A Love Affair in Shengjing

May I be like the stars, and you like the moon, our light shining together night after night.

In the late Ming dynasty, the four Jurchen tribes of Yehe, Hada, Ula, and Jianzhou in Northeast China were locked in battle. Set against the tangled rivalries among the four legitimate children of Jianzhou leader Nurhaci: Cuyen, Daišan, Donggo, and Manggūji, the novel follows the growing pains and power struggles of Nurhaci’s grandchildren. At its heart is the love between Aisin Gioro Yue Tuo and Hada Nara Lan Xier, with Hada Nara Lan Xier and the seven tiger generals of the “Aisin Gioro family” at the center of a cast divided between good and evil. Through the rise of the Aisin Gioro clan and the growth of its protagonists, the novel reveals the best and worst of human nature as people face difficult choices amid war and political intrigue.

The Qing dynasty endured for more than two hundred years of turmoil, leaving behind countless beloved stories. This is where they all began: between the White Mountains and Black Waters, Nurhaci led a new force onto the stage of history.

The novel is divided into three parts: Heartbreak, Half-Dreaming, Half-Awake, and Through Life and Death.