In the final years of the Qing Dynasty, the long-forgotten Cave 16 of the Mogao Caves at Dunhuang yielded the Hidden Library Cave. Yet this earth-shattering discovery caused not the slightest stir in China. The Qing court was corrupt, the nation weak, and it was powerless to protect these priceless treasures. Foreign powers seized the opportunity to plunder them, and precious Dunhuang manuscripts fell into foreign hands one after another. Later generations lamented the loss, only to discover that every scroll in the Hidden Library Cave was a fragment, damaged and incomplete! Could the cave have been nothing more than a smokescreen, with the true treasures hidden somewhere else...
