纪录片《大英博物馆世界简史》 050传丝公主画版（1）（在线收听）

050：EPISODE 50 - Silk Princess Painting 传丝公主画版

Silk princess painting (made eighth century AD), from Chinese central Asia

Once upon a time, in the high and far off days of long ago, there was a beautiful princess who lived in the land of silk. One day her father, the emperor, told her she must marry the king of the distant land of jade. The jade king could not make silk, because the emperor had kept the secret to himself. And so the princess decided that she would bring the gift of silk to her new people. She thought of a trick, she hid everything that was needed - the silk worms, the mulberry seeds, everything - in her royal headdress. She knew that her father's guards would not dare to search her as she left for her new home. And that, my Best Beloved, is the story of how Khotan got its silk.

The tale I have just told you - a 'Just So' story of one of the greatest technology thefts of history - is one that is presented to us in paint on a plank of wood that's around 1,400 years old. It's known as the 'Legend of the Silk Princess' and it is now in the British Museum. But it was found in a long-deserted city on the fabled Silk Road.

"I think the Silk Road, in terms of the movement of goods and ideas, is the 'internet of antiquity'." (Yo Yo Ma)

"... because it wasn't just silk that travelled, and frankincense, and rhinoceros horn, and all these wonderful products which we associate with it, but a much more humble but continuous trade - of people locally, trading to people with rather different needs and situations." (Colin Thubron)