世界會(huì)發(fā)生什么變化，但是這條茶馬古道的三樣?xùn)|西卻會(huì)依然存在：美麗原始的自然風(fēng)景，神圣的宗教，和淳樸的藏族人民。?

茶馬古道風(fēng)景迷人，幽靜僻遠(yuǎn)。有時(shí)，萬(wàn)物皆靜，四面的群山寂靜無(wú)語(yǔ)，這種荒涼寂靜之美很容易把游人帶進(jìn)一個(gè)空靈的遠(yuǎn)古地帶。

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