Du Xinwu, Hero of the North and South

Du Xinwu's life was a microcosm of modern China. He emerged from a remote corner of western Hunan and lived through the late Qing, the Republic of China, and the People's Republic of China. He went from swordsman to revolutionary, from the world of the martial arts to the halls of power, and finally returned to the earth. His legend lies not in the miraculous skills later attributed to him, but in the choices an ordinary Chinese man made in the face of a turbulent age. This novel does not seek to make him a "god," but to bring a real person to life: someone with flesh and blood, love and hate, convictions and doubts. As he wrote in his later years: "Gracefully vying for spring, unstained by a speck of dust; an old trunk without branches, steadfast in its purity." These sixteen characters may be the best key to understanding Du Xinwu.