Chung Kuo

12 primary works • 14 total works

Son of Heaven

by David Wingrove

Published 1 January 2011

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.

Daylight on Iron Mountain

by David Wingrove

Published 1 January 2011

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.

Chung Kuo II

by David Wingrove

Published 1 February 1991

The Middle Kingdom

by David Wingrove

Published 1 December 1989

The great Empire of Ice - Chung Kuo - has finally been shaken after more than two centuries of peace enforced by brutal tyranny. The Minister of the Edict has been assassinated and the seven ruling T'ang struggle to maintain Stasis, even as their mile-high, continent-spanning cities descend into chaos. But the assassination was orchestrated by men close to the ruling powers; powerful merchants - Dispersionists - intent on Change, whose betrayal will lead them into the world-shattering War of the Two Directions.

The White Mountain

by David Wingrove

Published 1 December 1991

Currents of unrest and tides of innovation threaten to overwhelm Chung Kuo's stability. When a lethal epidemic strikes the Seven's chief supporters, Li Yuan acts ruthlessly to wipe out the disease. But his actions incur far more fatal consequences for the rule of the Seven. While the great Council of emperors splinters into factions, Kwibesi, the detention camp for terrorists, continues to establish order. However, rebellion is brutally contained inside the camp and a growing sense of injustice stirs in one of its guards, Kao Chen, who - sent there undercover by his Master, Li Yuan - begins to question his sense of duty. The Seven are now openly divided amongst themselves, while all about them allegiances are constantly shifting as each day brings new atrocities.

Ice and Fire

by David Wingrove

Published 1 November 2012

Chung Kuo, the great globe-spanning City constructed of the super-plastic Ice, enjoys a brief if uneasy peace, which is threatened by the discovery of the Aristotle File. Suppressed by the Ministry, the 'Thousand Eyes', for centuries the document charts the true history of their world and will reveal the dark secret at the heart of Chung Kuo. Cold, cruel and calculating, the villainous Howard DeVore is determined to end the rule of the Seven and make way for his own bid for power. The harbinger for Change, however, is the destruction of the newly built generation starship, The New Hope, forcing the rebel factions into open war with the Seven. A war that neither side can afford to fight. A war of ice and fire that can only result in a weakening of that once-great social structure, Chung Kuo.

The Stone within

by David Wingrove

Published 1 September 1993

The Art of War

by David Wingrove

Published 1 January 2013

The Council of Seven ruled Chung Kuo with an iron authority, their boast that they had ended Change and stopped the Great Wheel turning. But war, famine and political instability, thought to be things of the past, had returned to Chung Kuo with a vengeance. A new generation of powerful young merchants - Dispersionists - challenged the authority of the Seven, leading to what became known as 'the War-That-Wasn't-A-War' - a nasty, guerrilla form of warfare fought in the claustrophobic levels of the Cities. A brutal war without rules. A war the Seven ultimately won. But only just. And now the Seven find themselves vulnerable as the forces against them continue to grow.

An Inch of Ashes

by David Wingrove

Published 1 June 2013

As Chung Kuo's population continues to swell, the Seven are forced to make further concessions; laws must be relaxed and the House at Weimar re-opened. Change is coming, whether the Seven want it or not. As the tides of unrest unleashed by earlier wars grow, DeVore secretly allies with Li Yuan's newly-appointed general, Hans Ebert. DeVore's schemes are slowly coming to fruition, but Ebert has his own plans: to depose the Seven and control the whole of Chung Kuo. It is finally a time for Change. In the long years before the War it had seemed inconceivable to challenge the Seven. But now? Now new currents of unrest have woken in the depths of the City, darker and deeper than those expressed by the War. Currents which threaten to tear Chung Kuo apart.

Chung Kuo

by David Wingrove

Published 1 August 1989

White Moon, Red Dragon

by David Wingrove

Published 10 March 1997

The Broken Wheel

by David Wingrove

Published 5 October 1991

Chung Kuo's once-perfect stasis is fast falling apart. The Seven's dominance is threatened by a series of terrorist attacks as the War of the Two Directions spreads and intensifies. Howard DeVore, the Seven's greatest enemy, is master-minding the atrocities. Kill DeVore and things would change markedly, but how can they hunt down a man who seems to be invulnerable? Maybe the answer lies in the frail figure of Kim Ward, a refugee from the Clay. But the young scientific genius is himself under threat, and it is only through an unexpected intermediary that he survives. And there is now another threat from within: Wang Sau-leyan, whose sole aim is to wreak vengeance on his dead father and brothers by bringing down the others of the Seven. How much longer can the Seven hold out?

Days of Bitter Strength

by David Wingrove

Published 7 July 1997

Monsters of the Deep

by David Wingrove

Published 4 December 2014

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.