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Song of the Silk Road
In this richly imaginative novel, Mingmei Yip--author of Peach Blossom Pavilion and Petals From the Sky --follows one woman's daunting journey along China's fabled Silk Road.
As a girl growing up in Hong Kong, Lily Lin was captivated by photographs of the desert--its long, lonely vistas and shifting sand dunes. Now living in New York, Lily is struggling to finish her graduate degree when she receives an astonishing offer. An aunt she never knew existed will pay Lily a huge sum to travel across China's desolate Taklamakan Desert--and carry out a series of tasks along the way.
Intrigued, Lily accepts. Her assignments range from the dangerous to the bizarre. Lily must seduce a monk. She must scrape a piece of clay from the famous Terracotta Warriors, and climb the Mountains of Heaven to gather a rare herb. At Xian, her first stop, Lily meets Alex, a young American with whom she forms a powerful connection. And soon, she faces revelations that will redefine her past, her destiny, and the shocking truth behind her aunt's motivations. . .
Powerful and eloquent, Song of the Silk Road is a captivating story of self-discovery, resonant with the mysteries of its haunting, exotic landscape.
As a girl growing up in Hong Kong, Lily Lin was captivated by photographs of the desert--its long, lonely vistas and shifting sand dunes. Now living in New York, Lily is struggling to finish her graduate degree when she receives an astonishing offer. An aunt she never knew existed will pay Lily a huge sum to travel across China's desolate Taklamakan Desert--and carry out a series of tasks along the way.
Intrigued, Lily accepts. Her assignments range from the dangerous to the bizarre. Lily must seduce a monk. She must scrape a piece of clay from the famous Terracotta Warriors, and climb the Mountains of Heaven to gather a rare herb. At Xian, her first stop, Lily meets Alex, a young American with whom she forms a powerful connection. And soon, she faces revelations that will redefine her past, her destiny, and the shocking truth behind her aunt's motivations. . .
Powerful and eloquent, Song of the Silk Road is a captivating story of self-discovery, resonant with the mysteries of its haunting, exotic landscape.
368 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2011
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552 people want to read
About the author
Mingmei Yip
15 books158 followersMingmei Yip was born in China, received her Ph.D. from the University of Paris, Sorbonne, and held faculty appointments at the Chinese University and Baptist University in Hong Kong. She's published five books in Chinese, written several columns for seven major Hong Kong newspapers, and has appeared on over forty TV and radio programs in Hong Kong, Taiwan, Mainland China, and the U.S. She immigrated to the United States in 1992, where she now lives in New York City.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 135 reviews
April 25, 2011
Where to begin? I grabbed this book at the Honolulu airport while in a very big rush to walk the thousand miles to our gate. I admit that I totally judged a book by its cover and thought about how I typically love all novels that involve some sort of Asian history. This book was, well, awful. And yet, I still made myself finish it even though I have decided (after making myself finish 'The Corrections') that I am a grownup, and as such, I don't have to complete books I don't want to! However, since I had nothing else to read on the five hour flight home, I got about 170 pages in and really wanted to know who the hell her aunt, Mindy Madison, turned out to be. So not worth it. I lost hours of my life on this one. And the gratuitous sex scenes that were too frequently placed on the pages? Total contrived garbage. Seriously...don't waste your time. Sorry, Mingmei Yip.
April 24, 2011
**WARNING: This title is not for younger readers despite the Fiction moniker.**
First off, the cover art. Can I just say that although the set up is simple, it's rather stunning. The shade of green used to color the overall picture and then the stunning pink/red of the flowers provide a wonderfully eye catching contrast. Moving within the cover, we find a journey indeed...
I loved the main characters inner monologue and narration of the scenes. She had an interesting way of viewing the world, both poetic and tragic at the same time. However, her verbal interactions with other characters, their actual conversations felt stunted....almost child-like in both responses given and taken.
The descriptions of both time and place were detailed and precise, almost placing you beside Ms. Lin on her journey without missing a step along the way. The author's way with words seems to know no bounds when describing the multitude of Ms. Lin's sexual encounters. Never in my life have I read a book in which this act was described (or performed for that matter) in so many ways. In truth, it was poetic mixing heaven and earth, feeling and fate, BUT for my reading preferences...it was a bit much. I mean Ms. Lin literally falls into bed with almost every man she meets. Most disturbing amongst them was not her married professor nor her youthful lover, but Floating Cloud...who was a monk. Rest assured that this startling sequence of events is laid to rest later on in the text but until then... O_O
The fact that this was to be a journey of discovery was what drew me to this book and yet the only true discovery comes at the book's end with a completely side-swiping turn of events. Really...there is NO way to see this one coming (which certainly speaks to the author's talent for crafting a story); gotta love the unexpected turns that WORK. Moving forward....I suppose she learned a bit about her heart and the workings of the universe along the way, but it doesn't really seem apparent til the final pages and those reactions could have been merely formed from her trips final days in lieu of the events that transpired over the past several months.
All in all, I'd say the journey (when she was on it and not in yet another bed) was breath taking in the visual wonders and history beheld yet often times disturbing, striking a balance between the yin and the yang. Though saturated with a few too many scenes of passion, it seems that the message the author aimed to deliver still comes through. For me, it was this...the universe moves in mysterious ways but never without purpose of intent.
