Set during the height of the Tang dynasty, this novel follows Shen Qingci, Pei Jingyan, and others as they foster trade along the Silk Road and encourage cultural exchange. Starting with reforms to the salt administration in Lingnan, they bring Champa rice to the northern steppes, teach ironworking to the Western Regions, and combine Tang porcelain with Dashi glassmaking to create “Silk Road Fusion Porcelain.”
In the story, the Uyghur girl Agula sails across the sea with woolen tassels, the Tibetan boy Danzeng weaves yak wool together with mulberry silk, and Dashi physician Said compiles the Great Han Medical Canon with Tang court doctors. At the International School, children exchange milk curds and peppercorns. From Chang’an’s Zhuque Avenue to Baghdad’s markets, from the ships in Quanzhou Harbor to the ironworks at Talas, the produce, skills, and laughter of children from different lands are woven together.
There is no conquest with swords drawn, only the vitality of mulberry seedlings breaking through the soil. When silkworms thrive in the northern steppes, brown sugar is made in Tibetan valleys, and merchant ships on the Persian Gulf set sail carrying glass lamps called “Beneath the Same Starlight,” people finally understand: peace across the realm means letting rice and spices meet along the same trade route, and letting children who speak different languages count the stars beneath one sky.
