The Great Wall of China may be constructed of stone and packed earth, but it is home to a supernatural beast – the Old Dragon. Both wall and dragon protect China’s northern borders from Mongol incursion. Just beyond the fortress of Shanhaiguan, the far eastern end of the wall protrudes into the Bohai Sea – that’s the Old Dragon’s Head.
Bolin, a young man working on the Old Dragon’s Head, suffers visions of ghosts. The local seer suspects that he has yin-yang eyes and other supernatural gifts. Bolin’s fief lord, the Prince of Yan, rebels against his nephew, the Jianwen Emperor. In the bitter war of succession, the Mongols hold the balance of power. While the victor might win the battle on earth, China’s Dragon Throne can only be earned with a Mandate from Heaven – and the support of the Old Dragon.
In every era, a man endowed with the powers of heaven – the Dragon Master – is born. Only he can summon the Old Dragon, providing he possesses the dragon pearl. It’s the year 1402, and neither the Old Dragon, the dragon pearl, nor the Dragon Master, has been seen for twenty years.
Bolin’s journey of self-discovery is mirrored by that of old China, as both endeavour to come of age. When Bolin accepts his destiny as the Dragon Master, heaven sends a third coming of age – for humanity itself. But are any of them ready for what is rising in the east?
The Old Dragon’s Head is a story set in 1400 and played out in the shadows of the Great Wall of China, at the far eastern end of the wall, where it meets the sea for the only time. I set the story in that century for specific reasons. In Europe, the Dark Ages had drawn a curtain over the tentative advances of the Roman Empire, and nothing much had happened for over 1000 years until, in the 1400s, came the Renaissance.
In China, it was no different. Just as Europeans looked back to the Golden Age of the Greek sages, so they looked back to Confucius, Mencius, Lao Tzu, and the Buddha. But China was invaded by Genghis Khan in 1211.
Believing in karma, they thought they must have been living badly to invite the Mongol invasion in the first place. When they defeated them in 1368, they sought a new identity in harmony with the heavenly powers. This began the Ming Dynasty. And, as in Europe, the seeds of the modern world were sown.
But what research did I do? To answer that question, I need to answer the questions, how do I think about history, and how do I think about research?
Research of history involves a gathering of facts to answer such questions as what happened at the time and who were the main players. But research is more than that. In my novels, I strive to empathise with the people living at the time I am writing. In other words, I don’t just want to research the historical period; I want to try to understand how the people thought, or at least get an appreciation of how they thought. That means their mental and emotional arrangement, beliefs, superstitions, fears, hopes, and the structure of society at the time.
This method means that the prime historical material is whatever was written at the time of the Ming Dynasty. Any material written before that period is valid since it would influence those who lived in that era. However, anything written after, say, the 1500s by modern novelists or historians can only be biased to one degree or another by their mental arrangement. It can be read, but it becomes more difficult to filter out the writer’s bias.
Fortunately, several novels were written during the Ming Dynasty. I read The Story of the Stone aka The Dream of the Red Chamber, a Chinese Classic, vol. 1., The Golden Days by Cao Xueqin. I also read The Golden Lotus, volume 1 by Jin Ping Mei and Romance of the Three Kingdoms by Luo Guanzhong. I particularly enjoyed Stories Old and New, a Ming Dynasty Collection compiled by Feng Menglong.
I renewed my acquaintance with some of the classics of Chinese thought and philosophy, notably The Art of War by Sun Tzu, The Book of Chung Tzu by Lao Tzu, The Book of Mencius, The Tao Te Ching, The I Ching, and The Analects by Confucius.
The main non-fiction book I delved into was a modern translation by Yonglin Jiang of The Mandate of Heaven and the Great Ming Code.
I did read some modern stories about ancient Chinese times. They were two Robert van Gulik novels about his character Judge Dee, notably The Emperor’s Pearl and The Chinese Maze Murders. The other was an old favourite, Franz Kafka’s short story, The Great Wall of China.
When I talk to folks about my historical fiction novels, they often ask whether I visited China. Sadly, I did not. The best I could do was to re-visit the China Gallery in the British Museum and the China collection in the British Library.
When researching, I’ll view paintings, sculptures and other artefacts. I’d read their poetry and study the architecture of the time – the room layouts, the courtyards, the rooves etc.
In the research of history, you are trying to conjure and re-evoke the spirit of their times.
And that brings to mind the Ancient Chinese blessing:
‘May you live in interesting times.’
Or is it a curse?
You’ll have to read The Old Dragon’s Head to find out.
Justin Newland is an author of historical fantasy and secret history thrillers – that’s history with a supernatural twist. His historical novels feature known events and real people from the past, which are re-told and examined through the lens of the supernatural.
His novels speculate on the human condition and explore the fundamental questions of our existence. As a species, as Homo sapiens sapiens – that’s man the twice-wise – how are we doing so far? Where is mankind’s spiritual home? What does it look or feel like? Would we recognise it if we saw it?
Undeterred by the award of a Doctorate in Mathematics from Imperial College, London, he found his way to the creative keyboard and conceived his debut novel, The Genes of Isis (Matador, 2018), an epic fantasy set under Ancient Egyptian skies.
Next came the supernatural thriller, The Old Dragon’s Head (Matador, 2018), set in Ming Dynasty China.
His third novel, The Coronation (Matador, 2019), speculates on the genesis of the most important event of the modern world – the Industrial Revolution.
His fourth, The Abdication (Matador, 2021), is a supernatural thriller in which a young woman confronts her faith in a higher purpose and what it means to abdicate that faith.
His stories add a touch of the supernatural to history and deal with the themes of war, religion, evolution and the human’s place in the universe.
He was born three days before the end of 1953 and lives with his partner in plain sight of the Mendip Hills in Somerset, England.
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Thank you for hosting Justin Newland with The Old Dragon's Head today. Much appreciated. xx
ReplyDeleteMy thanks too for hosting this stop on the tour.
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