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The Horse That Leaps Through Clouds: A Tale of Espionage, the Silk Road, and the Rise of Modern China
On July 6, 1906, Baron Gustaf Mannerheim boarded the midnight train from St. Petersburg, charged by Tsar Nicholas II to secretly collect intelligence on the Qing Dynasty’s sweeping reforms that were radically transforming China. One of the last Tsarist secret agents, Mannerheim chronicled almost every facet of China’s modernization, from education reform and foreign investment to Tibet’s struggle for independence.
On July 6, 2006, writer Eric Enno Tamm boards that same train, intent on following in Mannerheim’s footsteps. Initially banned from China, Tamm devises a cover and retraces Mannerheim’s route across the Silk Road, discovering both eerie similarities and seismic differences between the Middle Kingdoms of a century ago and today.
Along the way, Tamm offers piercing insights into China’s past that raise troubling questions about its future. Can the Communist Party truly open China to the outside world yet keep Western ideas such as democracy and freedom at bay, just as Qing officials mistakenly believed? What can reform during the late Qing Dynasty teach us about the spectacular transformation of China today? As Confucius once wrote, �Study the past if you would divine the future,” and that is precisely what Tamm does in The Horse That Leaps Through Clouds.
On July 6, 2006, writer Eric Enno Tamm boards that same train, intent on following in Mannerheim’s footsteps. Initially banned from China, Tamm devises a cover and retraces Mannerheim’s route across the Silk Road, discovering both eerie similarities and seismic differences between the Middle Kingdoms of a century ago and today.
Along the way, Tamm offers piercing insights into China’s past that raise troubling questions about its future. Can the Communist Party truly open China to the outside world yet keep Western ideas such as democracy and freedom at bay, just as Qing officials mistakenly believed? What can reform during the late Qing Dynasty teach us about the spectacular transformation of China today? As Confucius once wrote, �Study the past if you would divine the future,” and that is precisely what Tamm does in The Horse That Leaps Through Clouds.
496 pages, Paperback
First published September 4, 2010
19 people are currently reading
202 people want to read
About the author
Eric Enno Tamm
3 books9 followersEric Enno Tamm is an author, journalist and analyst with more than 15 years’ experience in the media and non-profit sector. His first book, Beyond The Outer Shores The Untold Story of Ed Ricketts the Pioneering Ecologist Who Inspired John Steinbeck and Joseph Campbell, was a Kiriyama Prize Notable Book in 2005 and his second book, The Horse That Leaps Through Clouds A Tale of Espionage the Silk Road and the Rise of Modern China, is being published in Canada (2010), the United States (2011) and Finland (2011).
Eric has worked as executive director of the B.C. Coastal Community Network, communications director of Ecotrust Canada, and as a correspondent in Europe. His writing has appeared in Wallpaper*, The Globe and Mail, Los Angeles Times Magazine, Canadian Geographic, San Francisco Chronicle, Toronto Star, among others.
Born in Tofino B.C., Eric developed his interest in history and current affairs at a young age. His father, an Estonian refugee, would often recount gripping first-hand accounts of the Soviet invasion of the Baltic States during the Second World War. At the age of 15, Eric became the editorial cartoonist for the local newspaper, and went on to earn a master’s degree in journalism from the University of Southern California in Los Angeles and a master’s degree in European affairs from Lund University in Sweden. Eric remained in Sweden for three years, working as the Nordic Contributing Editor for Wallpaper* magazine.
While studying in Lund, a Finnish friend told him about Gustaf Mannerheim’s epic trek from St. Petersburg to Peking in 1906. Several years later, and back in Vancouver, Eric read Mannerheim’s travel journal and was mesmerized by its piercing insights and the striking parallels between the country’s modernization in the late Qing Dynasty and Communist China today. He began intensive historical research and logistical planning to retrace Mannerheim’s route on the centennial in 2006.
However, before he departed his home in Vancouver, the Chinese consulate, through its network of spies and informants, caught wind of his plans to venture into China’s restive and rugged borderlands. He was repeatedly denied a visa. Like Mannerheim, he devised a cover and snuck into China’s back of beyond.
The Horse That Leaps Through Clouds chronicles two epic journeys along the Silk Road—past and present—that offer a cautionary tale about the breathtaking rise of modern China.
Eric currently lives and works in Ottawa, Canada.
Eric has worked as executive director of the B.C. Coastal Community Network, communications director of Ecotrust Canada, and as a correspondent in Europe. His writing has appeared in Wallpaper*, The Globe and Mail, Los Angeles Times Magazine, Canadian Geographic, San Francisco Chronicle, Toronto Star, among others.
