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“How may I help you, Director?”

“Minister Li said you are familiar with my field”

“Yes,” David said “On behalf of the otiated the return to China of a sculpture stolen during the Boxer Rebellion and taken to England”

Every case required that an attorney becoht expert, and in recent years David had learned a lot about how artifactswhat he wanted by giving David background information Another common custom…

“When China closed to outsiders,” Ho began, “Chairman Mao decreed that we had no use for the ancient past Few excavations were conducted Then, during the Cultural Revolution, the Red Guard were ordered to destroy any artifacts that could be read as symbols of a decadent or imperial past Today we have a new mandate We are to prove that China has had five thousand years of uninterrupted history Although every schoolchild can recite that fact, we have no physical proof of the first two thousand years So noe are trying to unite history, chronology, and newly discovered artifacts to validate our claim to the rest of the world Unfortunately, we still know very little For years we believed that the cradle of Chinese civilization was on the Yellow River, but we’ve discovered sites in other parts of the country that est otherwise” He smiled wanly “As you know, China is backward in many respects”

David knew the buildup He’d heard it several tiin to talk about his probleners—Ae of infor between the races on a re in the interior? None of this, David kneas one-sided; each contingent liked to blaiven

As was the tenuous relationship between China and the United States that percolated above and below the surface of all that transpired between the two countries Which country was more powerful? Which culture was more important? Most Chinese saw the United States as the most unfriendly nation to China, as the country they most resented, and as the one that would eventually pay the price for its bad nities—from the perceived persecution of Overseas Chinese like Wen Ho Lee to the constant nagging by the West on issues such as hu Kong, Taiwan, and Tibet, that the average Chinese thought were none of America’s business So, could the United States boh the fury that this act had brought to the surface had shocked the world Could China shoot down an Ahteous indignation hich David’s governenuous to say the least To David, it was all part of the cosmic Jell-O that made up his universe Push a little on this side of the world, and a shudder rippled across the Pacific Shove a little on that side of the Rim, and set off treh these shifting tides without anyone questioning his integrity, his loyalty, or his demeanor

“China has ereatest construction project in the world,” Ho continued “But once the Three Gorges Dam is coical sites What we call Site 518 lies two hundred and eighty of your ,

just east of the Qutang Gorge I have come here today because we’ve suffered the loss of several artifacts from this excavation”

“You’ve been in contact with the local authorities…”

“We’ve worked with the Security Bureau in Bashan, the town closest to the site, but what do a few policee understand about thefts of this sort?”

And couldn’t it be possible, even probable, that those policemen were somehow involved? David mused

“What specifically is ?” he asked

An odd stillness came over Ho

“I’ve relied on the leader of the dig to keepway froes and don’t receive as much information as I’d like”