More Foreign Devils on the Silk Road!
will...@yahoo.com
the race to steal the treasures of north-western China at the turn of
the twentieth century. Sir Aurel Stein, a Brit. of Hungarian birth, and
Sven Hedin, a Swede with a bit of thing for dictators, began a thirty
year competition to find and save for posterity the ninth century
Buddhist art work that had lain under the sands of the Taklamakan and
Gobi deserts for the best part of a millennium. It would change the
West's understanding of Central Asian history and their linguistics for
ever.
After Stein and Hedin there came the ever-brilliant French, the
determined Germans and a very strange bunch of Japanese 'holy men' cum
spies. A Russian or two arrived a little late and the final curtain
came down on an headstrong Yank who didn't quite get what he'd
bargained for when the Chinese decided enough was enough.
It's a gripping tale and one which reminds us that the world is very
different now. You just can't ride a donkey into someone's house and
rob them any more. How sad."
Read more:
http://rwilliams.us//archives/silkroad2.htm
Work cited:
"Foreign Devils on the Silk Road: The Search for the Lost Cities and
Treasures of Chinese Central Asia"
by Peter Hopkirk
Other titles of interest:
"The Great Game: The Struggle for Empire in Central Asia:
by Peter Hopkirk
"Trespassers on the Roof of the World: The Secret Exploration of Tibet"
by Peter Hopkirk
"Like Hidden Fire: The Plot to Bring Down the British Empire"
by Peter Hopkirk
"A Ride to Khiva: Travels and Adventures in Central Asia"
by Frederick Burnaby, Peter Hopkirk
"Setting the East Ablaze: Lenin's Dream of an Empire in Asia"
by Peter Hopkirk
"Quest for Kim: In Search of Kipling's Great Game"
by Peter Hopkirk