The Dragon Throne: China's Emperors from the Qin to the Manchu

The mighty Qin Shi Huangdu (r. 221-210 BC), who began the construction of the Great Wall.

The long-lived Han emperor Wudi (r. 141-87 BC), who developed China as a centralized Confucian state.

The soldier-scholar Yongle (r. 1402-24 AD), who raised the Ming dynasty to its military peak.

The dowager empress Cixi (r. 1861-1908 AD), who rose from humble Manchu origins to rule over all China.

In The Dragon Throne, Jonathan Fenby tells the extraordinary...