Tea Horse Road / 茶马古道

茶马古道 is the historical trade and transport route that appears in the wiki through the horse-infrastructure branch and becomes concrete in 150.吃菌！和阿错聊云南的鸡枞、松茸、见手青. Episode 171 names it as one example of horses changing trade and mobility; episode 150 uses 阿错’s 《苍城》 discussion to make the route local, gendered, and practical.

In episode 150, the Tea Horse Road is tied to 丽江, mule and horse transport, household supply movement, and women muleteers. The point is not nostalgia alone: older transport systems survive as family labor patterns, mountain logistics, and fiction material.

Key Claims

• The Tea Horse Road is a concrete case of Horse As Civilizational Infrastructure because animals extended transport, trade, and settlement possibilities across mountain terrain.
• 阿错’s account adds a gendered and domestic layer: women could become muleteers in local short routes when family labor and local security conditions shifted.
• The route’s memory helps 《苍城》 avoid generic “Yunnan color” by grounding characters in mobility, labor, and terrain.

Connections

• Horse As Civilizational Infrastructure - main concept branch.
• 云南, 丽江, and 大理 - regional context.
• 《苍城》 and Place-Based Fiction - literary use of route memory.
• 大理甲马 - adjacent horse-as-messenger and ritual transport branch.