Born in Tofino B.C., Eric developed his interest in history and current affairs at a young age. His father, an Estonian refugee, would often recount gripping first-hand accounts of the Soviet invasion of the Baltic States during the Second World War. At the age of 15, Eric became the editorial cartoonist for the local newspaper, and went on to earn a master’s degree in journalism from the University of Southern California in Los Angeles and a master’s degree in European affairs from Lund University in Sweden. Eric remained in Sweden for three years, working as the Nordic Contributing Editor for Wallpaper* magazine.
While studying in Lund, a Finnish friend told him about Gustaf Mannerheim’s epic trek from St. Petersburg to Peking in 1906. Several years later, and back in Vancouver, Eric read Mannerheim’s travel journal and was mesmerized by its piercing insights and the striking parallels between the country’s modernization in the late Qing Dynasty and Communist China today. He began intensive historical research and logistical planning to retrace Mannerheim’s route on the centennial in 2006.
However, before he departed his home in Vancouver, the Chinese consulate, through its network of spies and informants, caught wind of his plans to venture into China’s restive and rugged borderlands. He was repeatedly denied a visa. Like Mannerheim, he devised a cover and snuck into China’s back of beyond.
The Horse That Leaps Through Clouds chronicles two epic journeys along the Silk Road—past and present—that offer a cautionary tale about the breathtaking rise of modern China.
Eric currently lives and works in Ottawa, Canada.
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
July 14, 2013
A travel journal of a voyage though Central Asia and China, tracking the journey a century ago of Baron Gustaf Von Mannerheim, later the hero of Finnish independence. The author goes back and forth between the present and a century ago. A nice conceit.
A bit long, this book nevertheless gives us a glimpse of how the region was and how it is now--more advanced but polluted and corrupt beyond belief.
Worth a read if the region fascinates you as it does me.
A bit long, this book nevertheless gives us a glimpse of how the region was and how it is now--more advanced but polluted and corrupt beyond belief.
Worth a read if the region fascinates you as it does me.
January 25, 2021
In spite of the vast territory and material covered in this book it was not too difficult to read. And I am now grateful for the blank spaces in my mental geography map that have been filled in. What an incredible journey both Mannerheim and Enno Tamm made.
An interesting figure this hero of the Finns, Mannerheim. One of those historical giants for whom "they broke the mould". For me it was also interesting to learn something about the founder of the Nobel prize and where all that money came from.
There were so many interesting nuggets of information that were new to me. For example, I always thought that WWI was the first "industrial scale" war. It wasn't. The Russo-Japanese war deserves that "accolade".
On the negative side: The author's bias as a North American and environmentalist is evident. I also wished that the book contained photographs and more maps for me to orientate myself while I was reading. I assume their omission was to save cost and space. I did look at all the pictures on the book's website after every chapter that I read. But, I missed captions to the Flickr photo stream, even though it was often easy to guess what the subjects were.
Despite these minor criticisms, this is a book that I would recommend to anyone, who like myself, is an ignoramus on Central Asia and China. The comparisons to the situation in the many areas that the two men travelled through, exactly a century apart, are very interesting and sobering.
At the start of the 20th century China was attempting to rush headlong into the 20th century. The concerns then were the same as today (p. 299) ...foreign capital will utilize the opportunity for flooding the markets of the world with the products of cheap Chinese labour.
The mind boggles on facts about China. For example, in 2006 a 2600 year old tax (!), the agricultural tax, was abolished. The migration from farm to city, that took Europe two centuries, happened in two decades in China. Since 1978, 235 million people have been lifted out of poverty. There is a quote in the book (p. 424)
The journey ends in China, so one's head is full of that part when you close the covers. But the sections on Central Asia are also very interesting and one cannot help but feel for those people whose countries became pawns in the "Great Game", which to some extent, is still carrying on to this very day.
This was a rewarding read that has wetted my appetite for wanting to know more about the territories, people and history that it covers.
An interesting figure this hero of the Finns, Mannerheim. One of those historical giants for whom "they broke the mould". For me it was also interesting to learn something about the founder of the Nobel prize and where all that money came from.
There were so many interesting nuggets of information that were new to me. For example, I always thought that WWI was the first "industrial scale" war. It wasn't. The Russo-Japanese war deserves that "accolade".
On the negative side: The author's bias as a North American and environmentalist is evident. I also wished that the book contained photographs and more maps for me to orientate myself while I was reading. I assume their omission was to save cost and space. I did look at all the pictures on the book's website after every chapter that I read. But, I missed captions to the Flickr photo stream, even though it was often easy to guess what the subjects were.
