Silk Road
Name
Date
During the Han Dynasty in China, 206 B.C.E. to 220 C.E., a period of stability was established across
China. One result of this stability was an increase in trade between the cities of the dynasty’s region. This trade
spread to regions that are now India, Pakistan, Iraq and Iran, and as far as the Mediterranean Sea to Rome.
Commodities such as silk had become known to people in Rome through regional trade within their empire as it
spread west. Silk was highly desired in cities like Rome, where people wanted it for clothing and decoration. Silk
was very profitable for producers in China.
The Silk Road connected the West with the East through cities like Ferghana (Alexandria the Furthest)
founded by Alexander the Great in 329 B.C.E. The Han Dynasty’s capital Chang’an (now spelled Xi’an) in
central China was the main city at the eastern end of the Silk Road. The Silk Road was actually a series of roads
extending north and south. People used these roads to carry goods between Rome and Chang’an. At times, sea
routes carried this trade, as maritime technologies improved or when violence threatened land traders. When
pirates and other perils faced the merchants on the sea routes, trade increased on the land routes.
Along the routes of the Silk Road, different regions offered goods such as dates, copper, and herbs.
Goods such as the magnetic compass, silk, gunpowder and ceramics were traded from Chinese cities to the west.
All along the trade routes, gold was a common form of money for trading. The Silk Road also spread cultures:
religions (Buddhism), ideas (Confucianism), languages, customs, and scientific knowledge. One additional
impact was the spread of diseases such as the bubonic plague that spread across Central Asia into China and
resulted in the Black Death in Europe.
Over its history, the Silk Road saw periods of increase and decrease in trade. The amount of trade
depended on conflict or stability along the road as well as new technologies, changing consumer wants, and
competitive forces. The price of goods changed along the Silk Road, depending on consumer wants and the cost
of transporting the goods over long distances.
Bartering along the Silk Road
The table below shows six cities and six goods. The cities listed across the top of the table are the cities you
would visit if you traveled the Silk Road from west to east. In this example, each good is made in only one city:
gold is made in Rome; Wool sheared in Antioch; horses bred in Ferghana; herbs are grown in Kashgar; jade is
produced in Dunhuang; and silk is made in Chang’an. (You can see where each product is from by using the
bolded squares.)
Good
West
Rome
Antioch
Ferghana
4
16
8
Gold coins
16
Wool (skeins)
8
Horses (steeds)
2
8
Herbs (baskets)
4
16
Jade (boxes)
2
8
Silk (bolts)
1
4
Cities
Kashgar
Dunhuang
East
Chang’an
32
32
32
If you read up and down the columns, the table shows what amount of one good it takes to barter for units of
another good. For example, in Ferghana, it takes four gold coins to buy eight horses. It takes four gold coins to
buy four bolts of silk.
It costs a lot to transport goods along the Silk Road. The path is rough and traders demand payment for the time
and trouble of taking goods along the road. Many obstacles stand in traders’ way, such as taxes and thieves.
In this example, as a good is moved from city to city, half of the goods are lost to pay traders as well as to
encounters with thieves and paying taxes. For example, if 16 gold coins begin in Rome and are sent east, only 8
gold coins arrive in Antioch. If the 8 coins are sent farther east from Antioch, only 4 gold coins arrive in
Ferghana, etc…
Directions: Fill in the rest of the table using the information above. (Hint: Be sure to know which way the goods
are traveling along the road.)
Bartering along the Silk Road
Name
Date
Directions: Using the information in the table, answer the following questions. (Hint: Be
sure to know which way the goods are traveling along the road.)
Part I: Trading along the Silk Road
1. If 16 baskets of herbs arrive in Ferghana, where did they come from? ______________
2. How many baskets of herbs were originally shipped from that city to Ferghana? ________
3. In Rome, how many gold coins does it take to buy one bolt of silk? __________________
4. In Ferghana, how many gold coins does it take to buy one bolt of silk? ________________
5. Are bolts of silk worth more in gold coins in Rome or Ferghana? ____________________
Why is this true?
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6. In which city does a gold coin buy the most silk? ______________ How much silk will a
gold coin buy in this city? _________________________
Part II: Fair Trade? A man in Ferghana offers you 8 horses for 12 bolts of silk. Is this a fair trade?
Offer
Ratio of offer
Expected ratio
Question:
Is this a fair trade?
1st good: horses
8
8
2nd good: silk
12
Reduce ratio: horse
Reduce ratio: silk
Claim: (Yes or No)
What is your evidence? I expect ____ horses for____ silk so that is a ratio of ____:____
or ____ horses for ____ silk. His offer is (more than fair, fair, less than fair).
For each of the following, determine whether the trade is a good trade or a bad trade, based
on information in the table. Check the appropriate column.
The trade: Good Trade/Bad Trade
1. A man in Antioch offers to sell you three baskets of herbs for one horse. _________
2. A woman in Kashgar offers to sell you three boxes of jade for one basket of herbs. ______
3. A small child in Rome to offers to sell you one horse for 6 gold coins. ___________
4. An old man in Chang’an offers to sell you 12 baskets of herbs for one gold coin. _______
Part III: What Would You Do?
You are an ambitious young person living in Rome. You have 20 gold coins in your pocket.
A ship captain approaches you and offers to take you to Chang’an along a new oversea route.
The total cost of travel to Chang’an will be 16 gold coins—one way. Once in Chang’an, the
only way to travel back to Rome is along the Silk Road.
Question: Would you go to Chang’an with the captain? (Assume information in the table
still applies.) Explain what you would do to return to Rome and become a rich person.
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http://msh.councilforeconed.org/documents/978-1-56183-758-8-activity-lesson-07.pdf
Quiz Bartering Along the Silk Road
Name
Date
The FAIR MARKET VALUE table below shows six cities and six goods. In this example, each good is
made in only one city (identified with a larger font and bolded). If you read up and down the columns, the
table shows what amount of good it takes to barter for units of another good. For example, in Dunhaung for
2 gold coins you could expect to receive either 4 skeins of wool, OR 4 horses, OR 32 baskets or herbs OR 64
jade boxes OR 32 bolts of silk.
Good
West
Rome
Ferghana
8
Cities
Kashgar
4
Dunhuang
2
East
Chang’an
1
Gold coins
32
Antioch
16
Wool (skeins)
16
32
16
8
4
2
Horses (steeds)
4
8
16
8
4
2
Herbs (baskets)
8
16
32
64
32
16
Jade (boxes)
4
8
16
32
64
32
Silk (bolts)
2
4
8
16
32
64
Fair Trade? For each of the following, determine whether the trade is fair trade or an unfair trade (based on
the information in the table. You must show: 1. The ratio offered; 2. The expected ratio; 3. A check mark
identifying if you think the trade is fair or unfair.
The offer
Ratio of offer
Ratio
Question: Is this a
expected
fair trade?
(reduce if
st
nd
1 good 2 good
Fair
Not Fair
needed)
A child in Ferghana offers to trade you 8
horses for 6 gold coins.
A Buddhist monk in Dunhuang offers to
trade you 8 horses for 6 gold coins.
A woman in Rome offers to trade you 10
jade boxes for 4 bolts of silk.
A man from Antioch offers to trade you
16 skeins of wool for 6 baskets of herbs.
Extended Response: Why could a trade in Chang’an be a fair trade, but the SAME trade in
Kashgar would NOT be a fair trade.
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