This book is a wonderful find for anyone
with an interest in Chinese or Central Asian
history. Susan Whitfield, author or translator
of five previous books about China, lovingly
and convincingly brings to life 10 characters
from 10 centuries ago.
Like Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, each
of the 10 chapters - each based on a character -
makes an interesting story on its own. Taken
together, they provide a fascinating glimpse
of eighth- to 10th-century life in a region
rich with history.
Although the accounts of empires and
invasions are interesting, the book gets its
power from its human scale. Drawing on
everything from court records to love letters a
thousand years old, Whitfield re-creates the
everyday lives of her characters in exciting
detail: what the Chinese widow prayed for in
the temples of Dunhuang, what the Sogdian
trader bought and sold in the markets of
Chang'an, what the Uighur horseman wielded in
battle against fierce Tibetan infantry, and
what the Chinese princess wore for her
presentation to an Uighur king.
Whitfield provides a dry but relevant
historical summary in her introduction, but it
is her characters who make the events
compelling. In their eminently familiar
responses - fear, hope, greed - to the
tumultuous events that buffet their lives, they
animate the invasions and chaos in a way that a
simple recounting of armies and dynasties could
not.
The battles are made real by the accounts of
the soldiers who fought them, the traders who
avoided them, the refugees who fled them, and
the princesses who were married off to prevent
them.
While providing an excellent look at the
times and places covered, Whitfield's tales are
not biographies in the most precise sense of
the word. Four characters are historical
figures whose lives are well recorded in
primary sources. Others are less well
documented, and so Whitfield 'fleshed out their
lives with details from the lives of others'.
One minor problem, though, is that the book
covers the period between AD 750 and AD 1,000 -
hardly a quiet and stable period that can be
confusing. In 'The Merchant's Tale' (about AD
750), Chang'an is a thriving metropolis and in
'The Horseman's Tale' (about AD 790) the mighty
Uighur cavalry strikes fear into the heart of
the Chinese emperor. By 'The Courtesan's Tale'
(about AD 880 and just three chapters later),
Chang'an is a looted wasteland and the Uighurs
are a displaced and largely impotent force.
Whitfield recognises this potential for
confusion, and does a commendable job of trying
to maintain historical continuity between the
disparate chapters. A different type of
historical continuity, that between China past
and the present mainland, provides some amusing
aspects. Creditors of Guangdong International
Trust and Investment Corp (Gitic) may be
interested to know that eighth-century Uighurs
'benefited most from [trades of horses for
silk], but the Chinese limited their financial
losses by regularly defaulting on payment'.
Neither software magnate Bill Gates nor
musician Cui Jian will be surprised to learn
that the copyright on calendar production 'was
widely flouted right under the noses of the
emperor and his high officials'.
Finally, the recent rhetoric from campaigns
against spiritual pollution would have been
right at home during a similar movement in
China in the late eighth and early nineth
centuries. All told, this is a delightful book
that is able to convey both the sweep of grand
historical events and the depth of each
character. As a history, it is remarkably well-
written and accessible. As pleasure reading, it
is extremely informative. Not everyone may be
excited by historical tales of Central Asia and
western China. But for those who are, this book
is a treasure.
Life Along the Silk Road by Susan Whitfield
John Murray $340