The Great Silk Road

Date of Issue : 24 November 2017

Here is a beautiful souvenir sheet on Tourism theme. On 24th of November, 2017 the State Committee for Information Technology and Communications of the Kyrgyz Republic issued a souvenir sheet with one Kyrgyz Express Post postage stamp: “The Great Silk Road”.On the sheet borders an ancient Chinese sailing ship, a compass, a loom, a fan, a red dragon are depicted.

The Great Silk Road is one of the most significant achievements in the history of world civilization. For many centuries, ramified networks of caravan roads crossed Europe and Asia from the Mediterranean to China and served in the era of antiquity and the Middle Ages as an important means of trade ties and dialogue between the cultures of the West and the East. The longest stretch of the Silk Road passed through the territory of Central Asia, including Kyrgyzstan. Along the Silk Road, rich cities, commercial settlements and caravanserais emerged and flourished. In the territory of Kyrgyzstan, these include: Djul, Suyab, Novokent, Balasagun, Borskoon, Tash-Rabat, Osh and Uzgen. 

The Great Silk Road was paved in the 2nd century BC. and existed until the 15th century AD. 

In September 2013, the People's Republic of China put forward the concept of the "New Silk Road" better known as “The Belt and Road Initiative”. This international strategy, including the projects "Economic Belt of the Silk Road" and "Sea Silk Road of the XXI Century", involves the creation, by 2030, of an extensive infrastructure network along the way from the western borders of China through the countries of Central Asia and Iran to Europe.