Overview

In 2015, footloose lawyer and screenwriter William Han set out to travel the ancient Silk Road from China to Europe, following the footsteps of a Chinese explorer who tried to make contact with the Roman Empire in the first century AD. Born in Taiwan, raised in New Zealand, and freshly liberated from a New York law firm, he relied largely on a big smile and a firm handshake on a voyage through both space and timeas from northwest China through Central Asia and Afghanistan to Iran. From the Wall to the Water is a personal odyssey as well as a snapshot of an unstable and little known part of the world from a unique perspective, linking the ancient past to the uncertain present, and generating observations and meditations on the tides of history, and our place within it.

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9789888769513

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Reviews

"""A wholly inimitable travelogue that is often funny, often hair-raising, and often profound. I loved it."" - Tom Holland, author of Dominion and In the Shadow of the Sword - - - - ""From the Wall to the Water is a tour de force: it is a moving account of Han's journey through space and history as he retraces the footsteps of a Han dynasty explorer. This book is a must-read for anyone interested in Chinese history, Central Asia, and personal self-discovery. It will also become a class for travelers, history buffs, and anyone who is looking to find their place in this world."" - Miranda Brown, Arthur F. Thurnau Professor of Chinese Studies, University of Michigan - - - - ""A thoughtful, beautifully-written travelogue of self-discovery and of history, of what it means to exist in the interstices of a globalised world where ethnicity, nationality, race, language religion remain potent markers that shape one's life despite one's best attempts not to be defined by them. Han's journey into Eurasia brings him home to where he started: acceptance of what is, not of what if."" - Zuraidah Ibrahim, executive managing editor, South China Morning Post - - - - ""A great travelogue. Like Robert Byron and Paul Theroux before him, William Han traverses the history, topography and Silk Road cultures from western China to central Asia, with wit and an acute eye. 'From the Wall to the Water' is a layered, memorable account of a bucket-list journey."" - Marcus Brauchli, former editor of The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post - - - - ""If Paul Theroux was born in Taiwan, schooled in New Zealand and as a young man out of love called time on a legal career in New York, he might have written this book. Instead William Han has authored this hair-raising pilgrimage, following in the steps of a Han dynasty adventurer who crossed Central Asia. He travels through Xinjiang in the time of Xi Jinping, into Afghanistan under the Taliban's insurgency before America's retreat, and beyond. A journey told with verve, wit and a deep respect for history."" - Will Glasgow, North Asia Correspondent for The Australian"

A wholly inimitable travelogue that is often funny, often hair-raising, and often profound. I loved it. - Tom Holland, author of Dominion and In the Shadow of the Sword - - - - From the Wall to the Water is a tour de force: it is a moving account of Han's journey through space and history as he retraces the footsteps of a Han dynasty explorer. This book is a must-read for anyone interested in Chinese history, Central Asia, and personal self-discovery. It will also become a class for travelers, history buffs, and anyone who is looking to find their place in this world. - Miranda Brown, Arthur F. Thurnau Professor of Chinese Studies, University of Michigan - - - - A thoughtful, beautifully-written travelogue of self-discovery and of history, of what it means to exist in the interstices of a globalised world where ethnicity, nationality, race, language religion remain potent markers that shape one's life despite one's best attempts not to be defined by them. Han's journey into Eurasia brings him home to where he started: acceptance of what is, not of what if. - Zuraidah Ibrahim, executive managing editor, South China Morning Post - - - - A great travelogue. Like Robert Byron and Paul Theroux before him, William Han traverses the history, topography and Silk Road cultures from western China to central Asia, with wit and an acute eye. 'From the Wall to the Water' is a layered, memorable account of a bucket-list journey. - Marcus Brauchli, former editor of The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post - - - - If Paul Theroux was born in Taiwan, schooled in New Zealand and as a young man out of love called time on a legal career in New York, he might have written this book. Instead William Han has authored this hair-raising pilgrimage, following in the steps of a Han dynasty adventurer who crossed Central Asia. He travels through Xinjiang in the time of Xi Jinping, into Afghanistan under the Taliban's insurgency before America's retreat, and beyond. A journey told with verve, wit and a deep respect for history. - Will Glasgow, North Asia Correspondent for The Australian

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