First off, the cover art. Can I just say that although the set up is simple, it's rather stunning. The shade of green used to color the overall picture and then the stunning pink/red of the flowers provide a wonderfully eye catching contrast. Moving within the cover, we find a journey indeed...
I loved the main characters inner monologue and narration of the scenes. She had an interesting way of viewing the world, both poetic and tragic at the same time. However, her verbal interactions with other characters, their actual conversations felt stunted....almost child-like in both responses given and taken.
The descriptions of both time and place were detailed and precise, almost placing you beside Ms. Lin on her journey without missing a step along the way. The author's way with words seems to know no bounds when describing the multitude of Ms. Lin's sexual encounters. Never in my life have I read a book in which this act was described (or performed for that matter) in so many ways. In truth, it was poetic mixing heaven and earth, feeling and fate, BUT for my reading preferences...it was a bit much. I mean Ms. Lin literally falls into bed with almost every man she meets. Most disturbing amongst them was not her married professor nor her youthful lover, but Floating Cloud...who was a monk. Rest assured that this startling sequence of events is laid to rest later on in the text but until then... O_O
The fact that this was to be a journey of discovery was what drew me to this book and yet the only true discovery comes at the book's end with a completely side-swiping turn of events. Really...there is NO way to see this one coming (which certainly speaks to the author's talent for crafting a story); gotta love the unexpected turns that WORK. Moving forward....I suppose she learned a bit about her heart and the workings of the universe along the way, but it doesn't really seem apparent til the final pages and those reactions could have been merely formed from her trips final days in lieu of the events that transpired over the past several months.
All in all, I'd say the journey (when she was on it and not in yet another bed) was breath taking in the visual wonders and history beheld yet often times disturbing, striking a balance between the yin and the yang. Though saturated with a few too many scenes of passion, it seems that the message the author aimed to deliver still comes through. For me, it was this...the universe moves in mysterious ways but never without purpose of intent.
August 2, 2011
I normally love books about Chinese culture but this was honestly one of the worst books I have ever read in my life, and I'm writing this mainly to remind myself never to read anything by this author again. The plot was weak and unrealistic, as were the characters, and the ending was just ridiculous. That's several hours of my life I will never get back.
August 8, 2023
The story lacks a core vision - what is its goal? What are the themes? The protagonist's raison d'être is unclear - she is all over the place. At the beginning, she is introduced as a struggling writer who is also a married professor's mistress. Somewhere in the story, she is inexplicably revealed to have the supernatural ability to detect spirits - an ability that doesn't impact the plot meaningfully. For some reason, nearly all men she encounters fall in love with her (ugh). The writing is clunky, similes are bizarre (people stuck in a tumbling bus are apparently likened to pork chops slapping the grill). Don't get me started on the romanticization of the lives of people living in rural areas.
April 16, 2011
I have long been fascinated by China and her culture so this book was immediately interesting to me. I was looking forward to a tale of China's past merged with her future all tied in with a young woman's search for an aunt she did not know existed.
Lilly Lin is seemingly alone in the world. Her parents are dead and she is living in New York and trying to write a novel. Lilly is having an affair with a married man and working as a waitress in a Chinese restaurant when she receives a mysterious letter from a lawyer. If she agrees to the terms set forth by this unknown aunt she will find herself enriched by three million dollars.
That's a lot of money and Lilly could sure use it but the terms are very unsettling. Does she really want the money THAT badly? More importantly - who is this aunt she know nothing about? Lilly meets with the lawyer and is given a "down payment" on the final payout and sets forth on her journey to the Silk Road in China but what she finds and what she learns is not at all what she was expecting.
What I found and what I learned was not what I was expecting either. I wanted to be enchanted with this book and I wasn't. Lilly just wasn't likable enough for me. She seemed to be very self centered and motivated by all the wrong reasons. She made horrible, horrible decisions regarding men and laid the blame everywhere but where it belonged; at her feet. I really just wanted to slap her. I often have problems with books when the heroine is so unpleasant - but Gone with the Wind is one of my all time favorite books and Scarlett O'Hara is one of the most unappealing heroines in literary history. So that tells me that character faults can be overcome. In this book that didn't happen for me. The hero was not a character that I cared much for either so that left me with two people who I really just didn't care about - not good when they are the two main characters in the story.
It did have one whopper of an ending though, one I did not see coming. There is something to be said for that. The descriptions of place are very evocative and I know would love to see the deserts of China.
Lilly Lin is seemingly alone in the world. Her parents are dead and she is living in New York and trying to write a novel. Lilly is having an affair with a married man and working as a waitress in a Chinese restaurant when she receives a mysterious letter from a lawyer. If she agrees to the terms set forth by this unknown aunt she will find herself enriched by three million dollars.
That's a lot of money and Lilly could sure use it but the terms are very unsettling. Does she really want the money THAT badly? More importantly - who is this aunt she know nothing about? Lilly meets with the lawyer and is given a "down payment" on the final payout and sets forth on her journey to the Silk Road in China but what she finds and what she learns is not at all what she was expecting.
What I found and what I learned was not what I was expecting either. I wanted to be enchanted with this book and I wasn't. Lilly just wasn't likable enough for me. She seemed to be very self centered and motivated by all the wrong reasons. She made horrible, horrible decisions regarding men and laid the blame everywhere but where it belonged; at her feet. I really just wanted to slap her. I often have problems with books when the heroine is so unpleasant - but Gone with the Wind is one of my all time favorite books and Scarlett O'Hara is one of the most unappealing heroines in literary history. So that tells me that character faults can be overcome. In this book that didn't happen for me. The hero was not a character that I cared much for either so that left me with two people who I really just didn't care about - not good when they are the two main characters in the story.
