Historical Figures
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Wang Zhaojun: The Palace Woman Who Volunteered for Exile
In 33 BC the Han court gave five women from the imperial palace to a Xiongnu chief. One of them was Wang Zhaojun. She had waited years inside the palace and never once been summoned, and it was said that she asked to go. She spent the rest of her life on the steppe, and never came home. This is her story.
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Xuanzang: The Monk Who Smuggled Himself Out of China
In 629 a Buddhist monk left the Tang capital without a permit, crossed a desert on foot, and walked to India. Sixteen years later he came back with six hundred and fifty-seven Sanskrit manuscripts. He spent the rest of his life translating them. This is the story of Xuanzang, the real monk behind the Monkey King.
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Zhang Liang: The Assassin Who Became the Emperor’s Strategist
In 218 BC a young nobleman spent his whole fortune on one blow of a hammer, and missed. He spent the rest of his life making sure that miss did not matter. This is the story of Zhang Liang, who went into hiding as a wanted man, learned strategy from an old man on a bridge, and became the adviser Liu Bang said he could not do without.
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Li Bai: The Poet the Chinese Called a Banished Immortal
In 757 a poet sat in a prison at Xunyang waiting to hear whether he would be executed. He was Li Bai, the most famous poet of the Tang dynasty. He had spent his whole life asking to be given great office, and had never been given any. This is his story, from a sword and a farewell at twenty-five to a pardon on the road to exile.
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Han Xin: The Beggar Who Became the Greatest General of Han
In 196 BC a man was led into a palace room called the Bell Chamber with his hands tied. He was Han Xin, one of the finest commanders China has ever produced. He began as a poor nobody in a small town who crawled between a stranger’s legs to stay alive. This is his story, from a bowl of rice by the river to the last trap set for him by the chancellor who once chased him back through the night.
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Wu Zetian: The Concubine Who Became Emperor of China
In 637 a girl of fourteen was brought into the Tang palace as a low-ranking concubine. In 690, at sixty-seven, she abolished the dynasty she had served and put herself on the throne. She is the only woman in two thousand years to rule China in her own right. This is her story, from a convent courtyard to the blank stone in front of her tomb.
