Tour of Cathay (page 65)
The Crescent Moon Spring 月牙泉 sits among the singing sand dunes of the Taklamakan desert in north by northwest Cathay.
A hidden oasis, it gave succor on the old trade-routes, from the valley of Etzingol to the flaming mountains of Turfan, from the wine springs of Fulu to the joss houses of Chuguchak.
It is still there today.
As Janosch A. Prufrock said knowledgeably upon meeting Wilhelmina Wang on page 3 of our story, “The empire of Tang is so wide, not only up and down, but side to side. I couldn’t cross it if I tried.” Let us go then, you and I, to North Cathay, the Heimat of Wilhelmina’s father, Wang Xiaolong. (Xiaolong means small dragon. I did say the Azure Blue-Green Dragon will play a role in our tale.)
When Wilhelmina Wang’s mother Tang Lili was just seventeen, she met Wang Xiaolong in her home watertown of Jiangnan, on the very first page of our story. Let us see too then, the soft canals and delicate walls of Southeast Cathay.
Janosch A. Prufrock guessed correctly on page 4 that Wilhelmina Wang was a princess of Chang’an. Then let us finish our tour today in Chang’an on the Central Plains, the capital of dynasties, the end and the beginning of silk roads.