V nachale XX veka avtor izuchal stranu Dzhungariyu - chast' Zapadnogo Kitaya, prilegayuschuyu s yugo-vostoka k granitsam Vostochnogo Kazahstana. V etoj mestnosti soprikasayutsya gornye sistemy Altaya i Tyan'-shanya, i avtor dolzhen byl vyyasnit' granitsu mezhdu nimi, geologiyu i geografiyu Dzhungarii. V.A.Obruchev provel tri leta v etoj strane i peresek ee v raznyh napravleniyah; izuchal gornye tsepi, shirokie doliny s oazisami po rechkam i u istochnikov vody i ploschadyami nastoyaschej pustyni, rovnoj ili holmistoj, mestami pohozhej po svoemu rel'efu na razvaliny bol'shogo goroda. Interesuyas' istoriej Kitaya, V.A.Obruchev uznal, chto v etoj strane dobyvali zoloto v pervoj polovine proshlogo stoletiya i chto dobycha prekratilas' v svyazi s grazhdanskoj vojnoj, ohvativshej zapad Kitaya 80-90 let nazad, kogda byli razrusheny mnogie seleniya i goroda, a naselenie istrebleno ili razbezhalos'. Obrabatyvaya materialy i nablyudeniya puteshestviya po Dzhungarii, V.A.Obruchev reshil opisat' istoriyu svoih puteshestvij.
Vladimir Afanasyevich Obruchev (Russian: Владимир Афанасьевич Обручев) was a Russian and Soviet geologist who specialized in the study of Siberia and Central Asia. He was also one of the first Russian science fiction authors.