Author: Huang Haixin
If celebrities in the history of Cultural Exchanges between China and foreign countries come to the Expo...
Zhang Qian
He sent two missions to the Western Regions, opening up land communications between China and Central Asia, West Asia, South Asia and even europe, and since then Chinese sold silk, tea, lacquerware and other products to the Western Regions and Central Asia through this passage, and brought back gemstones, glass, etc. from Europe, West Asia and Central Asia. Today, more than two thousand years later, when people say "Zhang Qian", they will think of the "Silk Road". And the coriander, grapes, cucumbers he brought back from the countries of the Western Regions... He has long been a regular at the Chinese table.
Xuanzang
When he was a young monk, he studied various sutras, and because he felt that the teachings of various schools were different, he traveled west to seek the Fa during the Tang Zhenguan years. From Chang'an, he traveled all the way to Nalanda Monastery, the center of Indian Buddhism. According to historical records, Xuanzang traveled west to seek the Dharma, traveled 17 years, traveled 50,000 miles, experienced "one hundred and thirty-eight countries", and brought back a total of 520 sutras and 657 sutras of Mahayana Buddhism. The Tang monks in "Journey to the West" are based on Xuanzang.
Zheng He
It has opened a short "age of navigation" in ancient Chinese history. From 1405 (the third year of Ming Yongle) to 1424 (the twenty-second year of Yongle), he went to the West six times as a eunuch. In 1430 (the fifth year of Xuande), he was ordered to go to the West for the seventh time. During this period, many surrounding countries came to China after Zheng He went to the West, such as the Pungge Kingdom, the MaLin Kingdom, the Adan Kingdom, etc. have brought rare giraffes at that time, which were mistakenly called "Qilin by the Ming people".
Marco polo
Italian Venetian merchant. He reached the capital of the Yuan Dynasty in 1275 and befriended Kublai Khan, after which he traveled to China for 17 years. After returning to Venice, he was captured in a naval battle and dictated his travels to China in prison, which was written by rustichello da pisa as Marco Polo's Travels (i.e., "Oriental Observations"), but whether the person actually existed and whether he had been to China is still controversial.
Source: Shangguan News