The Tricks of China’s Powerful Ministers Through the Ages: Part One

This book features more than twenty of the most famous power-wielding ministers in Chinese history, including Zichan, chancellor of the Zheng State; Lü Buwei, chancellor of the Qin State; Zhao Gao, powerful minister at the end of the Qin dynasty; Dou Xian, chancellor of the Eastern Han; Chen Fan, a virtuous minister of the Eastern Han; Wang Dao, chancellor under three Eastern Jin emperors; Wang Meng, an eminent statesman of the Former Qin; Wang Anshi and Wang Yaochen, prominent ministers of the Northern Song; Zhang Juzheng, chancellor of the Ming; Huo Guang, a powerful minister of the Western Han; Wang Mang, a powerful minister of the Eastern Han; Yang Guozhong, a powerful minister of the Tang; Han Tuozhou, a powerful minister of the Southern Song; Ruan Dacheng, a corrupt official in the late Ming; Zhang Zhidong, a senior official in the late Qing; and Yuan Shikai, an ambitious figure in the late Qing. Their tales of political intrigue and strategy show how some served their emperors and governed their states in pursuit of lasting fame, while others schemed for personal gain and earned an enduringly infamous legacy. These celebrated figures of history, each armed with extraordinary intelligence and peerless strategic skill, staged one brilliant historical drama after another and painted vivid panoramas of the past. These stories, rich in profound and masterful wisdom, are a precious spiritual legacy of the Chinese people. They can inspire humanity to think wisely and spur us to build new glories.