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Filed in: blog | history | research Tags: alternative history | butterfly swords | Tang dynasty | the dragon and the pearl
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I loved reading about the alternative history behind Meljean Brook’s Iron Seas series on her website where she describes the real history of the Mongolian khagans or khans and their contact with the West via Marco Polo and then ties that in to the alternative history she created about the Golden Horde. So I thought it would be good to write up the alternative history of BUTTERFLY SWORDS and THE DRAGON AND THE PEARL.
My world isn’t as imagineered as a full on fantasy novel. In fact I was adamant in the fact that they are set in Tang Dynasty China. Not a fantasy world based on the Oriental trappings of China. I strive to try to be as authentic as possible in terms of culture, social climate, and political structure. I didn’t want to make up place names and customs and hide behind the fact that I made things up if something reads inauthentic. If it didn’t work, it’s because I didn’t sell it–not because it was meant to be fabricated anyway.
Of course wuxia, and really all similar chivalric tales, take place within a bit of a fantasy world. For the western equivalents, consider the Tales of Robin Hood or King Arthur. They’re a bit of historical fantasy. Historical romances are also really historical fantasies in the way authors have freedom to make up Dukes and Princes and Princesses. One of the reasons I feel so strongly that I’m truly in the right genre.
But one of the big leaps that I made that is not done too often in traditional historical romance is I altered the macro-history of my setting. Often authors will create imaginary kingdoms to satisfy the need to create wars and political conflict, but I had already decided this would not be a made up kingdom. So here’s the real history and my alternate history juxtaposed.
WHAT ARE THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE REAL TANG DYNASTY AND JEANNIE LIN’S TANG DYNASTY?
In the real Tang Dynasty:
The rule of Emperor Xuanzong, named Li Longji, (712-756 A.D.) is often considered the pinnacle of the Tang Dynasty. Near the end of his reign however, the empire began to decline through many different factors including famine and several devastating military losses, costing Xuanzong several of the empire’s tributary nations. Throughout the dynasty, military warlords called jiedushi who were tasked with leading campaigns against neighboring kingdoms and maintaining order at the frontier had gained in power and influence. The jiedushi took over the military rule of their provinces, forming armies that were independent from the central imperial army. It was the combination of this military decentralization and the financial weakening of the central government that allowed the first strike in the beginning of the fall of the Golden Age.
The most popular telling has Emperor Xuanzong declining into decadence and extravagance in his elder years. He became smitten by one of his concubines, Lady Yang Yuhuan, who is more commonly known as Yang Guifei (Precious Consort Yang). Under her thrall, he ignored matters of state, appointed her relatives and other corrupt men to important governmental positions, and spent his days throwing lavish banquets for his consort. One of the men who gained the favor of the corrupt court was a warlord by the name of An Lushan, who was of Sogdian (ancient Persian empire) descent rather than pure “Chinese”. (During the Tang Dynasty, the population of the empire was a mix of ethnicities, much like the Roman Empire during its height.) An Lushan had gained prominence defending the northeastern border against the Khitans and between he and his sons, controlled several military districts and a sizeable army. One of the downfalls of the military system was that too many men were elevated to governorships from lowly field positions. As a result, the imperial government had to contend with and try to balance the demands of many powerful factions within its own borders.
In 755, An Lushan led the Anshi Rebellion against Xuanzong, forcing the Emperor to flee from the capital. During the tragic flight, the Emperor’s army refused to continue unless he executed his beloved Yang Guifei, blaming her and her inept cousin, Chancellor Yang Guozhong, for the downfall of the imperial government. The Emperor had Yang Guifei strangled and her body was buried by the roadside while the escort continued on to Chengdu in the South.
An Lushan took over control of the dual capitals of Chang’an and Luoyang and declared himself Emperor. Meanwhile, Xuanzong set up a separate court in the south, but he was a broken man. He recognized his son, Li Heng’s, ascension to the throne and took on the title of retired Emperor. The son mounted a campaign against An Lushan to try to recapture the capital and destroy the warlord’s forces, though it would take the reign of three Tang Emperors before the rebellion was crushed in 763 A.D.
The Tang Dynasty continues for over another century, finally ending in 907 A.D. though it never reaches the height of Xuanzong’s rule again.
