Teams of Bactrian camels, tied with bells, and carrying snow-white silk, head west on the Silk Road .... This was how the scene, already part of life even in the Western Han dynasty 2,000 years ago, appeared in the mind's eye of a poet.
無數鈴聲遙過跡，應駝白練到安西」，大漠中繫著鈴鐺、載著雪白綢緞的雙峰駝隊，緩緩地在絲綢之路上西行，這一幅詩人心中的壯麗景像，在兩千年前的西漢，已然登場。