'The kind of history deserving of a cinematic blockbuster' Julia Lovell Literary Review '[A]
gripping and meticulously researched account of an epic effort to transport delicate scrolls
paintings and carvings thousands of miles under the threat of bombing and invasion' Rana Mitter
Times Literary Supplement 'Brilliant and thrilling... A tale of daring and adventure... A
desperate race against time' Paul French South China Morning Post _____ The gripping true
story of the intrepid curators who saved China's finest art from the ravages of the
Sino-Japanese War and World War II. Spring 1933. The silent courtyards and palaces of Peking's
Forbidden City are tense with fear and expectation. Japan's aircraft drone overhead its troops
and tanks are only hours away. All-out war between China and Japan is coming and the curators
of the Forbidden City are faced with an impossible question: how will they protect the vast
imperial art collections in their charge? The magnificent collections contain a million pieces
of art - objects that carry China's deepest and most ancient memories. Among them are
irreplaceable artefacts: exquisite paintings on silk vanishingly rare Ming porcelain and the
extraordinary Stone Drums of Qin which are adorned with 2 500-year-old inscriptions of crucial
cultural significance. For sixteen terrifying years under the quiet leadership of museum
director Ma Heng the curators would go on to transport the imperial art collections thousands
of miles across China - up rivers of white water across mountain ranges and through burning
cities. In their search for safety the curators and their fragile invaluable cargo journeyed
through the maelstrom of violence chaos and starvation that was China's Second World War. Told
for the first time in English and playing out across a vast historical canvas this is the
exhilarating story of a small group of men and women who when faced with war's onslaught on
civilisation chose to resist. 'Fascinating... Brookes marries a reporter's grasp of detail
with a novelist's narrative flair to bring clarity and readability to a complicated period of
China's troubled history' Mail on Sunday
