Book introduction:
"The Lost Satellite - A Journey Deep into the Central Asian Continent", [medium]? Liu Zichao, Wenhui Publishing House, 2020
Content introduction: "Lost Satellite" is far more than just a story about travel. It is a rare and extraordinary work of literature that wanders through Central Asia at a very slow pace, like a Buddhist monk - a slowness that, incidentally, is reflected in the book's unhurried language. Unlike most travel writers, Liu Zichao did not try to talk to those "important people" or pretend to know everything about this land. Instead, he talks to the men and women he meets on the road, asking seemingly simple questions but getting unusual answers. All of the above give his works an unsurpassed sincerity. After reading this book, you will feel like you have really taken a trip to Central Asia with Zichao. You will know more about this land than reading a hundred political articles.
——Margrit Sprecher, Chairman of the Jury of the Global True Story Award 2019
About the author: Writer and journalist. Graduated from the Chinese Department of Peking University and was a visiting researcher at the Reuters Institute for Journalism at Oxford University (2016). He once worked for Southern People Weekly and GQ. His published works include "Arrival Before Midnight" and "Along the Direction of the Monsoon", which won the "Bookstore Literary Award·Annual Travel Writing Award". Other translations include "Amazing City", "A Moveable Feast", "The Long Goodbye", etc. In 2018, Central Asian works were selected for the One-Way Street "Sailor Project" project; in 2019, the Central Asian series of works were translated into English and won the "Global True Story Award" (Global True Story Award) special attention works.
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?"A person must bring knowledge with him when traveling, if he wants to bring knowledge back." This famous saying sounds somewhat outdated today. . Nowadays, travel has become boring and stereotyped: a trip is equivalent to two or three travel guides, a series of sightseeing check-in activities, and several sets of friend circle positioning and refined photos. Many "travel literature" on the market also meticulously record their own mental journeys under the guise of travel. The entire journey has almost no experiences on the road, and rarely touches on the history, culture and traditions of the destination (but often There are beautiful encounters with locals or local tourists), it is like a biography. In contrast, Liu Zichao, the author of "The Lost Satellite - A Journey into the Central Asian Continent", has returned to his original nature on this point and restored the true definition of the "classical profession" of a travel writer.
?In 2011, Liu Zichao, who was still a reporter, went to Central Asia for the first time. Although he was deeply shocked at the time, facing such a complex, conflicting, dissociated and mysterious land, he was still unable to Put pen to paper. "I understand that writing such a book is not easy. It will be a huge project." He realized that he had to "slow down and sink." Liu Zichao asked his friends to bring back a large number of books and documents about the Central Asian wars from France and the United States. He began to consciously pay attention to the social news of the five Central Asian countries, systematically learned various regional languages, and researched relevant information on this land. There is no limit to the form, from text and video to music and painting. In this way, he set out again with knowledge and curiosity, heading to this land between civilizations struggling with the trend of globalization and imperial power, and began an exploration spanning the past, present and future.
In the past nine years, writer Liu Zichao has traveled to Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan. Due to the closed and conservative Turkmen government, the planned trip to Turkmenistan turned into "a failed journey". But the other four Central Asian states have filled in a vital piece of the puzzle for his world picture. Take a minibus around Lake Issyk-Kul, hike the cold Tianshan Mountains and alpine lakes, and rest in a Soviet-era military sanatorium; speed along the jagged national borders, climb the Wakhan Corridor in a four-wheel-drive off-road vehicle, and enter the end of the world ——Pamir Plateau; drive straight into the Fergana Valley - the "Balkans of Central Asia", pass through checkpoints with live ammunition, and cross the rushing Syr Darya River; follow the Amu Darya River north to the Aral Sea, stopping at a house Three generations of a Karakalpak family met a Chinese man who made a living on the Aral Sea; he was in the Kazakh prairie, chartered a car to the Soviet nuclear explosion test site, and tracked the nuclear relics hidden deep in the wilderness...?
