Chung Kuo
12 primary works • 14 total works
Book 1
The first instalment in the epic 20-volume series, Chung Kuo: a science fiction masterpiece standing alongside Herbert's Dune and Asimov's Foundation
The year is 2065, two decades after the great economic collapse that destroyed Western civilization. With its power broken and its cities ruined, life in the West continues in scattered communities. In rural Dorset Jake Reed lives with his 14-year-old son and memories of the great collapse. Back in '43, Jake was a rich, young futures broker, immersed in the datascape of the world's financial markets. He saw what was coming - and who was behind it. Forewarned, he was one of the few to escape the fall.
For 22 years he has lived in fear of the future, and finally it is coming - quite literally - across the plain towards him. Chinese airships are in the skies and a strange, glacial structure has begun to dominate the horizon. Jake finds himself forcibly incorporated into the ever-expanding 'World of Levels' a global city of some 34 billion souls, where social status is reflected by how far above the ground you live.
Here, under the rule of the mighty Tsao Ch'un, a resurgent China is seeking to abolish the past and bring about world peace through rigidly enforced order. But a civil war looms, and Jake will find himself at the heart of the struggle for the future.
Book 2
Seventy-five years in the future... Earth is ruled by China ... Cities span entire continents... History has been erased...
2087: Japan lies under a radioactive cloud, its denizens wiped out. America has been subjugated, its inhabitants dispersed in the world of levels. The banner armies of Tsao Ch'un - the Son of Heaven, supreme ruler of Chung Kuo - are mobilizing against pockets of resistance in the Middle East.
But even the Son of Heaven cannot live forever. Already the envoys of the Seven Dragons are being turned away from the Black Tower. Faced with the capricious behaviour of an aging tyrant, the Wheel of Dragons is about to turn against its master.
In the depths of the world of levels, far below the towers of genetics mega-corporations and the AI-controlled villas of the elite, far from the patrolling attack craft of Tsao Ch'un, the anger of the people is becoming outright rebellion.
The fight for the new world is just beginning.
Welcome to the future.
Book 2
Book 3
Book 3
Book 4
Book 4
Book 5
Book 6
Book 6
Book 6
Book 7
No 7
A PROUD EMPEROR
It is 2209. In the ruins of Washington, the T'ang of North America, Wu Shih, confronts the powerful old men whose sons he has kept incarcerated these last fifteen months. His foot on Lincoln's toppled granite head, he demands a pledge of loyalty. They give it, but unwillingly, and even Wu Shih knows this is not over.
A RESENTFUL RIVAL
For almost two centuries, the rule of the Seven has put a break on change, keeping society stable, but now a threatening ferment of forces is at work. The Seven, once unanimous in their decisions, are split. Wang Sau-leyan, the resentful young T'ang of Africa, is the dissenting voice that might yet bring things down about their ears.
A NEW THREAT
While deep in the Triad-ridden depths of the earth-spanning City, a new and ruthless criminal - Li Min, 'Brave Carp' - is seizing power, his fearless actions threatening to destabilize the whole system.