In Jeannie Lin’s Tang Dynasty:
BUTTERFLY SWORDS and THE DRAGON AND THE PEARL take place during the period of the Anshi rebellion, though the alternative history changes the circumstances of the temporary fall of the Tang Emperors. Emperor Xuanzong is replaced by a fictional Emperor Li Ming, known as the August Emperor, who has died without leaving behind any direct male descendants.
Instead of An Lushan, a warlord named Shen An Liu has taken control during the unrest and Li Ming’s only daughter Miya has abdicated the throne and lives in exile. Emperor Shen and his sons control the largest military force in the empire, allowing them to maintain control of the central part of the kingdom, but his rule is constantly challenged by the other warlords, many who want to restore a Tang ruler to the throne.
The tragic figure of Yang Yuhuan was replaced by Precious Consort Ling Suyin, who survives the fall of Tang regime. Li Tao is a commoner who was given military command as jiedushi by the August Emperor.
In this timeline, Emperor Shen is seen as a usurper of low birth and mixed blood, though he does rule over the central government. A clear opposition government has yet to be established and the jiedushi are left to fight it out about who will control the empire.
It was a difficult decision to alter such pivotal events in the Tang Dynasty history to create this world. The intention was to be able to use pivotal figures such as Emperors and warlords and consorts and set their interactions during the tumultuous time that inspired me. I hope readers will realize that these stories are historical fantasy and not meant to be a historical reference.
For the upcoming tales that do not reference this alternative timeline, I’ve set the time period to the later part of the Tang Dynasty after 800 A.D. to differentiate them from these earlier tales.
As I’ve heard from readers that these stories have been the first taste they got of the Tang Dynasty, I encourage any history geeks to seek out the true events. The following resources were the basis for much for much of my research:
- Benn, Charles (2002), China’s Golden Age: Everyday Life in the Tang Dynasty, Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-517665-0
- Hucker, Charles O. (1995), China’s Imperial Past: An Introduction to Chinese History and Culture, Stanford University Press, ISBN 0804723532
- Lewis, Mark Edward (2009), China’s Cosmopolitan Empire: The Tang Dynasty, Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, ISBN 067403306X
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Filed in: blog | history | research Tags: ancient china | historical research | Tang dynasty
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 I always research in stages. First, I do some preliminary research before I start drafting. Then, once the work is done and I’m waiting for beta readers to comment (like right now), I research deeper into the areas of the book I know need to be fleshed out.
This last one has been quite an adventure! On a suggestion from some of my Tweeps, I thought I’d share for any history geeks out there.
First off, I looked into a diplomatic practice called heqin, or peace marriage. I explored several academic writings on the political role of the heqin brides as well as what sort of women were sent to foreign lands in these peace marriages. Everyone always thinks of China as being historically closed off, but in truth the Tang Dynasty was one of the most open periods in imperial history. Foreign relations with Korea, Japan, Tibet, Central Asia and all the neighboring kingdoms were at their height and the Tang empire had the most frequent use of peace marriages as a diplomatic option.
Presence and presentation: women in the Chinese literati tradition edited by Sherry Mou. Essay: “Women in Chinese Frontier Politics: Heqin” by Ning Chia.
Biographical Dictionary of Chinese women: antiquity through Sui, 1600 B.C.E. by Lily Xiao Hong Lee, A. D. Stefanowska, and Sue Wiles
Then of course there was more research about Changan and the layout of the East Market, the North Hamlet, and the Administrative City. I went to my fallback book by Charles Benn as well as a few other resources.
Archery, which was implemented as part of the military exams during the Tang Dynasty, also played a key role. There were spectacular sporting events organized around archery called the Great Shoots. Nifty, huh?
China’s Golden Age: Everyday Life in the Tang Dynasty by Charles Benn
Chinese Archery by Stephen Selby
And now I’ve bought entirely too many history books in order to delve into the political structure of the Tang government with its six ministries and a gazillion other offices. Talk about bureaucracy! I’m salivating to get my hands on Charles O. Hucker’s A Dictionary of Official Titles of Imperial China, but am making do with the Google Books preview currently as I try to search it out.
Other books:
China’s Imperial Past: An Introduction to Chinese History and Culture by Charles O. Hucker
The Open Empire: A History of China to 1600 by Valerie Hansen
And a final impulse buy because it’s an academic book by Van Gulik of Judge Dee fame:
Sexual Life in Ancient China: a Preliminary Survey of Chinese Sex and Society from Ca. 1500 B. C. Till 1644 A. D. by R.H. Van Gulik
Those automatic recommendations on Amazon will be the death of me.