It did have one whopper of an ending though, one I did not see coming. There is something to be said for that. The descriptions of place are very evocative and I know would love to see the deserts of China.
August 16, 2021
I saw this book at a Real Bookstore in Allen a few months ago; I fell in love with the cover, and I’ve been dying to read it since then. Now that I have, I regret to inform you that this book is absurdly, laughably bad.
At first I wondered if it was a translation, because of how awkward the writing was. It isn’t. Then I wondered if it was just because the author is a native Chinese speaker, but I think we’ve all read books by non-native English speakers and they sounded perfectly normal (or at least like they have good editors). Finally I gave up looking for an excuse—I think this book is just that bad.
I honestly don’t know why I let myself finish it; the story is interesting, but not anything so intriguing that I couldn’t have just skipped to the end to find out what happened. (In the beginning of the book, Lily—who thinks she has no relatives now that her parents are dead—receives a letter from an aunt she’s never heard of, giving her instructions to take a trip to China and fulfill all kinds of crazy tasks in order to receive three million dollars at the end.) She’s a fairly unlikeable protagonist and has the usual love interests that make anyone with the faintest feminist tendencies gag, but this book wouldn’t actually be bad if it didn’t also suffer from some truly awful writing—that’s what really killed it for me. I just couldn’t get past the awkwardness.
The disaster began on page one, when I saw the words “Three Million Dollars,” capitalized just like that. That was followed by this sentence:
By page three I had determined that the weirdly hyphenated adjectives were not a solitary occurrence, and in fact they only got worse as I went. Observe:
Speaking of bottoms, Yip likes to talk about them. A person can never just walk away—it’s always “her generous bottom waddled away,” or “she dragged her wide posterior away.” (Or “I settled what Chris referred to as my cute little yellow bottom on the sofa,” which isn’t talking about someone walking away, but is just really annoying.)
She uses the expression “shot out from __ mouth” at least once every twenty pages (“the question shot out from my mouth,” “a loud ‘What!’ shot out from my mouth), and describes people’s eye contact in ways like this: he threw down an "I’ll-be-right-back” look, and she cast me an “old Chinese horny with young American honey” look, and he cast me a “don’t pretend, you know exactly what I mean” wink. In fact, all her descriptions are weird. “His two fingers collided to give out a small explosion.” (Did you get that she meant he snapped his fingers?) “The adults would bounce against each other like pork chops slapped down upon a sizzling grill.” (Describing a bus accident. Do pork chops on a grill bounce against each other?) Everything is sensuous. A woman’s lips. Someone’s fingers. The weight of an ivory bracelet.
Then there are the really awkward sequences that sound like they may have been written by a fifth grader with a thesaurus:
Why do American publishers use “OK” instead of spelling out “okay”? Maybe this is something I should remember from my editing classes, but all I know is it makes me want to rip out a page in the book. And of course she does the thing where almost every sentence of dialogue starts with a person’s name, which in real conversation never happens. Think about it—when you’re talking with someone, how often do you actually say their name? The answer is, approximately 1/1283439th as frequently as Mingmei Yip believes you do.
So, that’s that. The book really wasn’t worth this much description, but whenever I read something truly awful, I can’t help but try and demonstrate to you just how bad it was—and I could go on and on with the examples. I even had to create a new label for my book rating system, because this is the first book I’ve rated below a 4. Like I said, you actually might like it if you don’t care about these things as much as I do. But as far as Chinese literature goes, this doesn’t even count.
At first I wondered if it was a translation, because of how awkward the writing was. It isn’t. Then I wondered if it was just because the author is a native Chinese speaker, but I think we’ve all read books by non-native English speakers and they sounded perfectly normal (or at least like they have good editors). Finally I gave up looking for an excuse—I think this book is just that bad.
I honestly don’t know why I let myself finish it; the story is interesting, but not anything so intriguing that I couldn’t have just skipped to the end to find out what happened. (In the beginning of the book, Lily—who thinks she has no relatives now that her parents are dead—receives a letter from an aunt she’s never heard of, giving her instructions to take a trip to China and fulfill all kinds of crazy tasks in order to receive three million dollars at the end.) She’s a fairly unlikeable protagonist and has the usual love interests that make anyone with the faintest feminist tendencies gag, but this book wouldn’t actually be bad if it didn’t also suffer from some truly awful writing—that’s what really killed it for me. I just couldn’t get past the awkwardness.
The disaster began on page one, when I saw the words “Three Million Dollars,” capitalized just like that. That was followed by this sentence:
Wow. I had to use all my willpower to stifle my about-to-shoot-out, uncontrollable, deliriously happy laughter to be able to continue to read.
By page three I had determined that the weirdly hyphenated adjectives were not a solitary occurrence, and in fact they only got worse as I went. Observe:
I also did not want to take any chances on this dropped-from-the-sky bonanza.
I was willing to face the challenge, of course for the pending fortune, but also to satisfy my dying-to-be-relieved itching curiosity.
