Dragonkeeper

This novel explicitly takes place within the early years of Emperor Wu’s reign; he belonged to the Western Han dynasty period of imperial China, which lasted from 202 BCE to 9 CE. The Western Han dynasty was succeeded by a brief Xin dynasty period, when a regent temporarily took over control of the country. In 25 CE, this era was then succeeded by the Eastern Han dynasty. However, the two Han dynasties are typically referred to as one period due to their similarities and their coherent ruling house. The Han dynasty is usually considered to be one of the most important periods of Chinese history because it directly impacted the collective identity of modern China, with many Chinese people now referring to themselves as “Han people.”

Historically, this period was a hotbed of cultural and technological development, with Confucianism driving politics and education while the country also achieved notable practical and scientific developments such as papermaking, astronomy, and even seismology. Common religious beliefs of the era were often based on spirit and ancestor worship, with people making sacrifices to spirits in rivers and near other natural landmarks. (This practice is depicted in the novel to dramatic effect when villagers attempt to sacrifice a girl in exchange for rain and a bountiful harvest.) Most importantly, dragons were also highly prominent in the imagery and mythology of Han-era China. Although the emperor would not wear dragon robes until the much-later Tang dynasty, some of the earliest dragon legends in Chinese history depict the mythical Yellow Emperor ascending to heaven as a dragon.

Within this broad historical context, the Emperor Wu, whose personal name was Liu Che, began his rule in 156 BCE and ruled until 87 BCE, achieving the longest reign in Chinese history: a record that would not be topped for the next 1,800 years. The novel therefore takes place in 156 BCE, when Emperor Wu’s rule first began. His governance promoted the developments of art, culture, law, and Confucianism, and even today, he is regularly regarded as one of the most important and powerful emperors in Chinese history. Emperor Wu is also notable for his refusal to follow the patterns of other emperors and for his lifelong commitment to pursuing social reform. For example he pressured noblemen to leave the capital of Chang’an for their own kingdoms, prosecuted noblemen who committed crimes, placed commoners in political positions in order to diversify the government, and prioritized widespread access to education and the principles of Confucianism.

However, these reforms were not without opposition. The dowager empress, his grandmother, executed many of his allies, and his wife’s inability to bear children gave rise to social pressures that nearly ended his reign. Emperor Wu quickly adjusted his methods to become more subtle, seeding the government with his close allies and using shrewder methods to recruit scholars whose influence would undermine the power of the conservative nobility. By 135 BC, his grandmother had died, and his favored concubine had had a child, cementing his control over imperial China. As in the novel, the real Emperor Wu was also determined to discover a magical source for immortality, and he recruited many magicians to create such a cure. Many of Liu Che’s behaviors in the novel are designed to reflect the realities of his early reign—particularly his stubbornness and his determination to change the way of the world. These traits reflect his early reign’s burst of reform in the wake of the stagnant patterns of the early Han dynasty.