Road to Kashgar: Notes from a walk through China

ISBN-13: 9781502913357 / Angielski / Miękka / 2014 / 706 str.

Lars Ellstrom

Opis

This is the story of a unique venture. Between March 2009 and November 2011 Swedish China veteran Lars Ellstrom walked from Beijing to Kashgar in Central Asia. He covered more than 5 000 kilometres through poor villages and newly built boomtowns. From the account of his trek we get to know the changing landscapes and listen to the people he met: farmers, shepherds, entrepreneurs, drivers, Christians, Muslims, school children, teachers and descendants of Genghis Khan. Thanks to his fluency in Chinese and deep knowledge of China's history and society, Ellstrom has been able to put these perspectives in wider and often provocative perspectives. He also presents the reader with fascinating examples of Swedish adventurers in China many years ago. They include the explorer Sven Hedin, the missionary and rancher Frans August Larson, who became a trusted go-between in negotiations between the Chinese and Mongol heads of state, earning him the title of 'Duke of Mongolia', and Lovisa Engvall, a missionary, who learned the Uighur language and lived in Xinjiang for most of her grown-up life. The image of China that Ellstrom presents in this book contrasts with so much of today's superficial reportage. China is not just a country in the process of stupendous economic development but also a land of cultural and political expansion. Historical monuments are reconstructed, not merely to promote tourism but also to implant a partisan interpretation of the past. Ethnic massacres are officially referred to as pacification. Even names of places are changed. All the while, however, discontent is brewing under the surface. The miracle of economic growth is also a country of ever-widening social, geographical and ethnic chasms."