There was never one Silk Road -- but several. The route chosen by Colin Thubron passes through China, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Afghanistan, Iran and Turkey, taking in the most sterile desert on earth (the Taklamakan) and the strife-torn mountain valleys of today's conflicts, as he travels from the tomb of the Yellow Emperor (the mythic progenitor of the Chinese people) to the ancient port of Antioch, by local bus, truck, car -- occasionally Landrover, horse or camel. He covers 7,000 miles in 8 months, and confesses that it is the most difficult, complex and ambitious journey he has undertaken in 40 years of travel.The Silk Road is a huge network of arteries and veins, splitting and converging across the breadth of Asia. Chinese silk has turned up in the hair of a 10th-century-BC Egyptian mummy; equally, the tartan plaids of 3000-year-old mummies in the Chinese desert echo those of early Celts. To be travelling the Silk Road, writes Colin Thubron, is to be travelling the history of the world: tracing the passage not just of trade and armies, but of ideas, religions and inventions. Yet -- despite the lure of the history -- this book is as much about Asia today. Its themes include different Islams (oppressed in China; fervent in Afghanistan and Iran; cautiously monitored in Uzbekistan); contrast (no cities could be more different than ancient Samarkand and modern Teheran); and the way that today's borders are meaningless because the true boundaries are made by tribe, ethnicity, language and religion.Shadow of the Silk Road is a brilliant account of an ancient world in modern ferment.From the Hardcover edition.

从来没有一条丝绸之路，而是有好几条。科林-图伯伦选择的路线穿过中国、乌兹别克斯坦、吉尔吉斯斯坦、阿富汗、伊朗和土耳其，途经地球上最无生机的沙漠（塔克拉玛干）和今天冲突不断的山沟，他从黄帝（中华民族神话中的祖先）的坟墓到古代港口安提阿，乘坐当地巴士、卡车、汽车--偶尔也乘坐越野车、马或骆驼。他在8个月内走了7,000英里，并承认这是他在40年的旅行中进行的最困难、最复杂和最雄心勃勃的旅程。丝绸之路是一个巨大的动脉和静脉网络，在亚洲的广度上分裂和交汇。中国的丝绸出现在公元前10世纪埃及木乃伊的头发中；同样，中国沙漠中3000年前的木乃伊的格子花纹与早期凯尔特人的格子花纹相呼应。科林-图伯伦写道，走在丝绸之路上，就等于走在世界的历史上：追踪的不仅仅是贸易和军队的通道，还有思想、宗教和发明的通道。然而，尽管有历史的诱惑，这本书也是关于今天的亚洲。其主题包括不同的伊斯兰教（在中国受到压迫；在阿富汗和伊朗很狂热；在乌兹别克斯坦受到谨慎的监督）；对比（没有比古代撒马尔罕和现代德黑兰更不同的城市了）；以及今天的边界毫无意义，因为真正的边界是由部落、民族、语言和宗教构成的。