I told myself that if I didn’t come back alive from the Silk Road, So. Be. It. At least I’d die in a romantic place–not as a back-straining, leg-numbing waitress; a stomach-rumbling, mind-constipating novelist-to-be; or a bed-warming, albeit not-childbearing, mistress.
But of course I swallowed these would-be-firecracker-like strings of words. This was not the time to be antagonistic.
Once she wriggled her mahjong-table-wide bottom away from my sight, I got up and hurried to Alex’s room.
Speaking of bottoms, Yip likes to talk about them. A person can never just walk away—it’s always “her generous bottom waddled away,” or “she dragged her wide posterior away.” (Or “I settled what Chris referred to as my cute little yellow bottom on the sofa,” which isn’t talking about someone walking away, but is just really annoying.)
She uses the expression “shot out from __ mouth” at least once every twenty pages (“the question shot out from my mouth,” “a loud ‘What!’ shot out from my mouth), and describes people’s eye contact in ways like this: he threw down an "I’ll-be-right-back” look, and she cast me an “old Chinese horny with young American honey” look, and he cast me a “don’t pretend, you know exactly what I mean” wink. In fact, all her descriptions are weird. “His two fingers collided to give out a small explosion.” (Did you get that she meant he snapped his fingers?) “The adults would bounce against each other like pork chops slapped down upon a sizzling grill.” (Describing a bus accident. Do pork chops on a grill bounce against each other?) Everything is sensuous. A woman’s lips. Someone’s fingers. The weight of an ivory bracelet.
Then there are the really awkward sequences that sound like they may have been written by a fifth grader with a thesaurus:
Just as I was wondering what to do, the hawk plunged toward me. “Ahhhh!” I ducked to avoid a possible hit and run. It was indeed a hit and fly, albeit the prey was not me, but my camera!
“Alex, do you think we’re crazy doing this?”
“Doing what?”
“Traveling through this hellish Go-In-But-Never-Come-Out place.”
“Lily, then you’re the one who’s crazy, because it was your idea, not mine.”
“Are you afraid?”
“Hmm, yes and no. I feel OK having you with me, though.”
We turned to look at each other before a loud “Yeah!” exploded from our mouths as we bumped fists… “Oh, my God!” we screamed simultaneously.
Why do American publishers use “OK” instead of spelling out “okay”? Maybe this is something I should remember from my editing classes, but all I know is it makes me want to rip out a page in the book. And of course she does the thing where almost every sentence of dialogue starts with a person’s name, which in real conversation never happens. Think about it—when you’re talking with someone, how often do you actually say their name? The answer is, approximately 1/1283439th as frequently as Mingmei Yip believes you do.
So, that’s that. The book really wasn’t worth this much description, but whenever I read something truly awful, I can’t help but try and demonstrate to you just how bad it was—and I could go on and on with the examples. I even had to create a new label for my book rating system, because this is the first book I’ve rated below a 4. Like I said, you actually might like it if you don’t care about these things as much as I do. But as far as Chinese literature goes, this doesn’t even count.
July 20, 2015
Totally a book of surprises, you never can figure out how this will end or wind down. Satisfying story about a girl who's Aunt she does not know asks her to go to China and complete a set of tasks on the Silk Road. Then she can receive three million dollars. It sounds like a greedy premise but the MC is so engaging that you'll find yourself rooting for her all the way. Ending a surprise.
January 16, 2012
Song of the Silk Road is a novel of finding who you are and all of the avenues open to you. Lily Lin, a writer and waitress, is shocked when a letter arrives stating the has inherited three million dollars, if she meets the stipulations. Lily finds this hard to believe, considering she had to scrape the money together to bury both of her parents and also because she has never heard of this aunt, Mindy Madison.
But eventually the lawyer tracks down Lily in person and she decides to try and meet the terms of Mindy's will - one thousand miles on the Silk Road in China, the same route Mindy took and doing the same things that Mindy did. Some of the things that Lily has to do are really bizarre, and all along the journey, a young man called Alex, whom she refused to travel with, keeps popping up at different opportune times.
The background painted by Yip is beautiful and mesmerizing. So many traditions in China that will really keep your attention. Lily's trip is a journey of the heart, one where she begins to know herself and that of her parents. Lily is a very likable character and the writing is poignant and really captures the readers attention. The difference between China and New York is very prominent and really lends credence to the story. Filled with adventure, romance, suspense and deft, capable writing, Song of the Silk Road is an evocative read!
But eventually the lawyer tracks down Lily in person and she decides to try and meet the terms of Mindy's will - one thousand miles on the Silk Road in China, the same route Mindy took and doing the same things that Mindy did. Some of the things that Lily has to do are really bizarre, and all along the journey, a young man called Alex, whom she refused to travel with, keeps popping up at different opportune times.
The background painted by Yip is beautiful and mesmerizing. So many traditions in China that will really keep your attention. Lily's trip is a journey of the heart, one where she begins to know herself and that of her parents. Lily is a very likable character and the writing is poignant and really captures the readers attention. The difference between China and New York is very prominent and really lends credence to the story. Filled with adventure, romance, suspense and deft, capable writing, Song of the Silk Road is an evocative read!
July 26, 2011
As much as I enjoy reading about Chinese culture, this book was disappointing. The main character is Lily Lin who is in her late 20s. She received a letter from a lawyer stating that a long lost aunt wants to give her 3 million dollars if she travels to China along the Silk Road and complete some very odd tasks along the way. Once completed, she will get the money. I ended up not really liking Lily because I couldnt believe she would even do some of these tasks. The book to me was so far fetched and there was very little culture. I felt the book was a little amateurish and silly at times. I was glad when the book was over.