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Filed in: blog Tags: 2011 releases | butterfly swords sequel | Tang dynasty | the dragon and the pearl
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So, I noticed several people following links for “The Midnight Chamber” to my page. I was testing out my a new book listing and apparently somehow posted something to all the RSS feeds. So sorry for the bait and switch!
For the few that were wondering, I’m trying to work on my webpage in the background. I also have some book news that I was hoping to post officially when titles get firmed up. But here’s the skinny for now:
September 2011 – Dream of the Midnight Chamber (Title TBD) from Harlequin Historical Undone
October 2011 – The Dragon and the Pearl from Harlequin Historical
The Midnight Chamber (title TBD) is a short story which is linked to The Dragon and the Pearl. Just as with The Taming of Mei Lin and Butterfly Swords, you can read them both independently. But I hope reading both enhances the experience.
There is also one more Tang Dynasty short scheduled tentatively for release this summer in case you can’t wait to revisit 8th century China. More info as the details firm up and please excuse my tinkering around with the page.
You’ll notice the dates also parallel the release of Butterfly and Mei Lin. In the words of Yogi Berra, “It’s deja vu all over again.”
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Filed in: blog | research | writing Tags: feminism in ancient times | poets | Tang dynasty
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I happened upon this article about female Chinese poets throughout history from the Cultural China website: Women Poets in Past Centuries – Raising One’s Voice in a Male World. Not surprisingly, the article describes how women of noble families were often highly educated and literate and, though at times were able to gain some notoriety, never had as much public recognition as their male counterparts.
While reading about the struggle of female poets, my thoughts went back to a discussion that Courtney Milan began on her post, Fairytales of Meritocracy, about the historical fantasy inherent in much of historical romance where modern ideals of meritocracy are inserted. Her very well-written post sparked some great conversation. I for one, LOVE that Courtney pinpoints some of the true “fantasies” at the heart of romance. The feminine fantasy is not the superficial one so often lambasted of wearing pretty clothes, having a great body, and landing a ravishing rake of one’s own. The fantasy is one of meritocracy: that worthy deeds will be rewarded. That characters, in any walk of life, vie for a better life and can achieve it. Yes, it comes with finding your true love as well. We want it all. HEA.
In a comment to Courtney Milan’s post, I stated an idealistic idea that feminism and meritocracy are not strictly modern ideals and that history itself doesn’t show a linear progression of subjugation to liberation, by any means.
Robin expressed the balance very well:
“I interpret (this) as finding the moments and pockets in history where what we recognize in the present is also discernible in the past.
That notion comports best with hist Rom to which I generally gravitate — those books that I can connect to through my current moment in time but without feeling that they are modern books in historical costume.”
While reading the Cultural China article, I found myself moved to nearly the point of tears by the words of these female poets who, very clearly and in ancient times, expressed this same desire to be recognized.
First, the example of private versus public independence. I think this is something Westerners often misinterpret when pushing the idea of the meek, subjugated Asian female:
From Cultural China:
“Take the example of Bao Linghui, who lived in the fifth century. She was the sister of the renowned poet Bao Zhao, and was highly educated too. Women were not discriminated. They were the ones who would stay home and educate their children while men would serve. They would even help their husbands to pass the imperial examination”
This couldn’t help but bring to mind Virginia Woolf and her conundrum of Shakespeare’s gifted sister with no place to exhibit her creativity in A Room of One’s Own. Chinese women did have a room and a sphere of their own – though it was a private one: inside the home, the inner chamber, the so-called “red chamber”.
And then the lament of Yue Xuanji, female poet of the Tang Dynasty:
“I resent these gauze robes of mine which conceal poems’ lines, I raise my head, envying the names on the roster of successful candidates.”
“I resent these gauze robes.” — Such a beautiful vision evoking femininity, the desire for recognition, and ideal of meritocracy. And this was in the 9th century.
In these cases, the need for public acceptance and recognition eludes these women, but in modern times the path of meritocracy is also fraught with obstacles, is it not?
