Sunset at the western foot of the mountain

Author: Xu Guangwu
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-12-01
Features: The best combination of history and literature, understanding the hidden rules of political rise and fall through the decline of successive dynasties. In the 1960s, a group of archaeologists dissatisfied with historians discussing in books how the Great Han Empire, over 1,700 years ago, fell, vowed to find concrete evidence. They excavated the ruins of the Great Han capital, Luoyang City, where the broken bricks and tiles of the Southern and Northern Palaces remained silent even after being exposed to the sun. Ten years later, they discovered the mausoleum complex of the Cao family, usurpers of the Great Han Empire, in Bo County, Anhui Province. On one tomb brick, four prominent characters were inscribed: "The Blue Sky is Dead!" This series, based on detailed historical materials, records the rise and fall of several major feudal dynasties in Chinese history with a grand concept. By observing the subtlest aspects of human society and emotions, it explores the complex reasons behind the rise and fall of these former dynasties, radiating a fiery light of wisdom. The innovative presentation style is an important attempt of this series. It seeks to find a new path between historians and novelists: drawing on the perspectives and achievements of history while avoiding dull and lengthy narration; borrowing the narrative and charm of literature without fictional plots. Thus, it gives life to history, infusing moral passion and aesthetic poetry into the granite of history, with the demeanor and style of "guiding the nation and stirring the words." Here, history does not merely mean the past; it is illuminated by human rational thinking, moral judgment, and aesthetic observation. The Great Han Empire was the longest-lasting empire in Chinese history. Together with the experimental Qin Empire before it, it pioneered and developed a new political system and social culture, giving rise to a prosperous era nurtured by Chinese indigenous culture. However, after Emperor He of the Eastern Han Dynasty, phenomena such as weak emperors, powerful relatives ruling in the emperor's name, eunuchs seizing power, the suppression of political factions, the rise of aristocratic families, manorial economies, religious movements, bandit uprisings, frontier generals' rebellions, and warlord divisions followed one after another. After Emperor Huan and Emperor Ling, these contradictions erupted in full force. This book focuses on the 52-year period of the two dynasties of Emperor Ling and Emperor Xian, presenting a panoramic view of the empire's decline and revealing some fundamental contradictions of traditional Chinese political culture. Readers will easily notice that the decline of any empire in Chinese history thereafter repeated the path of the Great Han Empire in different forms. Because the decline of this empire not only gave our nation its name but also shaped our nation's character.