In the 19th year of Daoguang's reign, more than two million kilograms of opium were burned in a fire on Humen Beach, and the thick smoke remained for three days.
No one knew that it was not just smoke - it was the last time the Qing Dynasty straightened its back, and it was also the beginning of the next hundred years of blood and fire.
"A Hundred Years of Storms" is a modern Chinese historical novel written in chapter style. The time span extends from the Opium War in 1840 to the founding of New China in 1949. A hundred years, several generations. People on this land continue to fight each other and redeem each other, groping for a way out inch by inch amid failure and struggle.
The book writes about Lin Zexu, his toughness and loneliness; about Hong Xiuquan, about how he transformed from a failed scholar into a king, and how he destroyed the kingdom he built with his own hands; about Zeng Guofan, about the unspeakable contradictions behind his achievements in suppressing the Taiping Army; about Li Hongzhang, about his sorrow and unwillingness as a paper poster for forty years; about Tan Sitong, about his determination to die, and why he did not escape...
These names are no longer just bold black fonts in history textbooks.
They are selfish, have limitations, and have passion that goes to the wrong place at the wrong time. They have been heroes, cowards, and often nothing, just ordinary people pushed by the times.
