"Travels in Central Asia" Author: [Norway] Erica Fatland Publisher: Henan Literature and Art Publishing House

Top 10 New Voices in Europe | Wessel Prize | Edward Stanford Best Travel Writer Shortlisted | Norwegian Booksellers Nonfiction Award

Alexander's army brought walnuts from Kyrgyzstan back to Europe. In the Yaghnob Valley of Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, people still use the ancient Yaghnobi language, the main language on the Silk Road, and life follows another rhythm of time. However, these five countries have always been arbitrarily classified as one region: first as a vast area of ​​the ancient Silk Road from Asia to Persia, and then as a stage for the great game between Russia and Britain. From Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan on the shores of the Caspian Sea, eastward through Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan, these countries were once the farthest borders of the Soviet Union.

Social anthropologist Erica Fatland takes a journey rarely taken by even the most seasoned globetrotters, exploring the current state of five Soviet republics since their independence in 1991.

Fatlan traveled through Turkmenistan, a country that most people are forbidden to enter, to the huge and desolate nuclear test site in Kazakhstan, met Chinese shrimp fishermen on the dry shore of the Aral Sea, and met German Mennonites who have lived on the plains of Kyrgyzstan for 200 years. She backpacked through every corner of the republic, fully introducing the history, culture and geographical features of the five Central Asian countries, and paying special attention to the current situation of women in each country. "Travels in Central Asia" is an "Odyssey through Central Asia", a journey of exploration by a young anthropologist.

* The current situation of young Central Asian countries in the post-Soviet era and the choices of people in the Russian cultural circle

“The complexity and beauty of these areas is best seen when she takes us back in time.”

Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan, the five former Soviet republics, each with its own distinct people and landscape, have a complex history and rich culture that predates the Soviet Union. Although these five countries are quite different in many ways, they share a common origin and destiny: from 1922 to 1991, for nearly seven decades, they were all part of the Soviet Union, a large-scale social experiment unprecedented in world history. How are they doing now that they have gained independence in 1991?

*Young anthropologists have been preparing for many years, and this is the most comprehensive non-fiction masterpiece on the current situation of the five Central Asian countries.

Author Erica Fatland spent several years researching and twice traveled to Central Asia for interviews, including Turkmenistan, a country that few people are allowed to enter. She drank vodka and ate caviar with strangers on a train through Kazakhstan, attended a wedding in a rural Tajik village, and witnessed the thrilling moment when the president of Turkmenistan participated in a horse race. From deserts to grasslands, from farmland to snow-capped mountains, from ancient cities that retain traditional culture to emerging cities, she talked with tour guides, truck and taxi drivers, young mothers, archaeologists, passengers on trains, German Mennonites, immigration officials, and TV reporters along the way. The current state of nationalization of these Turkic peoples, who have always had a place in Chinese history, is recorded in detail. This non-fiction masterpiece that combines travel notes, history, and sociological investigations has been formed.

*Profound observations and records of local customs and people, in-depth understanding of local life, and attention to the situation of women

Polygamy is prevalent in Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan; a large number of Tajik men go to Russia for work, and many of them remarry and marry Russian wives there, abandoning their wives in their hometowns; Kyrgyzstan has a notorious tradition of "bride kidnapping", where young women are forcibly abducted into cars and forced to marry... The author is fluent in Russian and can fully communicate with the locals, and pays special attention to the current situation of women's survival in each country. "Twenty-one-year-old Roza was kidnapped on her way home from get off work at a cosmetics store one night. At this time, she had lived in Bishkek for three years. None of this was accidental: the man who kidnapped her knew her get off work time and which way she usually went home. When Roza walked alone to a deserted and dim street, he took action. He borrowed a minibus and brought ten friends from the village. These friends forcibly dragged Roza into the minibus and tied her to a seat. 'I have kidnapped you. You are going to be my wife.' The man sitting in the driver's seat announced."