The Splendid Traveler of the Tang Dynasty

This sweeping tale unfolds during the Tang dynasty at the height of its glory: from Taizong’s reign to his death, and from the rise to the fall of Wu Zhou under the female emperor. It ranges from Chang’an to Dunhuang, from the eastern capital of Luoyang to lands beyond the Western Sea; from the fall and survival of Ashoka’s Indian dynasty to the Silk Road stretching as far as Turkey and the Roman Empire; from centuries-spanning explorations of Japan and England to Troy, laid waste by the Trojan Horse, and its peerless beauty Helen, and finally to the cold falling snow of Jerusalem. Immersive first-person narration, an imagined Tang dynasty, breathtaking splendor, and an ethereal beauty that will never fade: a sweeping epic of love.

Part One: The Snowbound Youth / The Hazy Swordsman

Part Two: Heaven and Earth

Reviews:

Jiang Xiaohu: A very engaging work. The characters speak in poetry, and the first-person perspective gives the book a lyrical, essayistic quality, living up to the word “beautiful” in its title. Yet the prose flows effortlessly, and the plot unfolds in one seamless sweep. Laughter and anger, love and hate: it has all the hallmarks of a novel, too.

Zheng Baochun: A jianghu legend set in the prosperous Tang dynasty. The author draws on renowned wuxia writers and combines official history with unofficial accounts. The writing is masterful, and the scale is grand, which is especially impressive.

Han Yunbo: The prose of The Glamorous Wanderers of the Great Tang is beautiful, and the first-person narration makes it feel intimate. The plot is compelling, too. After finishing the novel, I found myself viewing it in two halves.

The first half weaves together tales of reclusive heroes, the tangled affections between mother and son, palace secrets, and the martial world. It features dazzling beauties and youthful vigor, as well as solemn dignity and seasoned wisdom. The second half centers on Wu Mei and captures the character of this ambitious woman. But turning a series of historical and legendary figures into characters in the story makes it a sweeping historical fantasy, markedly different in style from the first half. Perhaps the author intended this, but I feel it undermines the unity of the whole and prevents the human emotions of the first half from developing further. Although A Wu’s disappearance at the end creates a sense of wistfulness that seems to echo the opening, overall it feels somewhat unresolved.

This raises a question: while writing a wuxia novel, does the style need to remain consistent throughout? We needn’t reach a conclusion yet, but I think it’s a question worth considering.

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