Main entry:

Hopkirk, Peter.

Title & Author:

Foreign devils on the Silk Road : the search for the lost cities and treasures of Chinese Central Asia / Peter Hopkirk.

Publication:

Amherst : University of Massachusetts Press, 1984, ©1980.

Description:

x, 252 pages, 19 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations, maps ; 22 cm

Notes:
Includes bibliographical references (pages 243-245) and index.
The rise and fall of the silk road -- Lost cities of the Taklamakan -- The great manuscript race -- Sven Hedin : the pathfinder -- Aurel Stein : treasure seeker extraordinary -- Stein strikes it rich -- The unmasking of a forger -- The race begins in earnest -- Von le Coq spins a coin -- "The finest paintings in Turkestan..." -- Secrets of a Chinese rubbish dump -- Tun-huang : the hidden library -- Pelliot : the gentle art of making enemies -- Spies along the silk road -- Langdon Warner attempts the unthinkable -- The Chinese slam the door.

Summary:

"In the 1950's one of the most commonly-asked questions in America was, Who Lost China? Well, comfortable as it might have been to pin the blame upon 'fellow travelers' or suchlike, the real answer may involve such names as Sven Hedin, Aurel Stein, von Le Coq, and Langdon Warner. And who, pray, were they? Merely individuals who in the name of science plundered China as the generals and merchants never dreamed of doing. Gold and silk could be replaced; a nation's history could not. Peter Hopkirk has told a sad tale with remarkable compassion." Reviewed by Daniel Weiss, Virginia Quarterly Review (Copyright 2006 Virginia Quarterly Review).

ISBN:

0870234358 (pbk.)
9780870234354 (pbk.)

Subject:

Antiquities.
Xinjiang Uygur Zizhiqu (China) Antiquities.
Silk Road.
Route de la soie.
Asia Silk Road.
China Xinjiang Uygur Zizhiqu.

Holdings:

Location: Library main 63485
Call No.: ID:85-B831
Status: Available