March 6, 2013
Tried, just too silly.
May 3, 2016
i absolutely did not want this book to end. i was excited throughout the book and sad when it ended. Awesome book..
August 11, 2020
The best thing about this book is the cover.
June 11, 2012
Song of the Silk Road from Mingmei Yip
By TOM LAVENTURE
AAP staff writer
Mingmei Yip has a new novel coming out, Song of the Silk Road (Kensington Publishing, April 1, 2011), a spiritual, physical and emotional adventure of Chinese most remote desert region.
Lily, an unpublished professional writer working as a waitress in New York City, is alone in life, with both parents now passed away – the abusive father gone since childhood and the mother who sacrificed for her to leave Hong Kong for America to study died still working as a cleaner and refusing to join her daughter in New York.
Although smart and capable, Lily has plenty of talent but low self-esteem. She can’t end a lingering affair with a former graduate school professor who is both married and manipulative.
A letter changes everything.
Lily discovers that she has an aunt whom she has never met or even known existed. She is given a sizeable amount of money to take alone or follow through on the promise of thee million dollars if she chooses to complete a series of tasks in China and mostly in the Taklamakan Desert region.
The journey would take several months and require her to undertake questionable tasks that she would not be aware of until completing the previous one. It would certainly be an adventure but also plenty of danger and uncertainty about its conclusion.
It’s a risk and Lily considers taking the fifty thousand dollars to pay her bills while she works full time on completing her book. But Lily has a ‘yin eye’, an ability to channel energy and sometimes see spirits of the other world – which sometimes speak to her indirectly in her dreams. She had not sensed this ability since her childhood, and its sudden recurrence helped decide in the trip’s favor if only to seek answers about her life.
The Silk Road is a melting pot where cultures mix and elements from China, Central Asia and Middle East all converge. Lily settles into a remote Uighur village in between her tasks and quickly grows fond of the simple community. Here she meets the local healer Lup Nor, who notices immediately that Lily has a special yin eye and the two form an instant bond.
The adventure that follows includes tasks that include swapping a real Chinese artifact with the fake in a museum unbeknownst to staff; seducing a monk; finding a rare herb in the high mountains; and even chipping a piece of a famous terracotta warrior. Along the way she meets Alex, a younger American student and an experienced traveler in the rugged outback who is puzzled at why this young American woman is traveling alone and putting herself at risk.
Alex is smitten and relentlessly pursues Lily, sometimes proving a crucial companion, but his imposition puts her mission in jeopardy. Lily must decide whether to take Alex into her confidence and also what kind of life she will return to in New York.
In addition to love, danger and adventure in China’s Taklamakan Desert, Yip enjoys writing a story on other levels that go beyond the physical with “metaphysical, spiritual, even shamanistic” elements. She said there should be more to the physical world than what we see and encounter on the surface.
In her goal of writing about women who are “strong, daring, determined and will overcome adversities to get what they want in life,” Yip said she uses culture something to bring people together with common values and interests rather than divide. Her stories offer a lesson that passionate love alone is illusionary and that only true love conquers all.
In her first English language novel, Peach Blossom Pavilion, published in 2008, Xiang Xiang is the protagonist of a love story about the last courtesan in China.
In Petals From The Sky, her second novel published in 2010, Yip’s protagonist, Du Meng Ning, is almost autobiographical along with other characters and experiences that were composites of her own life. What her books share in common is an inner strength and fortitude in the women to determine their own fate.
“Though I did not consciously plan it this way, I find I like to write about brave women who live unconventional lives, not always by their own choice,” said Yip. “I owe this novel to a brave and unconventional writer – and a dream.”
Yip said that a favorite Taiwanese author from the 1970s who called herself Echo, and also known as San Mao, who wrote captivating stories based on the adventures in her including with her husband in the Sahara Desert.
An episode of Silk Road is based on one of Echo’s accounts of something that happened to her husband in the desert.
“I always wanted to write about a young woman’s adventures in the desert,” said Yip. “I had thought of drawing on Echo’s life for my desert novel, but then found my imagination led me in a different direction.”
Yip has a lifelong fascination with the romantic history of the Silk Road and she traveled it herself a few years ago with her husband. Together they wandered through ruined cities and ventured up sheer cliffs into now abandoned caves that once housed thriving spiritual communities.
The experience led to a dream about a young woman who receives a letter from an aunt whom she had never even known existed. The letter instructs the niece to undertake a long journey in China, retracing the same routes her newfound aunt had taken years earlier. She was to meet some of the same people, and perform a serious of questionable tasks but with the promise of a large sum of money if successfully completed.
“I remember the dream, but not when it came to me,” Yip adds. “The young woman was not me but she had a strong personality and I knew she wanted me to give her a voice. The result is this adventure and love story, Song of the Silk Road.”
Yip said she has stories for several women characters waiting to be written, including a spy, an embroiderer, and even a witch.
“They all have to struggle to succeed,” she added. “Just as the Chinese say, ‘if you sow a melon, you harvest a melon, if you sow a bean, a bean’.
Yip’s stories resonate perhaps because of her own belief that almost anything is possible if you try hard enough.
