Xining was not on the main northern Silk Road route (which passed through the Hexi Corridor to the north) but sat at the junction of several secondary routes connecting the plateau to the Chinese interior. The Tang-Tibet road — the diplomatic and trade artery linking Chang'an (Xi'an) with Lhasa — passed directly through Xining, and for centuries the city was a major market for the exchange of Chinese silk and manufactured goods for Tibetan horses and wool.
This history is well covered in the Provincial Museum's Silk Road gallery, which displays silk textiles, Tang dynasty bronze mirrors, glazed ceramics, and other trade goods recovered from graves and hoards along the Qinghai routes. The gallery is smaller than the prehistoric pottery collection but gives essential context for the city's long history as a crossroads.