1. Readers encounter an Ulghur nomad from the Gobi Desert accompanying a herd of steppe ponies for sale to the Chinese state

2. Ah-long, widow of a prosperous merchant, now reduced to poverty and forced to resort to law and charity to survive and 3. the Chinese princess sent as part of a diplomatic deal to marry a Turkish kaghan.

4. the itinerant Buddhist monks,

5. Zoroastrians and Nestorian Christians seeking converts among the desert settlers,

6. storytellers an7 musicians, 8. courtesans, 8. diviners, 9. peddlers, and 10. miracle-workers who offered their wares in the marketplaces and at temple fairs.