From 1901 to 1945

In the past forty-five years, China has been gambling every step of the way. Cixi bet that the great powers would not conquer China, Yuan Shikai bet that he could become emperor, Chiang Kai-shek bet that the Japanese would not dare to fight, and Zhang Xueliang bet that Chiang Kai-shek would resist Japan. Some people win the first half of the bet and lose the second half of their lives. Some people lost their lives in the bet, but won history. This book is not about good guys or bad guys, but about the choices and costs of a group of smart people in an era of great change. Open it and you will see the nine intersections that determine China's destiny, and the people standing at the intersections - like you and me, they are afraid, calculating, and tossing and turning in the middle of the night. The difference is that their choices affect all of us today. This novel and its characters are purely fictitious. Any similarity is purely coincidental and should not be imitated.