Empire's Lament

In 1929, the best of a treasured collection of more than 3,000 years of Chinese art and antiquities was boxed up and shipped out from the Forbidden City for fear that the invading Japanese would capture it. Until 1948 that treasure was on the move, often one step ahead of the Japanese and then one step ahead of the Communists. Empire's Lament is a fictionalized story about one of the workers who accompanied the treasure and an English solider who fled to the mainland after the fall of Hong Kong. Any comments on these first two chapters is very much appreciated.