The series Famous Figures Who Shone Through the Ages is a collection of historical novels by Xie Hui, a recipient of several book awards, including the China Book Award, the National Book Award, and the Bing Xin Book Award. He has published several million words of writing and is a member of the Sichuan Writers Association.
The series consists of nineteen books: Li Bai: The Freewheeling Poet Immortal; Du Fu: The Poet Sage Who Worried for His Country and People; Su Shi: The Greatest Bold and Unrestrained Poet of All Time; Yu the Great: China's Legendary Hero of Flood Control; Li Bing: The Great Engineer Who Benefited Generations; Zhuge Liang: The Embodiment of Wisdom; Wu Zetian: China's Only Empress; Luo Xiahong: The Remarkable Astronomer; Yang Xiong: The Confucius of the Western Regions; Yang Shen: The Ming Dynasty's Greatest Talent; Sima Xiangru: A Great Master of Prose and an Eternal Romantic; Chang Qu: The Father of Local Gazetteers; Qin Jiushao: The Remarkable Mathematician; Wen Weng: The First to Establish Government Schools; Chen Zi'ang: A Giant of the Literary World; Xue Tao: The Tang Dynasty's Brilliant Female Poet; Chen Shou: The Historian Whose Book Has Been Passed Down Through the Ages; Zhang Shi: The Neo-Confucian Master; Li Diaoyuan: A Talented Son of Shu.
The series is both readable and rigorous, recounting true stories about famous historical figures in concise, fluent prose.
The books are engaging without distorting history, captivating while remaining rich in historical detail.
The series explains complex topics in an accessible way while offering plenty of depth. Each book focuses on the most important and representative episodes from a historical figure's life, concisely bringing together a wealth of historical knowledge: biographies, famous works, historic sites, and further reading. With one book in hand, the reader can take in the sweep of history.
