Clear: Evening breeze in Jingshan

Author: Xia Weizhong
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-09-01
Features: Since the mid-Ming Dynasty, the fundamental system established in the early imperial period had become rigid, outdated, and unable to adapt to the new realities. As a result, various crises surged one after another, exhausting the court's resources and efforts to cope with them. Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong led peasant armies that swept across most of China, while the rise of the Jianzhou Jurchens dealt a fatal blow to the Ming Dynasty's military strength. The empire's power, finances, and manpower were stretched to their limits. By the late years of the Chongzhen reign, the entire court was composed of disorganized and incompetent officials, with no talent left to support the state. Although the emperor's treasury was vast and eunuchs and high-ranking officials privately hoarded wealth, the state's finances were completely depleted. Internal corruption and external shocks caused the grand structure with three hundred years of foundation to collapse.
Our task is to create history, because in today's turbulent world, only history can help us face life without fear." — Lucien Febvre, a French historian.
This series, based on detailed historical materials, records the rise and fall of several major feudal dynasties in Chinese history with a grand and profound narrative. By delving into the nuances of human society and emotions, it explores the complex reasons behind the rise and fall of these once-great dynasties, radiating a fiery light of wisdom. A novel approach is an important attempt in this series. It seeks to find a new path between historians and novelists: drawing on the perspectives and achievements of history while avoiding dry and lengthy descriptions; borrowing the narrative style and charm of literature without resorting to fictional plots. Thus, it infuses vitality into history, blending moral passion and aesthetic poetry into the granite of history, with the grandeur and elegance of "guiding the nation and stirring the ink." Here, history does not merely mean the past; it is illuminated by rational thinking, moral judgment, and aesthetic contemplation of humanity.