Sui-Tang: A Chronicle of the Grand Canal

The rise and fall of four generations of the Chen family, owners of the Linhe Inn in Bianzhou, present-day Kaifeng, from the first year of Emperor Yang's Daye era in the Sui dynasty (605) to the Yuanhe era of Emperor Xianzong in the Tang dynasty (820).

At its heart, the Grand Canal is a fourfold contradiction, the lifeblood of an empire: a national project built on the people's blood and tears; an economic link and a route for war; an exchange of civilizations and an ecological catastrophe; an opportunity of the age and a personal shackle.