{"product_id":"return-to-dragon-mountain-memories-of-a-late-ming-man-9780143114451","title":"Return to Dragon Mountain: Memories of a Late Ming Man","description":"\u003cb\u003e\"Splendid . . . One could not imagine a better subject than Zhan Dai for Spence.\" (\u003ci\u003eThe New Republic\u003c\/i\u003e)\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eCelebrated China scholar Jonathan Spence vividly brings to life seventeenth-century China through this biography of Zhang Dai, recognized as one of the finest historians and essayists of the Ming dynasty. Born in 1597, Zhang Dai was forty-seven when the Ming dynasty, after more than two hundred years of rule, was overthrown by the Manchu invasion of 1644. Having lost his fortune and way of life, Zhang Dai fled to the countryside and spent his final forty years recounting the time of creativity and renaissance during Ming rule before the violent upheaval of its collapse. This absorbing tale of Zhang Dai's life illuminates the transformation of a culture and reveals how China's history affects its place in the world today.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eJonathan Spence (1936-2021): \u003c\/b\u003e Was the author of more than a dozen well-regarded books \"which illuminate China's vast history through details that illuminated bigger pictures and themes. (The New York Times)\" including \u003ci\u003eThe Gate of Heavenly Peace\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eTreason by the Book\u003c\/i\u003e, and \u003ci\u003eThe Death of Woman Wang\u003c\/i\u003e. His awards include a Guggenheim and a MacArthur Fellowship. He was Sterling Professor of History at Yale University from 1993 to 2008.\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Penguin Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50318161379602,"sku":"9780143114451","price":17.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_4d369106-ec75-4519-8a33-0450f31ca644.jpg?v=1727549428","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/return-to-dragon-mountain-memories-of-a-late-ming-man-9780143114451","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}