MARC Record from Library of Congress

LEADER: 02303cam a22002778i 4500
001 2015039657
003 DLC
005 20151117082459.0
008 151113s2016 cau 000 0 eng
010 $a 2015039657
020 $a9781619027107
040 $aDLC$beng$erda$cDLC
042 $apcc
043 $aac-----
050 00 $aDS327.8$b.P67 2016
082 00 $a950$223
100 1 $aPorter, Bill,$eauthor.
245 14 $aThe Silk Road :$btaking the bus to Pakistan /$cBill Porter.
263 $a1601
264 1 $aBerkeley, CA :$bCounterpoint Press,$c[2016]
300 $apages cm
336 $atext$2rdacontent
337 $aunmediated$2rdamedia
338 $avolume$2rdacarrier
520 $a"To travel upon the Silk Road is to travel through history. Millennia older than California's Camino Real, and perhaps even a few years senior to the roads of the Roman Empire, the Silk Road is a network of routes stretching from delta towns of China all the way to the Mediterranean Sea -- a cultural highway considered to be essential to the development of some of the world's oldest civilizations. It was upon this road that that Chinese silk traveled and was exchanged for incense, precious stones, and gold from India, the Middle East and as far the Mediterranean, contributing to the great tradition of commercial and idea exchange along the way. In the fall of 1992, celebrated translator, writer, and scholar Bill Porter left his home in Hong Kong and decided to travel from China to Pakistan by way of this famous and often treacherous Silk Road. Equipped with a plastic bottle of whiskey, needle-nose pliers, and the companionship of an old friend, Porter embarks upon the journey on the anniversary of Hong Kong's liberation from the Japanese after World War II and concludes in Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan, at the end of the monsoon season. Weaving witty travel anecdotes with the history and fantastical mythology of China and the surrounding regions, Porter exposes a world of card-sharks, unheard-of ethnic minorities, terracotta soldiers, nuclear experiments in the desert, emperors falling in love with bathing maidens, monks with miracle tongues, and a giant Buddha relaxing to music played by an invisible band"--$cProvided by publisher.
651 0 $aSilk Road$xDescription and travel.