Synopsis of Born in the Late Ming
His name was Zhang Sheng, a PhD in hydraulic engineering and a master's graduate in history. He died in Beijing in 2024, aged thirty-three.
When he awoke, his name was Wang Yan, courtesy name Yuanhan, a native of Shanghai County in Songjiang Prefecture. Born in the eighth year of the Jiajing reign, he was thirty-five and had repeatedly failed the examinations.
The memories of two lifetimes collided in one body.
He knew what lay ahead. He knew that in the winter of the forty-fifth year of Jiajing, the emperor seated in the Huangji Hall would die. He knew that in the sixth year of Longqing, the young emperor would die too. He knew that in the tenth year of Wanli, Zhang Juzheng, the man who wielded power over all under heaven, would die, and that his family would be confiscated, his eldest son would take his own life, and his family would be exiled.
He knew that in the thirty-sixth year of Wanli, a disaster “unseen in two hundred years” would strike. Floodwaters would surge out of the Wusong River, submerging fields and homes and sweeping away people and livestock. And he, Wang Qi, would stand helplessly by the breached embankment at the age of seventy-nine.
He knew all this.
But he could not say it.
All he could do was take one step at a time: sit the imperial examinations, pass the jinshi exam, enter government, meet with setbacks, retire, and write books. He had to follow the path Wang Qi was destined to walk.
Only this time, he carried the memories of a modern man.
Only this time, he knew the flood was coming.
Only this time, he wanted to find out:
Could human effort overcome fate?
In a nutshell:
A modern hydraulic engineering PhD transmigrates into the late Ming scholar Wang Qi and spends fifty years waiting for a flood he knows is sure to come.
The writing is quite good, but it's a bit of a chronicle. I really like reading it when it comes to practical things. The articles seem quite solid, but they are quite repetitive. There is not much difference between one article and the last. The progress is very slow, life is very slow, and there are many copies. I feel like most people might not like to watch it. And I felt that it was too holy, and my family, relatives, and friends were all put aside. I remember that I had children and a wife at the beginning. Now I haven't written anything, and there is nothing at all. It doesn't feel very human. Taiwei Guangzheng.