Ask the Author: Laurie Dennis
Answered Questions (4)
Laurie Dennis
Mao Zedong was deeply interested in the story of the Ming founder, because it involved peasant rebellions. Chairman Mao had conversations about this with historian Wu Han, but then turned on the author when he published his seminal 1965 "Biography of Zhu Yuanzhang." Wu died in prison. Among Wu's listed crimes were "opposing the doctrine of class struggle" in his depiction of Zhu's rise to power, which is nonsense.
The Ming founder worked to broaden access to public schools, reform the legal code, and improve the lives of peasants, but he was an autocrat and did not consider himself a rebel - he was restoring righteous rule!
I think today's PRC leadership admires the the power and influence the Ming founder wielded.
The Ming founder worked to broaden access to public schools, reform the legal code, and improve the lives of peasants, but he was an autocrat and did not consider himself a rebel - he was restoring righteous rule!
I think today's PRC leadership admires the the power and influence the Ming founder wielded.
Laurie Dennis
I read an account of the Ming Dynasty's founder in the Cambridge History of China. Zhu Yuanzhang was a goat herder and farmer in the Huai River valley, the youngest son in a large family. And then he lost everything. When I learned how Zhu emerged from calamity to become the founding emperor of one of China's greatest dynasties, I was hooked. I've been pondering, reading and writing about this fascinating personality ever since.
Laurie Dennis
I felt frustrated that so little was available in English about the Ming founding, a key moment in Chinese history that resonates with our current world.
Laurie Dennis
The second volume in my series of historical fiction about the founding of China's Ming Dynasty.
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