Mingmei Yip was born to a scholarly Chinese family. Her father was a professional gambler with a degree in singing from the Beijing Military Defense Conservatory and her mother was an aspiring artist. Yip received her Doctorate from the University of Paris, Sorbonne, on a full academic scholarship from the French Government.
Upon returning to Hong Kong, she held faculty appointments at the Chinese University and Baptist University in Hong Kong. In 2005, she received a research fellowship to the International Institute of Asian Studies in the Netherlands.
Before writing her four English language novels, Yip was a print columnist for major Hong Kong newspapers and published five books in Chinese. She has also appeared on television and radio programs in Hong Kong, Taiwan, Mainland China, and the U.S.
After meeting her husband at a Buddhist conference Yip immigrated to the United States in 1992, and now lives in New York City. Her novels have been translated to six languages so far. www.mingmeiyip.com
By TOM LAVENTURE
AAP staff writer
Mingmei Yip has a new novel coming out, Song of the Silk Road (Kensington Publishing, April 1, 2011), a spiritual, physical and emotional adventure of Chinese most remote desert region.
Lily, an unpublished professional writer working as a waitress in New York City, is alone in life, with both parents now passed away – the abusive father gone since childhood and the mother who sacrificed for her to leave Hong Kong for America to study died still working as a cleaner and refusing to join her daughter in New York.
Although smart and capable, Lily has plenty of talent but low self-esteem. She can’t end a lingering affair with a former graduate school professor who is both married and manipulative.
A letter changes everything.
Lily discovers that she has an aunt whom she has never met or even known existed. She is given a sizeable amount of money to take alone or follow through on the promise of thee million dollars if she chooses to complete a series of tasks in China and mostly in the Taklamakan Desert region.
The journey would take several months and require her to undertake questionable tasks that she would not be aware of until completing the previous one. It would certainly be an adventure but also plenty of danger and uncertainty about its conclusion.
It’s a risk and Lily considers taking the fifty thousand dollars to pay her bills while she works full time on completing her book. But Lily has a ‘yin eye’, an ability to channel energy and sometimes see spirits of the other world – which sometimes speak to her indirectly in her dreams. She had not sensed this ability since her childhood, and its sudden recurrence helped decide in the trip’s favor if only to seek answers about her life.
The Silk Road is a melting pot where cultures mix and elements from China, Central Asia and Middle East all converge. Lily settles into a remote Uighur village in between her tasks and quickly grows fond of the simple community. Here she meets the local healer Lup Nor, who notices immediately that Lily has a special yin eye and the two form an instant bond.
The adventure that follows includes tasks that include swapping a real Chinese artifact with the fake in a museum unbeknownst to staff; seducing a monk; finding a rare herb in the high mountains; and even chipping a piece of a famous terracotta warrior. Along the way she meets Alex, a younger American student and an experienced traveler in the rugged outback who is puzzled at why this young American woman is traveling alone and putting herself at risk.
Alex is smitten and relentlessly pursues Lily, sometimes proving a crucial companion, but his imposition puts her mission in jeopardy. Lily must decide whether to take Alex into her confidence and also what kind of life she will return to in New York.
In addition to love, danger and adventure in China’s Taklamakan Desert, Yip enjoys writing a story on other levels that go beyond the physical with “metaphysical, spiritual, even shamanistic” elements. She said there should be more to the physical world than what we see and encounter on the surface.
In her goal of writing about women who are “strong, daring, determined and will overcome adversities to get what they want in life,” Yip said she uses culture something to bring people together with common values and interests rather than divide. Her stories offer a lesson that passionate love alone is illusionary and that only true love conquers all.
In her first English language novel, Peach Blossom Pavilion, published in 2008, Xiang Xiang is the protagonist of a love story about the last courtesan in China.
In Petals From The Sky, her second novel published in 2010, Yip’s protagonist, Du Meng Ning, is almost autobiographical along with other characters and experiences that were composites of her own life. What her books share in common is an inner strength and fortitude in the women to determine their own fate.
“Though I did not consciously plan it this way, I find I like to write about brave women who live unconventional lives, not always by their own choice,” said Yip. “I owe this novel to a brave and unconventional writer – and a dream.”
Yip said that a favorite Taiwanese author from the 1970s who called herself Echo, and also known as San Mao, who wrote captivating stories based on the adventures in her including with her husband in the Sahara Desert.
An episode of Silk Road is based on one of Echo’s accounts of something that happened to her husband in the desert.
“I always wanted to write about a young woman’s adventures in the desert,” said Yip. “I had thought of drawing on Echo’s life for my desert novel, but then found my imagination led me in a different direction.”
Yip has a lifelong fascination with the romantic history of the Silk Road and she traveled it herself a few years ago with her husband. Together they wandered through ruined cities and ventured up sheer cliffs into now abandoned caves that once housed thriving spiritual communities.
The experience led to a dream about a young woman who receives a letter from an aunt whom she had never even known existed. The letter instructs the niece to undertake a long journey in China, retracing the same routes her newfound aunt had taken years earlier. She was to meet some of the same people, and perform a serious of questionable tasks but with the promise of a large sum of money if successfully completed.
“I remember the dream, but not when it came to me,” Yip adds. “The young woman was not me but she had a strong personality and I knew she wanted me to give her a voice. The result is this adventure and love story, Song of the Silk Road.”
