"In Tongwan City, Gao returns to ancient China to relate an epic saga of murder and compassion in the grassland kingdom of the ancient Chinese frontier. Gao also tells a parallel story of Buddhism blooming in the center of Chinese life. Gao weaves into this tale seminal themes of Chinese history and culture: the connection between the Huns of northern China and their cousins who terrorized Europe in the fifth century, the Great Wall that was built...