This exhilarating book interweaves the stories of two early twentieth-century botanists to explore the collaborative relationships each formed with Yunnan villagers in gathering botanical specimens from the borderlands between China, Tibet, and Burma. Erik Mueggler introduces Scottish botanist George Forrest, who employed Naxi adventurers in his fieldwork from 1906 until his death in 1932. We also meet American Joseph Francis Charles Rock, who, in 1924, undertook a dangerous expedition to Gansu and Tibet with the sons and nephews of Forrest’s workers. Mueggler describes how the Naxi workers and their Western employers rendered the earth into specimens, notes, maps, diaries, letters, books, photographs, and ritual manuscripts. Drawing on an ancient metaphor of the earth as a book, Mueggler provides a sustained meditation on what can be copied, translated, and revised and what can be folded back into the earth. “First things first: this is an outstanding book. . . . Mueggler weaves together . . . a lyrically-written story.” ― New Bks In East Asian Stds Published On: 2012-02-01 “This work provides the reader with a remarkable look into another place and culture in a time gone by.” -- Marilyn K. Alaimo ― Chicago Botanic Garden Published On: 2012-03-01 “A richly textured history. . . . The book will provide lively, informative reading for ambitious readers and specialists. . . . Highly recommended.” -- J.W. Dauben, CUNY Herbert H. Lehman College ― Choice Published On: 2012-09-26 An absolutely breathtaking book -- in its thoughtfulness and imaginativeness, in the breadth and depth of the research which it entailed, in its geographical, cultural, and historical situatedness, and in its profound critical empathy for all of the key players. Beautifully and skillfully written. Sydney White, Associate Professor of Anthropology, Asian Studies, and Women's Studies at Temple University " The Paper Road is an eloquent, even haunting narrative of the relationships between colonial explorers/scientists and their native collaborators that makes vivid the theme of 'colonial intimacy.' It speaks to scholars working on Chinese minorities and frontier relations, to historians of comparative colonialism, to experts on Tibet and Buddhism, and probably also simply to lovers of tales of mountains and exploration." Charlotte Furth, Professor Emerita of Chinese History , University of Southern California. “An absolutely breathtaking book -- in its thoughtfulness and imaginativeness, in the breadth and depth of the research which it entailed, in its geographical, cultural, and historical situatedness, and in its profound critical empathy for all of the key players. Beautifully and skillfully written.” – Sydney White, Associate Professor of Anthropology, Asian Studies, and Women's Studies at Temple University " The Paper Road is an eloquent, even haunting narrative of the relationships between colonial explorers/scientists and their native collaborators that makes vivid the theme of 'colonial intimacy.' It speaks to scholars working on Chinese minorities and frontier relations, to historians of comparative colonialism, to experts on Tibet and Buddhism, and probably also simply to lovers of tales of mountains and exploration." –Charlotte Furth, Professor Emerita of Chinese History , University of Southern California. Erik Mueggler is Professor of Anthropology at the University of Michigan. He is the author of The Age of Wild Ghosts: Memory, Violence, and Place in Southwest China (UC Press). The Paper Road Archive and Experience in the Botanical Exploration of West China and Tibet By Erik Mueggler UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PRESS Copyright © 2011 The Regents of the University of California All rights reserved. ISBN: 978-0-520-26903-3 Contents List of Illustrations, ix, Acknowledgments, xi, Note on Transliteration, xiii, Introduction, 1, PART I, 1. The Eyes of Others, 39, 2. Farmers and Kings, 61, 3. The Paper Road, 87, 4. The Golden Mountain Gate, 118, PART II, 5. Bodies Real and Virtual, 149, 6. Lost Worlds, 179, 7. The Mountain, 211, 8. Adventurers, 243, 9. The Book of the Earth, 265, Notes, 291, Bibliography, 325, Index, 341, CHAPTER 1 The Eyes of Others A man is suspended over the river. Leather straps bind him to a half cylinder of bamboo that slides on a rope of twisted bamboo strands greased with yak butter. Having plummeted to a point over the river's center, he will haul himself to the opposite bank, hand over hand. The edges of the strands are sharp, so the crossing is painful as well as physically demanding. The photograph was included in Acting Consul G. Litton's secret report to the British Foreign Office on his journey to the Upper Salween River. It is filed in the archives of the Royal Geographical Society with many other images of suspension bridges over the great rivers that run in parallel gorges through northwest Yunnan: bridges of cane, ropes and planks, t