Road to recognition mapped for ancient route

Peaceful talks

The route incorporated major sections of the Tang-Tubo Ancient Road and the Tea Horse Road, while also intersecting with the Southern Silk Road.

Its history can be traced back to the Liangzhou Talks of 1247, when Prince Godan of the Mongol Empire met Sakya Pandita, a revered religious leader of the Sakya school of Tibetan Buddhism.

In 1244, invited by Prince Godan, Sakya Pandita, then 63, embarked on a three-year journey across thousands of kilometers to meet him in Liangzhou, present-day Wuwei in Gansu province.

When he arrived in 1247, the two sides held talks and reached a consensus on the peaceful incorporation of the region into the administration of the Mongol Empire.

The agreement, later formalized in Sakya Pandita's "Letter to the Tibetan People", effectively ended four centuries of internal strife and formally brought the region under the administrative jurisdiction of the central government.

Phagpa, a Tibetan Buddhist leader who later became imperial preceptor of the central government, the first in the Yuan Dynasty, also participated in the talks.

Chen Qingying, a renowned Tibetan scholar and Garwa's teacher, said Phagpa eventually helped promote religious harmony and persuaded the Mongol royal family to tolerate different schools of thought.

"That helped consolidate the historical trend of Buddhism, Taoism, Confucianism and other schools of thought developing together," Chen said.

Sakya Pandita spent the rest of his life in Wuwei, devoting himself to preaching, writing and establishing Sakya monasteries across the Hexi Corridor in western Gansu, until his death in 1251 at the age of 70.

Popular attraction

Since 2019, the Liangzhou Meeting Memorial Museum in Wuwei has welcomed 480,000 visitors representing all 56 ethnic groups across China.

The museum, preserving sacred relics of Sakya Pandita's remains and precious items of the historic event, has become a tourist attraction and begun to play a role in educating teenagers.

Huangfu Yangzi, 34, has worked as a museum guide for six years. When explaining the history of the talks to visitors from different regions and ethnic backgrounds, she said it often resonates more strongly with those from Qinghai and Xizang. "Sakya is highly revered. This history is very much alive. When visitors from these regions see the artifacts on display, they are deeply moved."

From June to July, the museum received 23,500 visitors, primarily families on motoring vacations and students participating in study tours during the school holidays.