New Song

New Song is a long alternate-history novel by the author A Yue. Serialization began in May 2004 on Huanjian Shumeng and was completed over fifteen years, totaling more than 3.4 million characters; it is regarded as the founding work of Song-dynasty time-travel fiction. The story begins in the second year of the Xining era of the Northern Song (1069): Emperor Shenzong appoints Wang Anshi to carry out reforms, factional strife between the new and old parties simmers, and after a century of statehood the Northern Song suffers from accumulated military and political ills and institutional decay, repeatedly losing battles against the Western Xia and the Liao. Just then, Shi Yue, a modern history student, unexpectedly appears outside the capital Bianjing. Rather than single-handedly advancing technology by centuries, he intervenes in history another way: he founds the Baishuitan Academy to lecture and teach, compiles works such as The True Meaning of the Analects and Political Gains and Losses of Past Dynasties to reshape Confucian discourse, writes Shi Xue's Seven Books to introduce mathematics and physics, launches the Bianjing News to shape public opinion, and introduces new crafts such as the loom to promote industry and commerce. Shi Yue repeatedly clashes and negotiates with real historical figures such as Wang Anshi, Sima Guang, Su Shi, and Lü Huiqing, seeking a different path for the Northern Song across court, academy, battlefield, and marketplace. The work is solidly researched on Song officialdom, rites, clothing, architecture, the civil service examinations, and the military system; it offers both the thrust and parry of court intrigue and the weight of reform's ideals colliding with reality. This edition, published by Huashan Literature and Art Publishing House, is the complete text in fifteen volumes, containing the full content of the three volumes Cross, Authority, and Yan Yun along with the official grand finale.