©2015 Weina Dai Randel
The first in a duology coming out in March, The Moon in the Palace (LJ 9/15/15) by Weina Dai Randel is a stunning debut for historical fiction fans, especially those fascinated by China’s glorious past. In this interview, Dai Randel discusses her inspiration for the book, her in-depth research method, and her own literary loves.
What inspired you to write about Empress Wu, China’s only female emperor?
When I was in graduate school, I read Maxine Hong Kingston’s The Woman Warrior. When the book opened, there was one section called No Name Woman. The woman committed suicide because she was pregnant, and she was considered a disgrace to the family. The story was very depressing to me, and I really needed my friends and classmates in the United States to know that not all Chinese women were so helpless and suicidal. So that’s why I decided to write about Empress Wu, because she was the first and only female monarch in China who actually ruled in her own name.
Empress Wu has been denounced throughout history. How did you decide to make her the heroine of your novel?
We all say that history is written by victors, but in China, in Empress Wu’s case, history was written by Confucian scholars, and they viewed women unfavorably. They thought she should not have governed the country, and that she should not rule above men. When I did the research, I wanted to make sure that everything was correct historically. I dug out the earliest sources about Empress Wu, and they actually didn’t mention anything evil about her.
Scholars vilified her based on two things: they said she killed her own daughter and was Emperor Taizong’s concubine then became the wife of his son, Gaozong. According to the Confucian scholars, a woman cannot serve two men. As to the murder, I didn’t find any confirmation. My view is different, and it’s in the second book, but I’m not going to tell you what happened.
Empress Wu’s memorial tablet at her burial site was left blank by her successors. What epitaph would you write?
In China we call it, “No Name Tablet.” They erased her legacy completely. I did lots of research, and I got so angry. I was reading one of the books about Empress Wu written by a Chinese author, and the first sentence was, “How would you describe your grandmother if she was a whore?” In school, they didn’t teach anything about her, but we knew she was the ruler. We understood she brought the kingdom to prosperity, that none of the male emperors were responsible for that success! When I started to write the novel, I wanted to provide an alternative view of her legacy.
Here’s what I wrote for Empress Wu’s burial tablet: “The seasons shall change, the tides shall turn, and the wind shall rise and fall, yet the tales of mine, and the spirit of my kind, shall fly through the tunnel of time and reach the ears of eternity.”
How long was your research process?
Before I started writing the novel, it took me three years to get all the books about Empress Wu, the historical record about the Tang Dynasty, and classics such as Sun Tzu’s The Art of War and Ban Zhao’s Lessons for Women. A lot of Chinese history was written in archaic Chinese script, completely different from Mandarin. I spent another three or four years reading all about Empress Wu and the Tang Dynasty in general because I needed a good picture of the world in which she lived. I also tried to figure out the emperor’s bedding schedule in the palace, which was kept secret and difficult to unearth. I got Edward Schafer’s books about the dynasty, and I learned all about the exotics, the aromatics, drugs, pigments, screens, gardens, and even the way the palace ladies arranged their hair.
I wanted to give [American] readers an idea of China, and its relationship to the rest of the world in the novel. I thought some people might not know what the world in the seventh century was like, and what interactions China had with other countries. Thus, I wrote a scene in which the empress sees the ambassador from the Byzantine Empire, and they talk about the news of war and the Arabs.
What types of books do you enjoy reading?
I enjoy historical fiction because I love the rich description. I also love thrillers because of the hook, the twists and turns, and the mystery. The only genre I don’t read a lot but should is contemporary fiction. The first thing I see in a story is solid writing, and if I like the writing, I will read the book.