This is the story of a unique venture. Between March 2009 and November 2011 Swedish China veteran Lars Ellström walked from Beijing to Kashgar in Central Asia. He covered more than 5 000 kilometres through poor villages and newly built boomtowns. From the account of his trek we get to know the changing landscapes and listen to the people he met: farmers, shepherds, entrepreneurs, drivers, Christians, Muslims, school children, teachers and descendants of Genghis Khan. Thanks to his fluency in Chinese and deep knowledge of China's history and society, Ellström has been able to put these perspectives in wider and often provocative perspectives. He also presents the reader with fascinating examples of Swedish adventurers in China many years ago. They include the explorer Sven Hedin, the missionary and rancher Frans August Larson, who became a trusted go-between in negotiations between the Chinese and Mongol heads of state, earning him the title of 'Duke of Mongolia', and Lovisa Engvall, a missionary, who learned the Uighur language and lived in Xinjiang for most of her grown-up life. The image of China that Ellström presents in this book contrasts with so much of today's superficial reportage. China is not just a country in the process of stupendous economic development but also a land of cultural and political expansion. Historical monuments are reconstructed, not merely to promote tourism but also to implant a partisan interpretation of the past. Ethnic massacres are officially referred to as pacification. Even names of places are changed. All the while, however, discontent is brewing under the surface. The miracle of economic growth is also a country of ever-widening social, geographical and ethnic chasms.
Road to Kashgar : Notes from a walk through China
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Author Description
Lars Ellström has been engaged with China in particular and East Asia in general for most of his life. As a student, diplomat, banker, financial expert and business consultant he has strived to obtain an understanding of life and society in this part of the world. His trek from Beijing to Kashgar represents both a summing-up of experiences and an effort to reach deeper insights. Lars was born in 1942 in a suburban working-class environment in Stockholm, Sweden. He thus grew up in the atmosphere of economic growth and democratic optimism of the post-war Swedish welfare society, which provided him with the opportunity to engage in academic studies. At Stockholm University he studied Literature, Philosophy and Sinology. The latter discipline was brought to his attention by the intriguing Cultural Revolution: he found that there were not many Chinese speakers around and consequently not many with the competence to understand what was going on in the secluded country that China was at the time. In 1969-71 Lars strengthened his Chinese language skills at the language centres of the Chinese University of Hong Kong and Nanyang University in Singapore. In 1973-74 he did research on modern Chinese literature at the Oriental Institute in Prague, Czechoslovakia, before proceeding to Fudan University in Shanghai as a scholarship student 1975-76. During these final years of the Cultural Revolution he would for the first time directly experience the reality of China's political turmoil. After further research on modern Chinese literature at Stockholm University he took up the position as Cultural Attaché at the Swedish Embassy in Beijing in 1979. In this capacity, including that of acting as interpreter in meetings with Chinese leaders, he could develop a broader understanding of Chinese society. With that background Lars in 1982 was recruited as chief Beijing representative by Svenska Handelsbanken, a major Swedish bank. From then on Lars Ellström has worked with banking and business consultancy in China and the wider East Asian region. He has also worked as a financial expert in projects for the World Bank, Swedish aid agencies and the EU in Vietnam and China. Since the beginning of 2013 he again resides in Sweden.