Did you know that the Silk Road was neither an 1) road nor a single 2) ? What's more, there were not only routes on land, but also routes by sea. The 3) Silk Road started during the Qin Dynasty and reached its 4) during the Ming Dynasty. It linked Chinese ports with Korea, Japan, South Asia and even East Africa. The famous explorer to travel this sea route was Zheng He in the Ming Dynasty. The 5) Silk Road also has a long history. As early as over 2 000 years ago, China and ancient Rome were already connected by the Silk Road. During the Eastern Han Dynasty, Chinese 6) Gan Ying was sent to search for "Da Qin", the Chinese name of the Roman Empire at that time. The famous explorer Marco Polo's travels caused the first 7) of "China fever" among European countries. Strong evidence suggests that Greece was introduced to silk products from China in the 6th century BC. The four great inventions of ancient China,8) , printing, the compass and gunpowder also reached the European countries by the ancient Silk Road. These inventions helped 9) the development of Western societies. The Silk Road was a path of cultural 10) between the East and the West. Many people over the centuries traveled the Silk Road in search of friendship between different parts of the world