[A fresh look at the Tang Dynasty, beyond the filters of history]
Using a 21st-century microscope to dissect the most dazzling eastern empire of the 7th to 10th centuries. From the clinking wine cups during the coup at Jinyang Palace to the heartbreaking fragrance of lychees at Mawei Slope, the rise and fall of a 289-year dynasty unfolds as 100 dramas of human life.
Three key features:
1⃣ The behind-the-scenes stories of emperors and their ministers
Li Shimin’s sleepless night before the Xuanwu Gate Incident
Wu Zetian’s scandalous tarot reading before she became emperor
The bitter rivalry between Li Longji and An Lushan at dance class
2⃣ The hidden codes behind the wheels of history
Uncovering a price list for brothels in the Dunhuang manuscripts
Mathematical modeling of corruption in the military budgets of regional governors
Deciphering the coded ledger symbols of Sogdian merchant caravans
3⃣ The everyday drama of clashing civilizations
A Persian student’s guide to cheating in the Tang imperial examinations
A map of the Japanese envoys’ porcelain smuggling routes
A record of translation mishaps at a Tibetan-Tang treaty meeting
[Nine secret threads run through the entire book]
Espionage and intrigue along the Silk Road
The fusion of Hu and Han styles into a violent aesthetic
Political predictions hidden in examination papers
Power deals concealed by opera-house song and dance
Scientific accidents beside the alchemy furnace
This isn’t a traditional history book, but an immersive historical murder-mystery game.
You will experience it all firsthand:
Buying pirated poetry collections with Persian gold coins in Chang’an’s Western Market
Watching Li Bai and Du Fu livestream their poetry sales
Helping pass coded messages for Huang Chao’s rebel army
Witnessing the accidental leak of a gunpowder formula
From the blood-red dawn at Xuanwu Gate to the Japanese envoys’ sails returning beneath the setting sun,
Let the human warmth in the folds that official histories left hidden unfold once more.
