The Return to Dragon Mountain

Writer and historian Zhang Dai is recognized as one of the leading intellectuals of the Ming dynasty. When he was born into a wealthy family in 1597, the Ming dynasty had been in power for 229 years. Zhang Dai spent his childhood and youth in an environment of political stability and cultural creativity: for China, the last years of the Ming dynasty were a golden age. However, when the Ming were dethroned by the Manchu invasion in 1644, Zhang Dai's family lost their entire fortune, and he spent the last 40 years recounting his life, leaving a great legacy to his children, and rebuilding a spirit shaken by the drastic changes he had witnessed. Jonathan Spence examined Zhang Dai's extraordinary documents and, in *Return to Dragon Mountain*, shows us a complex and sophisticated society at a time of profound cultural transformation, leading us to reflect on the ways in which China's history continues to affect the world today.