I have received several comments that my characters exhibit modern behavior. I don’t know whether this is in their speech or their independent and outspoken natures. In both cases, I wholeheartedly accept such criticisms without argument other than the ones I’ve laid out here. I’ve “modernized” the speech in that I’ve made little effort to shy away from contractions and language that flows without any sense of being stiff or stilted. After reading the words of the Tang women, I can’t fathom in my head how to make them sound “ancient” and still do justice to the absolute command of the language I sense in their words. Though of course, as an author, there’s simply the case that perhaps I chose the occasional word that triggered a modern feeling, and I accept that shortcoming too. It could be that I simply, plainly, did not get the job done in a convincing manner.
In terms of independence and wanting to be recognized as equals, in terms of expressing these opinions openly and eloquently — again I defer to my muses, the women of the Tang Dynasty. How could their words and feats have survived more than a thousand years, surviving revisionist efforts of subsequent generations, if these thoughts had not resonated deeply in their own time as well as today?
My characters are modern, but my characters are historical. I chose them for that reason, and I must accept all such criticisms of anachronism. I must embrace these critiques in light of the choices I’ve made.
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Filed in: blog | research Tags: asian history | historical research | Tang dynasty | worldbuilding
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My critique partners and I were chatting it up last night and the topic of writing historicals and research came up. They asked me how long I researched before I felt ready to write and I told them not much. I just jumped into the story and researched as I went along. Of course, I wasn’t going to set the stories in China at first.
I suddenly had flashbacks — five years of library visits, trolling Amazon, a gazillion internet searches. I have books on horses of the world, on walled cities in China, on the Tang dynasty, the Song Dynasty. Hours and hours on the Chinese History forum. Wow, now that I’m looking at my shelf, I have books on Chinese weapons, the Art of War and other military texts, Chinese landmarks. And I consider myself a “light” researcher. Don’t let the facts get in the way of a good story, I say. (I stole that from my mentor teacher, who always told me “Don’t let the truth get in the way of good teaching” when it came to science.)
Darn, it’s been a long ride. And it keeps going. I’m starting to research Taoism and demonology for my next project. No wonder historical authors want to stick to the same period for a while.
No matter how much you research an actual time, you still worldbuild around it. Or at least I do. Historians do it too. It’s the biased worldview that you start creating based on what you know. I have a loose construct of the regions of the Tang Dynasty mapped out in my head and the political structure. At some point, I have to start filling in blanks and making extrapolations of what kind of situation that would create.
Soon, you find something cool happening. You find that the history matches up with your worldbuilding as you continue to dig. There’s a certain way that empires rise and fall, I suppose. It’s all a feedback loop and, sooner or later, the stuff you’re making up isn’t so far from what could or did happen.
I’m still dreading the day someone smacks me down for gross historical inaccuracies. That’s okay. They would have had to read as much as I have to do it. Anybody that geeky deserves to wield the historical smackdown stick.
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Filed in: Asian fantasy | craft | publishing | research | The Bookshelf | writing Tags: brainstorming | historical paranormal | plotting series | Tang dynasty | Tao sorcery | wuxia
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I’ve been tossing around what to do next and my CP helped me find my way — which is why it’s important to have partners that are good at the things you suck at. For me it’s coming up with ideas and where to put commas.
So I wondered if I should leave medieval China, try something else. Something maybe more “marketable” in case this China thing doesn’t work. But I just couldn’t. So if anything, I’m going deeper into the wuxia genre that inspired me by adding paranormal elements.
It’s quite exciting! The supernatural is so prominently woven into Chinese history and culture that I practically feel like I’m still researching a historical rather than worldbuilding for a paranormal romance. There are major texts on the supernatural and a city that is well known to contain the gate to the underworld. I mean, so well known that there’s practically nothing mysterious about it. I’ll have to change that in my book.  And it’ll have all the things I love — swords, honor, melodramatic characters – LOL.
I’m trying to learn something new by brainstorming a series. All my previous stories were related, but standalone. Plotting a series you need to think of the series arc as well as each story arc. It’s quite fascinating. I don’t have what I call the “Big Bad” nailed down yet, so things are still pretty loose.
But I do have nearly all five couples mapped out. I realize that I don’t start with character sketches or outlines or even worldbuilding. I start by matchmaking. I figure out the hero and the heroine and gauge if there’s enough conflict and chemistry for them to carry a book. I don’t know much about them other than whether they’ll spark. I guess that’s why at the heart of it, I write romance.
