The Silk Road was a network of trade routes     1    (connect) China and the Far East with the Middle East and Europe.     2    (establish) when the Han Dynasty in China     3    (official) opened trade with the West in 130 BCE, the Silk Road routes remained     4     use until 1453 CE, when the Ottoman Empire boycotted (抵制) trade with China and closed them. Although it’s been nearly 600 years since the Silk Road     5    (use) for international trade, the routes had a lasting impact on commerce, culture and history that resonates even today.

The Silk Road may have formally opened up trade between the Far East     6     Europe during the Han Dynasty,     7     ruled China from 206 BCE to 220 CE. Han Emperor Wu sent imperial ambassador Zhang Qian     8    (make) contact with cultures in Central Asia in 138 BCE, and his reports from his journeys conveyed valuable     9    (inform) about the people and lands that lay to the West. But the transport of goods and services along these routes     10    (date) back even further.