Yip said she has stories for several women characters waiting to be written, including a spy, an embroiderer, and even a witch.
“They all have to struggle to succeed,” she added. “Just as the Chinese say, ‘if you sow a melon, you harvest a melon, if you sow a bean, a bean’.
Yip’s stories resonate perhaps because of her own belief that almost anything is possible if you try hard enough.
Mingmei Yip was born to a scholarly Chinese family. Her father was a professional gambler with a degree in singing from the Beijing Military Defense Conservatory and her mother was an aspiring artist. Yip received her Doctorate from the University of Paris, Sorbonne, on a full academic scholarship from the French Government.
Upon returning to Hong Kong, she held faculty appointments at the Chinese University and Baptist University in Hong Kong. In 2005, she received a research fellowship to the International Institute of Asian Studies in the Netherlands.
Before writing her four English language novels, Yip was a print columnist for major Hong Kong newspapers and published five books in Chinese. She has also appeared on television and radio programs in Hong Kong, Taiwan, Mainland China, and the U.S.
After meeting her husband at a Buddhist conference Yip immigrated to the United States in 1992, and now lives in New York City. Her novels have been translated to six languages so far. www.mingmeiyip.com
June 1, 2025
*may contain spoilers
Song of the Silk Road by Mingmei Yip features an overly flawed and borderline narcissistic main character who was hard to root for. I also noticed under-researched details and inconsistencies in commonly known facts and experiences (like hiking at 4000masl and not taking the time to breathe nor notice the cold). With just what I call a "reader's grammar"—not a professional background in linguistics or literature—I could still spot punctuation issues, awkward sentence structures, and even contradictory character traits.
I stuck with the book mostly out of curiosity about how Lily’s adventures would unfold. I was hoping for at least some character development, but sadly, there was none. Ironically, the supporting characters felt more grounded and consistent than the protagonist herself.
Yes I still learned some things. Not sure where for nor what 😅
Don't judge a book by it's cover. Just like in life sometimes we get the short end of the stick.
#myreviewmyopinion
Song of the Silk Road by Mingmei Yip features an overly flawed and borderline narcissistic main character who was hard to root for. I also noticed under-researched details and inconsistencies in commonly known facts and experiences (like hiking at 4000masl and not taking the time to breathe nor notice the cold). With just what I call a "reader's grammar"—not a professional background in linguistics or literature—I could still spot punctuation issues, awkward sentence structures, and even contradictory character traits.
I stuck with the book mostly out of curiosity about how Lily’s adventures would unfold. I was hoping for at least some character development, but sadly, there was none. Ironically, the supporting characters felt more grounded and consistent than the protagonist herself.
Yes I still learned some things. Not sure where for nor what 😅
Don't judge a book by it's cover. Just like in life sometimes we get the short end of the stick.
#myreviewmyopinion
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 31, 2019
I started out expecting to read an adventure book and thinking of giving it to our high school library afterwards. After reading, i am having second thoughts. Why? Because of the explicitness of the sexual adventures of the heroine with almost all the men that she meets. What then will this teach teenagers who read this?
However , the twists and turns in the plot were just amazing and right from the start, the author grips you in thinking about what the ending might be.
Lily, the star, professed to be “ Christian” but definitely she is not a “ follower of Jesus Christ.”
Her character is consistent all throughout though. And the ending is happy enough that I feel justified in putting aside some other books to finish this one.
However , the twists and turns in the plot were just amazing and right from the start, the author grips you in thinking about what the ending might be.
Lily, the star, professed to be “ Christian” but definitely she is not a “ follower of Jesus Christ.”
Her character is consistent all throughout though. And the ending is happy enough that I feel justified in putting aside some other books to finish this one.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 24, 2017
I liked this book. It is about a young woman who lost her parents. She given an opputyunity to get rich. But she had to go on an adventure to recieve the big reward. On her journey she met a young man who she really liked but he was a bit younger. On the journey she had to do some twisted things and it was very specific. She had nothing too lose so she went for it. She has met a lot of caring people along the way. In the end the story is even more twisted which caught me off guard. It was a good ending.
I could not put the book down because I needed to know what had happend.
I could not put the book down because I needed to know what had happend.
January 15, 2019
What did I think? Well, I found the writing style of this book to be rather odd and disjointed, but the story was so intriguing that I was compelled to read more. The story of Lily Lin and her journey across the Silk Road to complete set tasks in order to receive her three million dollar inheritance from her Aunt is a good one. There were a lot of twists and turns, a lot of surprising revelations at the end, and one odd twist that should have had a larger part was reduced to mere pages. I will say that there were definitely parts of this novel that seemed more at home in an romance book, but all in all it was an interesting story and I'm glad I read it.
June 25, 2022
I enjoyed the adventure of the book. I liked the characters for the most part. I found some of the sex scenes to be a little bit hokey and the book would have been better without trying to describe them in the ways the author did.
That said, I really enjoyed the Silk Road adventures and descriptions. It is an area of the world which is very distant to me so I really felt like I was visiting somewhere interesting with rich culture and history.
On the one hand, I lean towards giving this book less stars. On the other hand, I want to give it more. But I’ll give it 3 with the caveat that some of the book is a 1 and some is a 5.
That said, I really enjoyed the Silk Road adventures and descriptions. It is an area of the world which is very distant to me so I really felt like I was visiting somewhere interesting with rich culture and history.
