First published 2022
Lu Rong sets down his brush after decades serving the Ming court. The former official has retreated to his Bean Garden, but his curiosity about Chinese society burns as bright as ever. He walks through markets where farmers sell their crops, observes religious ceremonies in local temples, and listens to gossip about political scandals in the capital. Lu writes down everything he sees and hears. His servants puzzle him, his neighbors fascinate him, and the changing world around him demands explanation. Unlike other scholar-officials who write formal histories, Lu captures the texture of ordinary life. He records how people plant rice, settle disputes, arrange marriages, and navigate social hierarchies. Mark Halperin translates Lu's observations from this forgotten century between the Ming dynasty's violent birth and its later age of exploration. Lu's informal notes reveal a China balanced between tradition and transformation, where an old scholar's honest eye illuminates the daily struggles and small triumphs of an entire civilization.
Genres: biography, historical-fiction, china, cultural, asian-american, academic
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: fish-out-of-water, slice-of-life
Setting: Bean Garden, China, Ming Court
Period: Ming Dynasty
188 pages · Paperback · University of Washington Press