Mountain of Fame: Portraits in Chinese History

by John E. Wills Jr.

Through biographies of China's most colorful and famous personalities, John Wills displays the five-thousand-year sweep of Chinese history from the legendary sage emperors to the tragedy of Tiananmen Square. This unique introduction to Chinese history and culture uses more than twenty exemplary lives, including those of statesmen, philosophers, poets, and rulers, to provide the focus for accounts of key historical trends and periods. What emerges is a provocative rendering of China's moral landscape, featuring characters who have resonated in the historical imagination as examples of villainy, heroism, wisdom, spiritual vision, political guile, and complex combinations of all of these.


Investigating both the legends and the facts surrounding these figures, Wills reveals the intense interest of the Chinese in the brilliance and in the frail complexities of their heroes. Included, for instance, is a description of the frustrations and anxieties of Confucius, who emerges as a vulnerable human being trying to restore the world to the virtue and order of the sage kings. Wills recounts and questions the wonderfully shocking stories about the seventh-century Empress Wu, an astute ruler and shaper of an increasingly centralized monarchy, who has since assumed a prominent position in the Chinese tradition's rich gallery of bad examples--because she was a woman meddling in politics. The portrayal of Mao Zedong, which touches upon this leader's earthy personality and his reckless political visions, demonstrates the tendency of the Chinese not to divorce ideology from its human Maoism for them is a form of "objective" Marxism, inseparable from one man's life and leadership.


Each of the twenty chapters provides a many-sided exploration of a "slice" of Chinese history, engaging the general reader in a deep and personal encounter with China over the centuries and today. The biographies repeatedly mirror the moral earnestness of the Chinese, the great value they place on the ruler-minister relationship, and their struggles with tensions among practicality, moral idealism, and personal authenticity. Culminating in a reflection on China's historical direction in the aftermath of Tiananmen Square, the biographies show the modern Chinese still inspired and frustrated by a complex heritage of moral fervor and political habits and preconceptions. As absorbing as it is wide ranging, this history is written for the general public curious about China and for the student beginning to study its rich cultural heritage.

Genres: China, History, Nonfiction, Ancient History

424 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 1992

Reviews

[Harry Lee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gateway book to learn about people from Chinese history (besides the emperors, strategists and generals), so it was perfect for me.

Found the parts on philosophy and political thought a bit dry.

[Jonathan · Rating 5 out of 5]

You know how in movies about China or Kung Fu flicks the characters always make allusions to famous people who had important roles in the history of the Chinese people? No? Well anyway, this book explores Chinese history through the lives of famous rulers, philosophers, scholars, warriors and more. A very human-based approach, and the next time someone in a Chinese movie invokes the Emperor Qin or Confucius, you'll know who they're talking about. A great read for those with an interest in the history of China.

[Anna · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is a very dry account of important figures in Chinese history. The beginning of each chapter is so jumbled that were it not for the chapter titles, you'd have no idea who Wills is talking about until about five pages in. The wording of sentences is often awkward and doesn't flow very well and it feels like there is a disconnect between chapters.

I don't recommend this book for learning about Chinese history. If this subject interests you, I suggest reading Open Empire by Valerie Hansen. It's much more interesting and reads almost like a novel.

[bkwurm · Rating 3 out of 5]

By means of biographies of historical personalities like Confucius, the Qin emperor, a Buddhist patriarch, a Daoist leader, statesmen, generals, philosophers, the author manages to paint a reasonably comprehensive picture of the changes in Chinese politics, philosophy and religious thought through the centuries. Engrossing.

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

this was a really neat way of writing chinese history. each chapter was a biography of a different historical chinese figure, which over the course of the whole book gives a pretty good view of chinese history. also fun to read because the people led interesting lives.