Tang Yun in Minshan: Chronicles of the Academy of Talent Recruitment

At the end of the Tang Dynasty, Chang'an fell, Huang Chao was in chaos, Zhu Wen usurped the Tang Dynasty, the rituals and music of the Central Plains collapsed, and the prairie fire broke out. A generation of poets and ministers, Han Xie, was beholden to the emperor, adhered to his loyalty, and repeatedly disobeyed power and traitors. He was reduced from an important official in the court to a refugee in troubled times. He spent half his life in trouble, but he had no integrity. He was forced to travel south with his family to escape the chaos. At that time, Fujian was relatively peaceful, and three kings, Wang Chao, Wang Shengui, and Wang Shenzhi, came to Fujian to rectify the official administration, appease the people's livelihood, promote trade and establish schools. In order to accommodate the people from the Central Plains and revitalize the Fujian cultural heritage, Wang built the Recruiting Courtyard in Panshan, Quanzhou, to recruit celebrities from all over the world who were fleeing chaos. Huang Tao, a famous scholar in Putian, had the ambition of Jichuan and used his talent and learning as a boat. He traveled to attract scribes from the north and south, and became the core pillar of the Talent Recruitment Institute and the think tank of the King of Fujian. He took the lead in gathering Xu Wei, Weng Chengzan, Cui Daorong and other poets and scholars of the late Tang Dynasty. A group of literati gathered on the banks of the Jinjiang River and among the pines and bamboos to recite poems and compose poems, manage government affairs, educate the people, and expand maritime trade. The whole book follows Han Xie's life trajectory throughout: from the loyal and upright remonstrating minister in Jinluan, Chang'an, to the lonely minister who wandered in the southeast to avoid chaos, and then to the hermit Shizong who retired to the Minshan Mountains and devoted his love to poetry. He personally experienced the overthrow of the state after the fall of the Tang Dynasty and the rise of the Liang Dynasty, and witnessed the prosperity of the market in the early days of Fujian. His colorful poetic style faded away, and his writings were filled with the vicissitudes of the troubled times, the mountains and rivers of the country. The novel uses the prosperity and decline of the Zhaoxian Yuan as a hidden thread, connecting the disputes between princes, court intrigues, maritime trade, and folk customs in Fujian in the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms. It panoramically shows the character and helplessness of the Chinese people in troubled times, the survival wisdom of small countries in troubled times, and the mighty process of cultural migration southward. Finally, it engraved the miracle of civilization in Quanzhou from a barbaric corner of the sea to a coastal Zoulu.