On the one hand, I lean towards giving this book less stars. On the other hand, I want to give it more. But I’ll give it 3 with the caveat that some of the book is a 1 and some is a 5.
October 9, 2018
i saw this book on the library challenge wall. the challenge was THESE BOOKS HAVE NEVER BEEN CHECKED OUT> WILL YOU BE THE FIRST? I was and am very glad I was. I am a 60page to read and judge whether to finish. I was on page 120 before I even looked at page number. what was really interesting is the story is about challenges. lily , and want to be writer, challenged to step out of the box and live a life of adventure in unknown areas of life. To look into a mirror and decide what did she really wanted. very interesting and highly recommended.
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April 13, 2022Chyba pierwsza książka nie-lektura, którą przeczytałam jakoś w gimnazjum i pomyślałam sobie wtedy "ej czytanie jest fajne". To był prawie strzał w dychę, bo nieświadomie siegnęłam po książkę w której była: Azja (ok tego byłam świadoma xd) i historia (czyli prawie reportaż xd) wiec coś po co sięgam świadomie teraz. Mój 16-letni mózg pochłonął tą książkę w dwa dni i byłam nią zachwycona. Sentymencik <3
Ale bez oceny bo jeszcze, ktoś pomyśli że jest dobra i zmarnuje dzień na czytanie xd
ps. ARIAL 1000
Ale bez oceny bo jeszcze, ktoś pomyśli że jest dobra i zmarnuje dzień na czytanie xd
ps. ARIAL 1000
August 15, 2023
Lily Lin wants to be a writer and is working on a novel. She is broke. When offered the chance to gain a $3 million inheritance, she jumps at the chance. That chance takes her to China and the Silk Road to accomplish a number of tasks.
Along the way Lily meets many people, some helpful, some tragic, all interesting. One of them is Alex who immediately falls in love with her.
The book meanders. I wish it had more about the Silk Road and less romance/sex. Once Lily finishes her tasks, the rest of the book is far more interesting and eventful.
Along the way Lily meets many people, some helpful, some tragic, all interesting. One of them is Alex who immediately falls in love with her.
The book meanders. I wish it had more about the Silk Road and less romance/sex. Once Lily finishes her tasks, the rest of the book is far more interesting and eventful.
January 23, 2019
There was a time I could pick up a fantastic book just by reading the jacket..Alas, no more! This is one of the worst books I have read recently. It is full of cliches, the twists and turns seem completely contrived and unsatisfactory and it is super hard to like the main character. I can get that she is confused about relationships but she seems too shallow on top of that. It is a poorly written romance disguised as an adventure on the Silk Road. Ugh.. I wish I hadn’t read it
July 22, 2019
I'm so conflicted about this book. The premise just seemed... off to me, but in reality, the author pulled it off quite well. I was engaged in the stories as she traveled through the Silk Road and liked the ending.
BUT the author's writing style is not my favorite. A lot of descriptions and events were superfluous. The beginning was terrible and you could skip the first 20 or so pages and still be fine. I also didn't like the MC - I thought she was a little .... eh.
BUT the author's writing style is not my favorite. A lot of descriptions and events were superfluous. The beginning was terrible and you could skip the first 20 or so pages and still be fine. I also didn't like the MC - I thought she was a little .... eh.
September 25, 2024
I was intrigued with the premise of this book about a trip through the desert in China, as I enjoy reading stories that are set in China. But, the book was pretty awful. I am giving this book 2 stars instead of 1 only because I did enjoy the parts describing the places and culture of China. I did not like the main character. I thought she showed bad judgment in men, and the sex scenes were too numerous and cringeworthy.
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March 28, 2025Mėgstu grožines knygas, kuriose daug istorinio, kultūrinio konteksto, to ir tikėjausi. Tačiau tai nebuvo mano knyga.
"Pažvelgiau pro langą į didžiulį gelsvą mėnulį, panašų į gimdą, apsunkusią kaip mano širdis (...)"
"Nesvarbu, ar dvidešimt vienų, ar aštuoniasdešimt vienų, - vyrai visuomet trokšta to paties: pinigų, galios, visuomeninio statuso, riebaus skanau maisto, gražių moterų ir iš proto varančio sekso."
"Dauguma žmonių negauna, ko nori, nes savo norus pamiršta."
"Pažvelgiau pro langą į didžiulį gelsvą mėnulį, panašų į gimdą, apsunkusią kaip mano širdis (...)"
"Nesvarbu, ar dvidešimt vienų, ar aštuoniasdešimt vienų, - vyrai visuomet trokšta to paties: pinigų, galios, visuomeninio statuso, riebaus skanau maisto, gražių moterų ir iš proto varančio sekso."
"Dauguma žmonių negauna, ko nori, nes savo norus pamiršta."
October 7, 2025
Loved the cover and the premise of an elderly aunt sending the protagonist on an exiting journey across the silk road seemed interesting...but overall this book fell flat. Poor storytelling and lack of depth of characters made this a yawn.
July 9, 2017
Wonderful book! Rich with culture, adventure,twist and turns, love. Highly highly recommend
October 23, 2017
This is the first time I've read fiction in ages. Richly rewarded by the experience. It had intrigue, adventure, and plenty of sensuality, which I never abhor.
July 2, 2018
So awful. Just, no.
August 4, 2018
No jakoś nie przemówił do mnie wąż szukający dolinki :P
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