CURRENT AFFAIRS

Detailed explanation-1: -The first freight train from China to Britain has arrived in London, completing a journey across Asia and Europe. The service is part of a push by China to revive the Silk Road trading routes to western Europe.

Detailed explanation-2: -The Silk Road began in north-central China in Xi’an (in modern Shaanxi province). A caravan track stretched west along the Great Wall of China, across the Pamirs, through Afghanistan, and into the Levant and Anatolia.

Detailed explanation-3: -The Silk Road network is generally thought of as stretching from an eastern terminus at the ancient Chinese capital city of Chang’an (now Xi’an) to westward end-points at Byzantium (Constantinople), Antioch, Damascus, and other Middle Easterncities.

Detailed explanation-4: -The Qing Dynasty Although the first railway was built in China in 1864 as a demonstration of the technology to the emperor, it was quickly dismantled; the court found the concept disturbing and strange.

Detailed explanation-5: -The expedition of Zhang Qian in 138 BC is considered to be the foundation of the first ‘Silk Road’. On his return to Han China, his most important achievement was to demonstrate the possibility for safe travel far to the west.