Fell in the Middle East: Stein's Life of Exploration and Archaeology

Author: Chen Ziren
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2004-12-01
Features: He was the son of a Jew but was baptized into Christianity; he began his travels at the age of 10 and became proficient in German, English, Greek, Latin, Sanskrit, and Persian, earning his doctorate at 21; he was Hungarian, enduring hardships and humiliations to obtain British citizenship and the King's reward; he crossed the Pamir Plateau, climbed the Karakoram Ice Peak, ventured deep into the heart of Asia, traversed the Taklamakan Desert, and roamed the Silk Road, always oscillating between life and death, honor and disgrace; he left countless scars on the chest of Xinjiang, yet Xinjiang gained fame in the West because of him; he stole the treasures from the hidden chambers of the Dunhuang Grottoes, and Dunhuang became renowned worldwide; some say, without him, there would be no 20th-century Dunhuang studies; he was a thief, but also a hero. No one can say clearly whether we should praise him or curse him.
This book adopts the Marxist approach of "dividing into two," organizing historical records, grasping the essence, and placing Stein in the specific historical context before and after the World War, narrating his struggles and doubts, and recounting his achievements and crimes. In the author's portrayal, Stein is, a real life, and an active soul. He was both an outstanding explorer and an excellent scholar, as well as a greedy tomb raider and a frenzied colonialist. He infiltrated Xinjiang and Gansu in China, stealing cultural relics under the expansionist power of British colonialists. The precious cultural heritage left to us by our ancestors was indeed crazily plundered by Stein and others; but in that era of bloodshed for the Chinese nation, with corrupt courts and declining national strength, our Summer Palace was burned to the ground by foreign powers in one fire, the Empress Dowager Cixi fled the capital in panic, unable to resist, let alone places like Xinjiang and Dunhuang in the western frontier—was there anyone who could stand up to them?
While the author provides a detailed introduction to Stein's four journeys to Central Asia, his plundering deeds, and his academic achievements, he also deeply analyzes and reflects on the underlying reasons hidden behind the historical dust; thus, his evaluation of this complex historical figure is both objective and fair, free of bias, and full of dialectical thinking, enriching in educational value.