The Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, the most chaotic seventy-two years in Chinese history: eight surnames took turns on the throne, and more than a dozen emperors came and went like revolving lanterns. Some called the Khitan their fathers, some were murdered by their own sons, and one was still singing opera when he ascended the throne.
It was an age that produced madmen. Zhu Wen rose from salt peddler to emperor, only to be hacked to death by his own son in his bedchamber in his later years. Li Cunxu was a genius who prevailed in battle after battle, but after taking the throne, he became obsessed with opera and eventually died at the hands of rebel troops, abandoned by everyone. Shi Jingtang knelt before the Khitan to become emperor and ceded the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun. He earned the disgraceful nickname “son emperor,” leaving the Central Plains’ gates wide open for four hundred years.
It was also an age of heroes. Chai Rong was a young man who said, “Give me thirty years, and I’ll conquer the realm, provide for the people, and bring peace.” Yet he suddenly fell ill on a northern campaign, still clutching the unfinished map in his hands. Zhao Kuangyin went from a penniless young wanderer to seizing the throne in the Chenqiao Mutiny. With a single banquet, he reclaimed the military command of his old comrades and brought an end to more than half a century of chaos.
With a modern voice, this book restores the names the history books dismissed as “usurpers” and “tyrants” to flesh-and-blood ordinary people. Watch them struggle with desire, teeter on the edge of their principles, and find a glimmer of light in despair. You’ll discover that history can be fascinating, and that the ancients were people just like us.
At the end of chaos lies prosperity. This is more than history: it is the truth about being alive, written over seventy-two years by a group of people.
