艽野尘梦

Written in 1936, this book records the author's experiences of traveling to Tibet during 1909-1912. In the late Qing Dynasty, Chen Quzhen made an expedition to Tibet, where he participated in counter-insurgency campaigns in Sida, Jundah, Kongpo and Bomi, and married a Tibetan girl Xiyuan. After the Wuchang uprising broke out in Oct. 1911, the Sichuan army sent to Tibet had a civil strife, and Chen Quzhen led 115 trusted soldiers to go back to the Central Plains via Qinghai. On their way, they got lost and ran out of food, and at last only 11 men returned to Lanzhou. Chen's parting with Xiyuan is deeply touching. This book is a brilliant note-style novel, and also valuable historical materials about the actual situation of late Qing Dynasty and the early Republic of China Tibet. The book's description of Tibetan girl Xiyuan is deeply touching, and the description of survival in the wilderness is heart-pounding.