More than 2,000 years ago, China began looking for new places in Europe to sell products such as silk. Different routes opened and these routes were called the 'Silk Road'. It was a difficult journey and could take six months on foot. Today,companies such as Hewlett Packard use the 'New Silk Road' to transport laptops between China and Germany by train - and it only takes 13 days! The Old silk Road is also very popular now with tourists - more than 50 million tourists visit Xi'an,the city at the Old silk Road, every year