White Salt, Red

During the Qianlong era, young Wang Letian got his start hauling salt at the Yangzhou docks. With courage, quick wits, and a hard heart, he fought his way to the top of the salt trade. He won the favor of wealthy merchants, toppled his enemies, and swallowed up their businesses. From a nobody, he rose to become the “richest man” in control of the Lianghuai salt trade. From a Salt Tax Bureau official to Governor of Salt and Grain Transport, he built a commercial empire spanning salt, grain shipping, maritime trade, and finance. His magnificent Wang Garden was the finest in Jiangnan, and his power knew no bounds.

Yet beneath the summit, danger lurked everywhere. Caught in the crosscurrents of official politics, he spent half his life maneuvering around powerful ministers such as Oertai and Heshen, while locked in a bloody struggle with his lifelong enemy, Fukang'an. Within his own family, parasites flourished and affection grew cold. Reckless expansion of his financial houses planted a ticking bomb, and a former confidant betrayed him with a ledger capable of destroying everything. When the political winds shifted, his estates were confiscated, he was stripped of office, and exile followed. He fell from the clouds of power into a filthy prison, then narrowly escaped death on the road to exile. In the end, he hid in a ruined temple and begged for food.

This is an epic of merchants, capturing the battles for wealth beneath the sails of the Grand Canal, the calculations of power beneath official robes, and the struggles of love and desire deep within a great household. It tells how one man spent his entire life chasing and claiming what he wanted, only to lose everything precious amid the rise and fall of ambition. When the splendor faded, only salt dust remained, and at last he awoke from his great dream.