Intriguing volume doesn't maintain thrill of the discourse

The Horse That Leaps Through Clouds

A Tale of Espionage, the Silk Road

and the Rise of Modern China

By Eric Enno Tamm

Douglas & McIntyre, 490 pages, $35

If this book had been marketed as a travelogue, it might well have been a triumph.

Central Asia, because it is largely unknown to Westerners, retains its mystique. And who can be free from the excitement at the thought of boarding an "express" at midnight to Samarkand or Ulan Bator?

Alas, there is a politico-strategic dimension to be incorporated. Ottawa-based Eric Tamm is a skilled writer, but even he is not capable of maintaining the thrill of the discourse, and from time to time, there is the feel of ethnic museum catalogues about the piece.

But, still, it is an intriguing volume, and it has a stirring history. The idea of sending someone out to gather intelligence about, among other things, the political and military situation in and around that vast area known as the Silk Road occurred to no less than Czar Nicholas II following the Russian defeat by the Japanese in the war of 1904-1905.

He posed a lengthy list of questions, but probably two were central to his concerns. One, what had been the effect of internal reform in China? Two, would China invade Russia?

The person chosen for this odyssey was one of the few Russians who had done well in the recent war. Baron Gustaf Mannerheim was of mixed Finnish, Dutch and Swedish descent. It took him two years to report.

Later, the baron was a hero for successfully leading the Finns against the Soviet Union in the Winter War of 1939-1940. Even Herr Hitler was a fan.

The report was published, in small numbers, in 1941. When Tamm was asked by a consortium to repeat Mannerheim's mission, he at first had difficulty in locating a copy.

Tamm is, obviously, a writer, Estonian-born, he lived in Vancouver when first encountered the bloody-mindedness of Chinese consular officials.

If one compares the two periods, there are of course numerous changes and lots of status quo. The "stans" are now independent republics, most of them with an Islamic majority.

We know them best, perhaps, for their weak but game hockey teams. Also, they seem to be authoritarian in outlook and meddlesome to tourists.

Tamm is also interested in the occurrence of terrorism and the incidence of assassination as a political tool. To many readers, though, the truth is that "the hotheads ye have with you always."

The more interesting questions are those which are concerned with the massive changes which have been and are taking place in both China and Russia.

In China, when the original investigation was carried out, the formidable Dowager Empress (Tzu Hsi) had only just been called to her ancestors. Since that time, the Middle Kingdom has been though numerous changes.

Many observers cite convergence theory to explain the transformation of whole societies, the belief that nations change in the same way if exposed to the same influences. In the case of (so ancient) China, others rely on theories of dynastic change.

In the realm of international relations, many theories compete. Some would observe that the two powers have exercised some consistency. And, they would say, a third power has pressed its interests, and may have had a significant effect on all patterns of change.

Geoffrey Lambert is a political scientist at St. Paul's College at the University of Manitoba.

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition September 4, 2010 H9