Research · 4 min · EN
Spinning Gold from Straw
I have yet to fully immerse myself in the subject, but there is a fascinating case here of entrepreneurial grit, reconstructed myth, and the rebranding of a tea once considered among China’s worst.
Writing
Essays and field notes
Essays, field notes and research by Noam Backner on China, Inner Asia, Buddhism, the Silk Roads, food, agriculture and the lived experience of place.
Research · 4 min · EN
Turks and Poets: From Skulls to Goblets
Shah Ismail, the first Safavid King of Iran, dragged Persia by its dusty neck across the threshold of the Shiite faith. He was also a man of elegant taste and, evidently, a wicked sense of humor.
Research · 6 min · EN
The Way of the Three Treasures: A History of the Eunuch
The second time Sun Yaoting lost his three most precious treasures, it was forever. Until his dying day, his heart ached for their destruction at the hands of family members seized by the terror of the Red Guards.
Research · 5 min · EN
Scent and Splendor: The Way of the Citron
“And she’ll feed you tea and oranges that brought all the way from China”
Research · 6 min · EN
The Cloud Binders
“One day, the Khan of Kokand set out to do what Khans of his sort usually do.”
Research · 2 min · EN
The Tarim Mummies
The "Tocharian" mummies are Bronze Age human remains found across the Tarim Basin, sparking a long-standing debate over Indo-European origins and modern ethnic identity.
Research · 3 min · EN
Taming the Snow Leopard: A Central Asian Mystery
With the Asiatic lion and Caspian tiger long gone, and the Persian leopard clinging to the margins, the snow leopard now reigns as the undisputed, if elusive, king of the Central Asian mountains.
Research · 2 min · EN
Nowruz: The Dawn of a New Day
Originally published: March 17, 2018.
Research · 1 min · EN
A Requiem for a Donkey
The great poet Wang Can found a strange beauty in the braying of donkeys.
Research · 3 min · EN
Fragments of Iranian Buddhism
Centuries of a living Buddhist tradition among the Iranian peoples of Central Asia, and their role in planting the Dharma in China.
Research · 1 min · EN
A Strange Beast at the Song Court
“On July 21, 1058, the state of Jiaozi presented a beast to the imperial court, claiming it was a qilin.”
Research · 3 min · EN
Rebels of the Black Tent
Five days of searching, ridge by ridge and town by town, as the silence of the grasslands closes in.
Research · 4 min · EN
Exiles #3: The Black Khitans
In recent years, a remote nation across the sea chose a leader who would guide it toward a cultural wasteland. History offers a counterpoint in Yelü Dashi.
Research · 3 min · EN
The Caspian Tiger: A Ghost of Central Asia
Anyone who has seen the Disney classic Aladdin—a tale likely grafted onto the Arabian Nights by the French orientalist Antoine Galland—surely remembers Princess Jasmine’s oversized feline companion.
Research · 3 min · EN
Exiles, Part II
Wander through the markets of Tashkent, Dushanbe, Khujand, or Bishkek, and you will inevitably stumble upon vibrant piles of “Korean pickles”: tiny marinated shiitakes, white-vinegar carrot salads, and, most strikingly, glowing mounds of red kimchi.
Research · 4 min · EN
The Exiles of Samarkand
In a year long lost to memory, a lone Turkic tribe set out from the outskirts of Samarkand to find a new home.
Research · 5 min · EN
The Light-Bearing Melons of Samarkand
“Why do you look upon the melon as a divine treasury?”
Research · 3 min · EN
God’s Bonsai
He Long lives near the Great Mosque of Xining, the capital of Qinghai Province, but spends his days running a small food stall on the city's southern edge.
Research · 15 min · EN
The Lotus in the Sands
How Buddhism travelled the trade routes into China — and how a Daoist caretaker at Dunhuang found the record of it behind a cracked mural.