The author explores his China curios, some tangible, like opium pipes and cricket 'palaces', some intangible, like memories and dreams. His 'cabinet of curiosities' contains a whole anthology of strange tales; of the erotic adventures of the 'Old Buddha' Empress Dowager, of two extraordinary foreign hermits in China, of murder and mystery in the 'Badlands' of Beijing and the demi-monde of Chinese theatre and of poignant ruins that serve both as witnesses to the tragedy of past East-West encounters and as potential sources of future understanding.

The author explores his China curios, some tangible, like opium pipes and cricket 'palaces', some intangible, like memories and dreams. His 'cabinet of curiosities' contains a whole anthology of strange tales; of the erotic adventures of the 'Old Buddha' Empress Dowager, of two extraordinary foreign hermits in China, of murder and mystery in the 'Badlands' of Beijing and the demi-monde of Chinese theatre and of poignant ruins that serve both as witnesses to the tragedy of past East-West encounters and as potential sources of future understanding.

The author explores his China curios, some tangible, like opium pipes and cricket 'palaces', some intangible, like memories and dreams. His 'cabinet of curiosities' contains a whole anthology of strange tales; of the erotic adventures of the 'Old Buddha' Empress Dowager, of two extraordinary foreign hermits in China, of murder and mystery in the 'Badlands' of Beijing and the demi-monde of Chinese theatre and of poignant ruins that serve both as witnesses to the tragedy of past East-West encounters and as potential sources of future understanding.