Foreign devils on the Silk Road : the search for the lost cities and treasures of Chinese Central Asia
Author(s)
Bibliographic Information
Foreign devils on the Silk Road : the search for the lost cities and treasures of Chinese Central Asia
（Oxford paperbacks）
Oxford University Press, 1984
- : pbk
Available at / 19 libraries
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Library, Institute of Developing Economies, Japan External Trade Organization遡
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Note
Bibliography: p. [243]-245
Includes index
Description and Table of Contents
Description
The Silk Road, which linked imperial Rome and distant China, was once the greatest thoroughfare on earth. Along it travelled precious cargoes of silk, gold, and ivory, as well as revolutionary new ideas. It s oasis towns blossomed into thriving centres of Buddhist art and learning. In time it began to decline. The traffic slowed, the merchants left, and finally its towns vanished beneath the desert sands to be forgotten for a thousand years. But legends grew up of lost cities filled with treasurees and guarded by demons. In the early years of this century, foreign explorers began to investigate these legends, and very soon an international race began for the art treasures of the Silk Road. Huge wall paintings, sculptures, and priceless manuscripts were carried away, literally by the ton, and are today scattered through the museums of a dozen countries. Peter Hopkirk tells the story of the intrepid men who, at great personal risk, led these long-range archaeological raids, incurring the undying wrath of the Chinese.
Table of Contents
- Prologue
- 1. The Rise and Fall of the Silk Road
- 2. Lost Cities of the Taklamakan
- 3. The Great Manuscript Race
- 4. Sven Hedin - the Pathfinder
- 5. Aurel Stein - Treasure-Seeker Extraordinary
- 6. Stein Strikes it Rich
- 7. The Unmasking of a Forger
- 8. The Race Begins in Earnest
- 9. Von Le Coq Spins a Coin
- 10. 'The Finest Paintings in Turkestan...'
- 11. Secrets of a Chinese Rubbish Dump
- 12. Tun-huang - the Hidden Library
- 13. Pelliot - the Gentle Art of Making Enemies
- 14. Spies Along the Silk Road
- 15. Langdon Warner Attempts the Unthinkable
- 16. The Chinese Slam the Door
- Bibliography of Principal Sources
- Index
by "Nielsen BookData"