Oh, a hint? Tao sorcery, exorcism swords…a Secret Service team that works for the Emperor (inspired by my research for Unusual Historicals). I think I can start writing by this weekend. Giddy!
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Filed in: Asian fantasy | The Bookshelf Tags: Asian fantasy | ggk | guy gavriel kay | Tang dynasty | under heaven
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What has me giddy this week? I learned from blog buddy Victoria Dixon that GGK has a new novel coming out April 2010 — and it’s set in a fantasy world based on Tang Dynasty China. *Cough* Ahem…next big thing?
GGK, serious author crush right now on you. Can’t wait for the book!
Here’s the info from his website. You can go to Bright Weavings for more info too.
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UNDER HEAVEN will be published in April 2010, and takes place in a world inspired by the glory and power of Tang Dynasty China in the 8th century, a world in which history and the fantastic meld into something both memorable and emotionally compelling.
In the novel, Shen Tai is the son of a general who led the forces of imperial Kitai in the empire’s last great war against its western enemies, twenty years before. Forty thousand men, on both sides, were slain by a remote mountain lake. General Shen Gao himself has died recently, having spoken to his son in later years about his sadness in the matter of this terrible battle.
To honour his father’s memory, Tai spends two years in official mourning alone at the battle site by the blue waters of Kuala Nor. Each day he digs graves in hard ground to bury the bones of the dead. At night he can hear the ghosts moan and stir, terrifying voices of anger and lament. Sometimes he realizes that a given voice has ceased its crying, and he knows that is one he has laid to rest.
The dead by the lake are equally Kitan and their Taguran foes; there is no way to tell the bones apart, and he buries them all with honour.
It is during a routine supply visit led by a Taguran officer who has reluctantly come to befriend him that Tai learns that others, much more powerful, have taken note of his vigil. The White Jade Princess Cheng-wan, 17th daughter of the Emperor of Kitai, presents him with two hundred and fifty Sardian horses. They are being given in royal recognition of his courage and piety, and the honour he has done the dead.
You gave a man one of the famed Sardian horses to reward him greatly. You gave him four or five to exalt him above his fellows, propel him towards rank, and earn him jealousy, possibly mortal jealousy. Two hundred and fifty is an unthinkable gift, a gift to overwhelm an emperor.
Tai is in deep waters. He needs to get himself back to court and his own emperor, alive. Riding the first of the Sardian horses, and bringing news of the rest, he starts east towards the glittering, dangerous capital of Kitai, and the Ta-Ming Palace – and gathers his wits for a return from solitude by a mountain lake to his own forever-altered life.
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Filed in: Asian fantasy | research Tags: asian history | Chinese women warriors | Tang dynasty | terracotta statues
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In my current statcounter addiction, I found that someone reached my site by searching for “Tang Legion of the Heroine”….hmmm….
Followed the link to a fascinating thread about fighting women of China. I’ve known that there were several prominent female warriors and military leaders from ancient times through the Tang dynasty. One post mentions there are female statues among a terracotta army (not THE Terracotta army of the First Emperor), indicating that there were women commonly serving in the Han dynasty armies. (Not to be mistaken with an art exhibit where a modern sculptor purposefully created female terracotta warriors.)
There’s some debate as to whether they were truly soldiers, but they were riding horses and holding weapons so I think it’s a strong case!
Another post mentions the “Legion of the Heroine” formed by a Tang dynasty princess. That one I had encountered in my research, but the post added some more detail.
Western readers may find it hard to believe that my princess heroine wields butterfly swords and is so independent. I think Asian readers won’t even twitch an eye since it’s such a common trope for them. That is supposing, that I have any readers at all. 
Well, if you’re interested. It’s a fascinating read:
http://chinahistoryforum.com/lofiversion/index.php/t11692.html
http://www.members.tripod.com/~journeyeast/women_warriors__secret.html
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Filed in: Announcements | Asian fantasy | research | writing Tags: feminism | guest blog | muses | research | Tang dynasty
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Victoria was the first person ever to ask my guest blog! She’s a fellow historical romance author who writes for Harlequin Spice. I was giddy to be invited to blog anywhere. Usually I just ramble on over here.
I’m on her blog today discussing research, my muses and feminism in the Tang dynasty as well as historical romances in general. Hop on over if you have a chance. How did I sound? Too stuffy?
Feminism in the Tang Dynasty at Victoria Janssen’s.
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