Frybabe I'm thinking he has captured the disquiet many of us feel regardless where we live - the world has made a shift in the last 30 years - I know here in Austin we have a facebook page, titled something, I remember Austin, and it is filled with the nostalgia for all the place that have disappeared, iconic Austin restaurants, shops, churches, hospitals, even schools that have disappeared in the last 30 years plus, the huge influx of people from outside the state that have substantially changed even our politics so that the town now has reached the tipping point of more from outside the state or area than home grown - reading this I think that is what he is noticing. The new China left this part of China in the dust. As a traveler, looking at monuments to the past and knowing the historical importance of the area it is dismaying to observe.
I can find nothing that further explains these 'bolts' that were successful against the Roman army - it appears whatever they were they must have been on or the actual arrow tip - what kind of material would the Parthia's cavalry have that Rome did not have?
The affect of SAARs on his trip is not hitting me as much as the various captions about the book make it important - maybe because it is now history. Also I think he is noting the affect of the Cultural Revolution had and continues to have as people lost their culture in that purge. Being such a traditionally motivated nation I think his depression is matching the lack of caring he sees all around him. He is still very curious and there seems to be less melancholy once he reaches these northern mountains where there is snow on the ground.
The history of how these places, essentially robbed by westerners of the scrolls and other artifacts feels like a sting just reading about it - have no idea where these scrolls and artifact are today because most of it took place before WWII by men who lived in the very areas of Europe that experienced the worst of the war. So much world history has been destroyed. Early, we read how even the Chinese leaders burnt their past. A poignant conversation he creates with one of the characters in a wall painting and himself that recaps the difference in what we value, what we ultimately wish could happen and what is reality - the other view seems to accept that it makes no difference what is lost, what was, we all die - in other words what and why are we hanging onto anything.
Interesting perspective since I'm at that stage in life where I have too much and the grands do not want it and my children have everything they want and need and yet, I'm having difficulty letting go.
