Preserving China's Forbidden City Treasures Amidst War
Fragile Cargo by Adam Brookes tells the little-known story of how curators at China's Forbidden City saved the country's vast collection of imperial art during the Sino-Japanese war and World War II. The curators transported around 20,000 cases of priceless artworks across war-torn China, using various means of transportation to avoid Japanese soldiers' attention. The book sheds light on the heroic efforts of Ma Heng, a central figure in the preservation of the imperial collections, and highlights the challenges he faced during wartime and under the Communist Party's political campaigns.