Despite these minor criticisms, this is a book that I would recommend to anyone, who like myself, is an ignoramus on Central Asia and China. The comparisons to the situation in the many areas that the two men travelled through, exactly a century apart, are very interesting and sobering.
At the start of the 20th century China was attempting to rush headlong into the 20th century. The concerns then were the same as today (p. 299) ...foreign capital will utilize the opportunity for flooding the markets of the world with the products of cheap Chinese labour.
The mind boggles on facts about China. For example, in 2006 a 2600 year old tax (!), the agricultural tax, was abolished. The migration from farm to city, that took Europe two centuries, happened in two decades in China. Since 1978, 235 million people have been lifted out of poverty. There is a quote in the book (p. 424)
After three weeks in China one is prepared to write a book about her, after three years an article, but when one has been there thirty years one realizes that one knows nothing.
The journey ends in China, so one's head is full of that part when you close the covers. But the sections on Central Asia are also very interesting and one cannot help but feel for those people whose countries became pawns in the "Great Game", which to some extent, is still carrying on to this very day.
This was a rewarding read that has wetted my appetite for wanting to know more about the territories, people and history that it covers.
May 28, 2017
A well-researched book. I highlighted lots of informative parts. I am planning on a short trip to Helsinki this summer to trace the footsteps of Silk Road explorers, which is a project of mine that has continued since 2011. This visit to Helsinki is solely dedicated to Gustaf Mannerheim. This is the first book I picked up before reading his general biographies. It was a great pleasure that the author and Gustaf Mannerheim visited many of the places I have been to. His various interviews and quotes from Mannerheim's journal offered rich reference. Bibliography and acknowledgment sections were also quite useful.
February 13, 2024
The story behind the book and the way the author goes about his task of retracing Mannerheim’s footsteps are ingenious and praiseworthy; however, I wouldn’t consider his observations and conclusions of any value to a person with even a smattering of knowledge on China - and in the case of this book it’s more than probable that the reader had been invested in the topic before.
Too long for my liking as well
Too long for my liking as well
May 30, 2012
Horse That Leaps Through Clouds was how Mannerheim, a Finn on a mission for Tsar Nicholas, translated his Chinese name. Eric Tamm retraced his steps while reading his diaries. It was the part about Western China today that most interested me. Not a good suggestion if you haven't already become fairly familiar with today's China. For a scholar of the time of Mannerheim and today's China I believe it would be extremely interesting. It's certainly unique!
August 30, 2021
This was the ultimate travel book. The author began his ambitious trek in Helsinki, with the end goal being Beijing. The purpose of his trip was to follow the route of Mannerheim, a person who had traveled this route 100 years earlier and made countless observations about the people and places he encountered along the way in a report for the Tsar. Mannerheim is famous today for having defended Finland against the USSR during WWII, but earlier in his life (1906-1908) he had worked for the Imperial Russian government as an intelligence officer (ie, a spy) and had been sent to Asia to collect information that could help Russia seek advantage in the Great Game. As the author retraces Mannerheim’s steps, he finds that a surprising number of things in this part of the world have stayed the same.
Like many other travel writers visiting this part of the world, the author recounts dodgy characters, painful bus rides, poor roads, illness, financial stress, and environmental disaster. On the other hand, he makes some wonderful connections and has several moments of serendipity, and he successfully interviews a wide range of people about Mannerheim and about the local political, economic, and social situation in the places he visits. I thought it was very well written, educational, and entertaining.
Thank you to my kids’ school’s library for lending me this book.
Like many other travel writers visiting this part of the world, the author recounts dodgy characters, painful bus rides, poor roads, illness, financial stress, and environmental disaster. On the other hand, he makes some wonderful connections and has several moments of serendipity, and he successfully interviews a wide range of people about Mannerheim and about the local political, economic, and social situation in the places he visits. I thought it was very well written, educational, and entertaining.
Thank you to my kids’ school’s library for lending me this book.
November 8, 2015
I really wanted to like this book. But instead I had a hard time finishing it and stopped several times in the middle to read other things. Too much rambling, wandering, unfinished themes, side tracks and just plain wondering what and where the author thought his point was going to be. Annoying.
There was some fun and interesting info, but it was so buried that it wasn't worth it in the end.
There was some fun and interesting info, but it was so buried that it wasn't worth it in the end.
August 29, 2011
The parallel between Mannerheim's journy and that of the author Eric Enno Tamm's shows how much China has changed and how some things remain the same.
April 2, 2015
Interesting but not captivating. Rambling at times engaging at others, the subject mater is interesting and is the history, but the political analysis is nothing new seven years on.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews