The Dragon Ridge Tombs (The City of Sand)

The second book in China's multimillion-copy bestselling series takes readers on a treacherous journey to the depths beneath a mountain range, where ancient tombs are certain to contain riches but also rumored to be guarded by merciless supernatural forces. Self-proclaimed gold hunter Tianyi, who has excellent feng shui skills, along with his best friend, Kai, and a shady antiques dealer called Gold Tooth, have traveled all the way from Beijing to Gulan in search of treasure in ancient tombs. But what they think will be a simple grab-and-go of loot turns into trouble when they are faced with a perplexing labyrinth of tunnels full of unexpected obstacles, traps, and deadly creatures that thwart their advancement, as well as their escape. As if that weren't enough, the return of their American friend Julie Yang, with whom they faced perils on a previous expedition, leads to a startling discovery--one tied to both China's ancient past and the Yang family's history, and one that could very well be the death of them all. Translated from the Chinese by Jeremy Tiang, whose recent work includes NEVER GROW UP, the translation from Chinese of the autobiography from action movie superstar Jackie Chan. Together, these two essays mark the philosophic cornerstone of democratic morality and represent a thought-provoking search for the true balance between the rights of the individual and the power of the state. Thoroughly schooled in the principles of the utilitarian movement founded by Jeremy Bentham, John Stuart Mill nevertheless brings his own unique intellectual energy to issues such individual freedom, equality, authority, happiness, justice, and virtue. On Liberty is Mill's famous examination of the nature of individuality and its crucial role in any social system that expected to remain creative and vital. Utilitarian brilliantly expounds a pragmatic ethic based on one controversial proposition: actions are right only if they promote the common good and wrong if they do not. While much of Mill's thinking was eventually adopted by socialists, it is in today's democratic societies--with their troubling issues of crime, freedom of speech, and the boundaries of personal liberty--that his work resounds most powerfully Teenaged best friends Tianyi and Kai journey deep below a mountain range, where ancient tombs are certain to contain riches but are rumored to be guarded by merciless supernatural forces Originally Published: Hefei City, China: Anhui Arts Publishing House, 2006.