The Tea Horse Road or Chamadao (simplified Chinese: 茶马道; traditional Chinese: 茶馬道), now generally referred to as the Ancient Tea Horse Road or Chamagudao (simplified Chinese: 茶马古道; traditional Chinese: 茶馬古道) was a network of caravan paths winding through the mountains of Sichuan, Yunnan and Tibet in Southwest China.^[1] This was also a tea trade route. It is also sometimes referred to as the "Southern Silk Road" or "Southwest Silk Road."^{[citation needed]}

There are numerous surviving archaeological and monumental elements, including trails, bridges, way stations, market towns, palaces, staging posts, shrines and temples along the route.^[2]

"Ancient Tea Horse Road" is a historical concept with a specific meaning. It refers to a major traffic road formed by the exchange of tea and horses between Han and Tibet from the Tang and Song Dynasties to the Republic of China.

Sichuan and Yunnan are believed to be the first tea-producing regions in the world. The first records of tea cultivation suggest that tea was cultivated on Sichuan's Mount Mengding [zh] between Chengdu and Ya'an earlier than 65 BC. Ya'an has been an important hub of tea trading till the 20th century.^{[citation needed]}

From around a thousand years ago, the Tea Horse Road become a trade link from Yunnan to Tibet; and to Central China via Sichuan Province.^{[3][4][5][6][7]} It is believed that it was through this trading network that tea (typically tea bricks) first spread across China and Asia from its origins in Pu'er county in Yunnan.^[8][9] The route earned the name because of the common trade of Tibetan ponies for Chinese tea, a practice dating back at least to the Song dynasty, when the sturdy horses were important for China to fight warring nomads in the north.^[10]

Both people and horses carried heavy loads. Tea porters sometimes carried over 60–90 kg (132-198 lb.), which was often more than their own body weight in tea.^[11][12][13] Porters were equipped with metal-tipped staffs, both for balance while walking and to help support the load while they rested, so they didn't need to lay the bales down (as illustrated in the photo).

In addition to tea, the mule caravans carried salt and silk products from Chengdu, notably shujin (蜀锦; a type of Sichuan embroidery).^{[citation needed]}.

The Ancient Tea Horse Road is a complex network of roads, of which some of the ancient tea horse roads and related historical sites in Sichuan, Yunnan and Guizhou provinces were listed as the seventh batch of China National Key Cultural Relics Protection Units^[14] on 5 March 2013. There are numerous cultural heritage sites listed as National Key Cultural Heritage Protection Units, including ancient road sites, post stations, shops, pagodas, bridges and piers, as well as related guild buildings, religious buildings, mining and metallurgical sites and kiln sites, cliff carvings and inscriptions in the ancient tea horse road network.

On March 5, 2013, the Tea Horse Ancient Road was announced by The State Council of the People's Republic of China as the seventh batch of national key cultural relic protection units.^[14]

In the 21st century, the legacy of the Tea-Horse Road has been used to promote a railway that will connect Chengdu to Lhasa. This planned railroad, part of the PRC's 13th 5-Year Plan, is called the Sichuan-Tibet railway (川藏铁路); it will connect cities across the route including Kangding. Authorities claim it will bring great benefit to the people's welfare.^[33]

• Feixiange Grottoes (689 AD), Buddhist art on the route from Chengdu to Ya'an.
• The Royal Tea Garden, named by Emperor Xiaozong of Song (1186 AD) on Mount Mengding. Mount Mengding is the place where tea was first cultivated with written records (65 BC).
• The surviving ancient route in Pujiang between Chengdu and Ya'an.
• The historical site of Ganxipo Posthouse on the route in Tianquan, Sichuan.
• The official tea warehouse of Tea Horse Bureau (Qing dynasty) on the route in Tianquan, Sichuan.
• The stone pagoda of Shita Temple (1169 AD) on the route from Chengdu to Ya'an.
• Markham County in the very east of Tibet. In this region, near upper Mekong, there was the junction of the Sichuan and Yunnan branches of the route.
• Mekong valley near Chamdo, where the river is crossed by the Tea-Horse-Route

• Tea
• Pu'er tea
• Mengding Ganlu tea
• Tang–Tibet relations
• Song–Tibet relations
• Shaxi, Yunnan, a well-preserved historical trading town in Jianchuan County on the ancient tea route
• Siberian Route
• Silk Road
• Jeff Fuchs, the first westerner to walk the entire road