A CARPET RIDE TO KHIVA: SEVEN YEARS ON THE SILK ROAD

Book ID/图书代码： 12844010B34427

English Summary/英文概要： With its nod to 19th-century adventurer Captain Frederick Barnaby’s A Ride to Khiva, this Central Asian memoir raises expectations of a swashbuckling tale. Indeed, having travelled to Uzbekistan to write a guidebook, Christopher Aslan Alexander embarks on a mission to revive traditional Uzbek carpetweaving, which involves running the Afghan border to obtain natural dyes, narrowly avoiding arrest for suspected opium-smuggling and fi nally being kicked out of Khiva for confronting the corrupt mayor.
But if his exploits resemble the captain’s, thankfully, his language does not. Eschewing the usual Silk Road hyperbole, he delves behind the dazzling minarets to show us Uzbekistan as it is today. After decades of Soviet rule, veils mingle with mini-skirts, Ramadan is broken with vodka and life grinds to a halt each evening as the nation settles to watch its favourite Mexican soap opera.
Unsparing in his censure of Uzbekistan’s repressive government, the author nevertheless paints a sympathetic and often humorous portrait of Khiva’s residents. We meet such characters as Toychi, the girl-mad silk dyer, and Ulugbibi, the matriarch who falls asleep at the loom.
More than just a tableau of Khiva, the book also paints a picture of a foreigner’s integration into the community. When he fi rst arrives, the cultural gap seems unbridgeable. Seven years later he is devastated to leave and writes: ‘People I might simply have photographed if passing through became the tapestry of my life’.

Chinese Summary/中文概要： 建立在19世纪冒险家弗雷德里克•巴拿比（Frederick Barnaby）船长的《乌兹别克斯坦之旅》（A Ride to Khiva），这本百年亚洲自传收录了神气活现的探险故事。事实上，克里斯托弗为了写一本旅游指南，已经亲临乌兹别克斯坦，身负使命重振传统乌兹别克的织毯技艺，这当中，他跑到阿富汗边境提取自然染料，险些被当作鸦片走私贩逮捕起来，但最终拜一腐败市长所赐被踢出了乌兹别克斯坦。
然而，是否他的探索与船长类似，可喜可贺的是，语言风格是不同的。作者避开通常的丝绸之路夸张法，反钻研起令人目眩的清真寺的塔尖，展示诚如今日乌兹别克斯坦风格。继数十载苏维埃规则，面纱混搭迷你裙，伏特加破了斋戒，每晚全国民众停下来观看墨西哥电视剧的时候，生活戛然而止。
尽管作者用同情和幽默的口吻描绘了乌兹别克斯坦的居民，其专制政府无法逃脱诘责。主人公有托曳池（Toychi），染丝师以及睡着在织布机上的女负责人乌鲁歌比比（Ulugbibi）。
本书不止描绘了乌兹别克斯坦的场面，还有外来人员加入社区。当他一开始到达，文化差异似乎是一道不可逾越的鸿沟。七年以后，他临离开之际写道，“我所有拍过的画面和人都会是我生活的宝藏。”(XJJ)

Awards/获奖情况：

About the Author/作者介绍： 克里斯托弗•艾思兰•亚力克山大（Christopher Aslan Alexander）出生于土耳其，成长于贝鲁特和土耳其，作为一个男孩，他对壳类收集的理解远胜于武器的种类。在当两年海员之前，他所有的青葱岁月都在英国度过。克里斯在莱斯特大学学习媒体，成了大学福音班第一位白人。
克里斯在学生会做了一年之后，搬到了中亚，参与自愿活动。他在写乌兹别克斯坦导向的时候，爱上了这片沙漠绿洲-据说以世界上现存屹立不倒的伊斯兰建筑为傲。

Christopher Aslan Alexander was born in Turkey (hence his middle name) and grew up there and in war-torn Beirut (as a boy, his understanding of a shell collection was more the weapon variety). He spent his teenage years in England before escaping for two years at sea. Chris studied media at Leicester and became the first white boy in the university gospel choir.
After a year working for the students’ union, Chris moved to land-locked Central Asia, volunteering with Operation Mercy, a Swedish NGO. While writing a guidebook about Khiva, he fell in love with this desert oasis – which boasts the most homogeneous example of Islamic architecture in the world – and stayed.

Format:电子手稿

Rights Status/版权销售情况：Simplified Chinese/简体中文：AVAILABLE

Complex/Traditional Chinese/繁体中文：AVAILABLE

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