"The westward expeditions of the Great Traveler
Chang Ch'ien in the first century B.C. blazed trails
which eventually became that complex of caravan
routes called The Silk Road, connecting Imperials
China and Imperial Rome. From Ch'ang-an, present
day Sian, they led through the Gobi Desert oasis
of Tun-huang, to Yu-men-kuan, called the Jade Gate,
and then around the Taklamakan desert either north-
or south - westerly and thence to the Mediterranean
coast. Silk--which the Emperor, Tiberius in the
century A.D. proclaimed an instrument of decadence
and prohibited from wearing--nevertheless poured
along the route to the West, along with furs and
ceramics, cinnamon bark and bronze mirrors. The
West sent precious metals and stones, wool and linen,
ivory, amber, and glass. From India, the Silk Road
brought Buddhism too into China. Populous and cosmopolitan
oasis towns grew up along the road on the Taklamakan,
flourishing materially, artistically, and intellectually,
especially throughout the golden age of the T'ang
dynasty. With the drying up of glacial streams that
watered them, the dynasty's decline, and the arrival
of Islamic warriors from Arabia, the Silk Road fell
ever more into disuse and many of these towns were
re-discovered and then plundered by explorers and
adventurers from Europe and America who, predominantly
without Chinese sanction, brought back in droves
precious artworks and manuscripts from their excavations
and in to western museums. The play does not take
place in the Taklamaken, but in Shanghai--concomitant
with the end of this period of theft". ---Michael
Arner
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