Beginning with the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors, who came after Pangu separated heaven and earth, some taught people to farm while others created writing. Through their wisdom and sense of responsibility, they ushered in the dawn of Chinese civilization. Then came the kings and emperors of the Xia, Shang, and Zhou dynasties, whose bronze vessels bore witness to the opening chapters of changing dynasties.
The Qin and Han unified the realm. The First Emperor swept across the six kingdoms and brought order to the world, while Emperor Wu of Han expanded the borders and made his might felt throughout the land. During the Wei, Jin, and Northern and Southern Dynasties, rulers wrote of political scheming and struggle amid division and reunification. In the flourishing Sui and Tang, Emperor Taizong welcomed frank advice and ushered in the Reign of Zhenguan, while Wu Zetian ascended the throne as a woman, leaving behind a legacy of both legend and controversy.
From the Song, Yuan, Ming, and Qing to the present: Emperor Taizu of Song set the tone for civil governance by persuading his generals to give up their military power over a cup of wine; the Yuan emperor Kublai Khan’s cavalry swept across Asia and Europe; Emperor Taizu of Ming rose from humble origins to rebuild the realm under Han rule; and the splendor of the Kangxi and Qianlong reigns intertwined with the decline of the late Qing...
From the sage rulers of legend to the last emperors of the dying age, their stories encompass the ambition and vision of rulers striving to govern well, the bitter lessons of debauchery and ruin, the gripping twists of political intrigue, and the joys and sorrows of ordinary human nature. Step into their world, and you will touch a magnificent chapter of Chinese history.
