Tea Horse Road

Timeline

1. c. 700–1000Sichuan–Tibet corridor · TibetDuring the Tang dynasty, border trade between the Tibetan Empire and the Tang court exchanging tea for horses developed along the Sichuan–Tibet route, laying the route and commodity foundations for later tea-horse markets, though an official system on the Song scale had not yet formed.
2. c. 1074–1127Qinfeng Circuit and Yongxingjun Circuit · SichuanThe Northern Song established the Superintendent of the Tea-Horse Agency, exchanging official tea for Tibetan and Tangut horses; multiple tea-horse routes took shape across Qinfeng, Xihe, and the Shu region, supporting cavalry needs on the northwestern frontier.
3. c. 1141–1150Lizhou Circuit and Chengdu Prefecture Circuit · SichuanAfter the 1141 Shaoxing peace settlement, the Southern Song lost its northern horse pastures and became more reliant on the Shu-region tea-horse trade. In the 1140s, markets were set up at Ya'an, Diaomen, and elsewhere; tea certificates regulated the tea goods, and pack caravans carried tea into Tibet along the Qionglai mountain roads in exchange for horses, supplying the war effort against Jin.
4. c. 1200–1800Yunnan–Tibet–Sichuan triangular routes · TibetIn the Yuan and Ming periods, the Tea Horse Road extended to Pu'er and Lijiang in Yunnan, forming a multi-route pack transport network across Sichuan, Yunnan, and Tibet; besides official markets, private merchant caravans also circulated salt, hides, and medicinal herbs along the road.