Silk Road

Qin Journey V Day 5 The Monk at the Gate Tashilhunpo Monastery Shigatse
Qin Journey V · Day 5 · The Monk at the Gate
Day 5 — dirt roads, dust clouds, a twenty-minute chase through mountain switchbacks, and a young monk standing in front of my car at the gates of Tashilhunpo Monastery at... Read more...
Qin Journey V Day 8 Mount Kailash 6656m Guqin on Car Roof at Dawn
Qin Journey V · Day 8 · The Mountain at the Center of the World
Day 8 — Mount Kailash appeared at dawn, catching the first light. I climbed onto the roof of the car and played Gao Shan (High Mountains). Then I clicked a... Read more...
Qin Journey V Day 7 Manasarovar Sacred Lake Tibet Guqin on Car Roof
Qin Journey V · Day 7 · The Lake That Cannot Be Defeated
Day 7 — Manasarovar appeared without warning at 4,588 meters. No one else around. I climbed onto the roof of the car, took out the guqin, and played Liu Shui... Read more...
Qin Journey V Day 6 Everest Base Camp Rongbuk Monastery 5200m
Qin Journey V · Day 6 · At the Foot of the World
Day 6 — Rongbuk Monastery, 5,200 meters, half the oxygen of the plains. I climbed a hillside of mani stones, watched the banner cloud stream from Everest's summit for half... Read more...
Qin Journey V Day 3 Bingzhongluo Chawalong Zuogong
Qin Journey V · Day 3 · Bingzhongluo — Chawalong — Zuogong
Day 3 of Qin Journey V — we took the Bing-Cha-Zuo, a road more dangerous than the infamous Bing-Cha-Cha. No guardrails. No room to pass. Half a wheel over the... Read more...
Qin Journey V Day 4 Pilgrims on National Highway 318
Qin Journey V · Day 4 · One Body Length at a Time
Day 4 on National Highway 318 — snow passes, high altitude, and Tibetan pilgrims prostrating every step of the way. The path of the guqin, I realized, is its own... Read more...
Qin Journey V · Day 2 · Dali — Chawalong
Qin Journey V · Day 2 · Dali — Chawalong
Day two on G219: from Dali through Bingzhongluo to the Yunnan-Tibet border, across the old broken road above the Nujiang gorge, past the Great Flowing Sand, and into Tibet for... Read more...
Qin Journey V · Day 1 · Nanjing — Dali
Qin Journey V · Day 1 · Nanjing — Dali
On Qingming 2023 — the day the Chinese visit their ancestors — guqin practitioner William Xu flew to Dali under a full moon, beginning his fifth qin journey and third... Read more...
William Xu sits cross-legged on the stone square before the Potala Palace in Lhasa, Tibet, holding his guqin — the beginning of a decade-long journey playing the ancient instrument at the highest places on earth.
Qin on the Road · I : Playing at the Summit
"Seek the company of the wise. Play your qin at the highest place you can reach."This is the ultimate pursuit of every soul — not of fame, not of applause,... Read more...