Book Review: Foreign Devils on the Silk Road by Peter Hopkirk

A very interesting book written about the Silk Road with particular emphasis on Central Asia, the author pays particular attention to the region of Chinese Turkestan. The first chapter traces the origin of the ancient Silk Road. The main arteries of the road are discussed and the nature of goods on the caravans.

Along the Silk Road travelled silk, gold, ivory and ideas. One of such ideas was Buddhism. It travelled from now what we call India to China. Oasis towns developed which served as center of art and learning. When the decline of such towns started the rich towns got swallowed by desert sand. Due to this legends were formed regarding lost cities filled with treasures. Expeditions through such deserts by travellers/treasure hunters were often fatal adventures. One of such deserts is the notorious Taklamakan desert which is frequently mentioned and discussed by Hopkirk.

In the early twentieth century a race began for hunting the buried treasures of Silk Road. This race was an international race. There developed a race for searching and digging adventures. Among the famous racers was Sven Hedin- a Swedish searcher, Aurel Stein- of Hungarian origin and Von Le Coq of German origin.

These gentlemen dug Chinese treasures which included paintings, manuscripts, and artifacts from temples, sculptors and frescos. All these precious objects were shifted to different countries and later to their respective museums.

Chapter fifteen’s title has been mentioned as ‘Spies along the Silk Road’. Throughout the chapter Japanese team has been discussed. The author provides links of the Japanese being spies, but the Europeans are considered travellers/treasure searchers. Further in the book the author believes that the Chinese view the treasure searchers as those who looted a very rich part of their ancient history. For such reasons the Chinese slammed the door on foreigners and Stein also had to discontinue his last expedition in Turkestan.

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Book Review: The Poems of Mao Tse-tung by Mao Zedong, Willis Barnstone (Translator)

This is a translation of Mao’s poems. The translator includes an introduction to Mao’s life and revolution. Early parts of his life have been discussed very briefly. His movement to Peking and later working with Kuomintang against the Japanese invading forces are also included. 

Mao developed guerilla armies by continuously engaging with the Japanese forces. This army later played a pivotal role in the civil war for the CCP. The author of this book views the Japanese as the ones who prepared the way for the Chinese Communism, much as Nazi Germany had done for the Soviet Communism in Eastern Europe.

Furthermore the second part of the book includes the poems in Chinese and their translation in English. Mao portrays his times of struggle, personal experiences during the long march and difficulties faced by his comrades in his poetry.

The notes on the poems tell us about the historical background/idea about each poem. For instance Kunlun Mountains, long march and the capture of Nanking have been described in his poetry. Mao has used the traditional style of Chinese poetry by including characters from Chinese mythology too.

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Book Review: With the Quaid-i-Azam During His Last Days by Lt.Colonel Ilahi Bakhsh, MD

This monograph is a first-hand account of the last days of Muhammad Ali Jinnah. Written by a medical doctor, this book sheds light on the last two months of Muhammad Ali Jinnah’s Life. This book is an outcome of the entries in the author’s personal diary.

The first edition of this book was published in 1949. With the Quaid-i-Azam during his last days is divided into three chapters. This includes his time at Ziarat, Quetta and Karachi. This book review here is for the 2011 edition published by Oxford University Press Karachi. The preface to the third edition of the book written by M. Nasir Ilahi specifies that the author was required to delete certain passages from the book as they were considered to be politically inappropriate and sensitive.

Jinnah was at Ziarat, later he was moves to Quetta so that the altitude does not affect his already fragile health. Afterwards he was moved to Karachi. When Quaid was being shifted from Quetta to Karachi an incident happened. After landing at Mauripur Aerodrome Quaid was put into an ambulance. From Aerodrome to Governor General’s house the distance was 9 to 10 miles. Ambulance had stopped working after about 4 miles due to some engine trouble. Another ambulance was arranged. At 6:10 A.M, almost two hours after landing at Mauripur Aerodorme Quaid reached his destination.

Earlier at Quetta the author had refused a person willing to meet Quaid. Mr. Amin stressed on Dr. Ilahi that a specific person was willing meet Quaid-i-Azam on urgent basis. The author asked his name from Mr Amin, but Mr Amin said he could not disclose it. Later in Karachi the author had found the identity of the visitor, after Quaid-i-Azam’s death. The author also does not disclose the name of the visitor in this book and leaves the reader perplexed.

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