?"Compared with nine years ago, Central Asia is no longer unfamiliar, but it is still mysterious. After experiencing the Mongol invasion, the khanates' struggle for hegemony, the reshaping of Soviet Russia, and the chaos and recovery after independence, Central Asia has recovered It has become what it has been for a long time - like a satellite, wandering between different civilizations and forces, correcting its own position... Central Asia began to have new views on its own history and future, and different trends of thought. and ideas are stirring repeatedly in this land, and today, the rise of China will change the gravity here and bring different prospects to Central Asia.” He continued: “In my travels, I have witnessed this process. Embryonic state—with the energy, panic, and fearlessness of new things—but as time goes on, everything will become clearer.
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?Traveling through Central Asia and looking at the world as a Chinese is the fundamental stance of Liu Zichao’s writing. This greatly eliminates the sense of isolation between reading. His words and insights often make readers immersed in the scene. For example, when telling the history of the Fergana Valley, Liu Zichao looked at Chinese history books and described in a simple and easy-to-understand manner the story of Zhang Qian's mission to the Western Regions and how he brought back the sweat-blooded BMW, and how Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty later went to war for the sweat-blooded BMW. . There are many such kind examples: for example, in the ancient Silk Road ruins, there are also Wu Zetian's murals and the legend of Anlu Mountain... It is worth mentioning that these historical references are published by the author in this book. I have carefully consulted historians for their opinions before. ?
?"The splendid history and culture of Central Asia are the eternal and magnificent background of this book... I put more perspective on it. Focus on the present moment. " Along the way, Liu Zichao met all kinds of characters, and these living people provided him with a deeper and keener understanding of this land. In a Muslim restaurant in Bishkek, the young proprietress Zoe spoke impeccably They spoke English, Russian and Kyrgyz, with traces of Turkic, Mongolian and Persian features on their faces, but their eyes and smiles were completely American. On the north shore of Lake Issyk-Kul after the collapse of the Soviet Union, two Russian girls were "stranded" in an occlusion. In this small town, their lives are like a calm lake here, without a trace of waves. "Nadia and Dasha, who were half drunk, danced in front of me. Not only did they move passionately, they also sang to me lovingly: 'Baby.' , baby, baby, give me your soul! '"
?Liu Zichao is like a ghost, an unseen shadow, jumping out of the reality where he is, and always looking at the world objectively and calmly. But this mature and sophisticated documentary psychology, This is most evident in "Lost Satellite". In his early works "Arrival Before Midnight" and "In the Direction of the Monsoon", he often had a youthful mentality questioning the relationship between travel and life, self and the world. In a bar in Erjana, he saw couples drinking by candlelight and sighed: "Traveling alone can sometimes make you nervous. For example, when you see a scene like this, you will inevitably feel lonely... At that time How am I different from who I am now? In other words, to what extent has travel changed me? ”
?“I discovered at this time that the mountains (Slovakia) are magnificent during the day, but they are heart-stopping at night. That huge and unknown existence stands forever day and night, making me feel small and fragile. If the mountain is willing, it can easily destroy me, but I am still alive at the moment, but relying on its mercy..."
——"Arrival before Midnight", 2015
p>“When traveling to India, you must learn to transcend the concepts of clean and dirty. In fact, you have to transcend any concept...I suddenly understood later that traveling to India is like enlightenment: step by step, break the concept, let go of yourself, and finally become a wise man, a saint, and an Arhat. ”
——“In the Direction of the Monsoon” in 2019
? Now, to some extent, he has found the answer: for these abstract philosophical questions, he chooses Responding through concrete travel and documentary
“Deep down, I always feel that I have the blood of nomads—not steppe nomads, but contemporary nomads. Such people are always moving, from one place in the world to another, lacking a sense of belonging, and home is just a place to stay in the present. For them, traveling is not about going anywhere, just traveling. The most important thing is to move.
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——2020 “The Lost Satellite—A Journey Deep into the Central Asian Continent”