The Dragon Throne
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The Dragon Throne
They were the most powerful rulers on earth. The mighty Qin Shi Huangdu (r. 221-210 BC), who began the construction of the Great Wall. The long-lived Han emperor Wudi (r. 141-87 BC), who developed China as a centralized Confucian state. The soldier-scholar Yongle (r. 1402-24 AD), who raised the Ming dynasty to its military peak. The dowager empress Cixi (r. 1861-1908 AD), who rose from humble Manchu origins to rule over all China. In The Dragon Throne, Jonathan Fenby tells the extraordinary story of imperial China through its 157 emperors, from Qin Shi Huangdu, who crushed his rivals to take supreme power as the first emperor in 221BC, until the final collapse of the faltering Manchu dynasty amidst the revolutionary chaos of the early twentieth century. The final emperor, the infant Puyi (r. 1908-12) ended his days as an assistant gardener in the very palace where he had been enthroned.
Ruling from the Dragon Throne
Toward the end of nearly 2,000 years of imperial rule in China, the last dynasty, designated Qing, was led by the ethnically and culturally distinct Manchu people. The Manchu established a political organization using clothing fashioned after their nomadic roots to signify status and identity. Author John E. Vollmer details the characteristics of Manchu dynasty costume and its political, social, and cultural significance and influence in Chinese history. Included are descriptions of the various designs and symbology on the cloth, as well as diagrams illustrating garment-making technology and construction features, comprehensive notes, a bibliography, map, and chronology. A fascinating look at clothing and its strategic role in the politics of conquest, this book is an invaluable resource for scholars and collectors alike. Illustrated throughout, including private collection pieces photographed for the first time.
The Dragon Throne
From 221 BC - when Shi Huangdi, First Emperor and founding father of Chinese imperial history, unified a large part of the Han Chinese homeland - until 1911, when imperial China collapsed in revolutionary chaos, China was ruled by a succession of powerful imperial dynasties. The Dragon Throne tells their rich, complex and often turbulent story, from the inception of the Qin dynasty to the fall of the Manchu in the early 20th century. China's imperial dynasties display a recurring pattern of birth, growth, prosperity and collapse due to external pressures. A number of powerful emperors left a particularly strong imprint on this troubled history, whether as conquerors, consolidators, tyrants, reformers or reactionaries. At the heart of The Dragon Throne are vivid profiles of Shi Huangdi, the emperor who began the construction of the Great Wall; Han Wudi, the Han emperor who developed China as a centralized Confucian state; Kublai Khan, the first emperor of the Mongol Yuan dynasty, and Hongwu, the founder of the Ming dynasty.