Lou Lan

Many of the short stories in this collection involve an embellishment and speculation of the past of a curio, tradition, or archaeological relic. Lou-lan gives the chronicle of a city in the desert caught between the Xiongnu and Chinese and tells of the possible origin of a Tarim Basin mummy and the speculation of the fate of her people. The city of Lou-lan rests along a river by the banks of the lake Lop Nur, the populace is pushed out of the city, and their attempts to return are stymied by the two hegemons. Over the centuries, however, the winds of the Taklamakan alter the geography: the lake dries up and the city is buried in sand until it is discovered again by Swedish explorer Sven Hedin. Perhaps it is meant to be cautionary, about never leaving ones homeland lest the homeland disappear in fact. This story is what drew me to the collection, but in my opinion is the weakest of the six, and feels rather constrained by info-dumping.

The Sage

Inoue's account is a retelling of oral traditions about a tribal power struggle regarding a spring in what is now Kyrgyzstan and how it formed Issyk Kul. He published this short story in 1959. His closing remarks leave the reader to decide to believe these oral traditions or the Russian archaeologists saying the lake is almost a hundred thousand years old. This tale involves a lot of similar themes to Lou-lan, but isn't as beset by attempts to exactly match history and archaeological finds. Ironically, Russian archaeologists found evidence of civilization submerged in Issyk Kul in 2007, half a century after this story's publication.

Princess Yung'tai's necklace