Fire and Ice – Li Cunxu and the Founding of the Later Tang

A Princeton graduate, Richard L. Davis taught for over two decades at Duke and Brown Universities where he was professor, before serving as chair professor at Lingnan University in Hong Kong. He has published five books on China's middle period.

When empires fall, only the bold survive. Who will be the hero, and who the villain, in the eyes of history? Richard Davis takes us into the maelstrom of violence that was early tenth-century China in a lively account of an outstanding warrior king. -- T. H. Barrett, professor emeritus of East Asian history, SOAS, University of London Impressively researched, rich in detail, deeply erudite, this book introduces readers to a fascinating time when the Chinese and 'barbarian' worlds were intimately connected. Richard Davis deserves praise and gratitude for bringing history to life with such elegance and panache. -- Nicola Di Cosmo, professor of East Asian history, Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton Richard Davis brings us into the fascinating but culturally complicated world of Li Cunxu, a military man as well as man of letters, for whom notions of duty and honor central to the warrior culture of the steppe coexisted with the political and literary values of the Tang. -- Patricia Ebrey, Williams Family Endowed Professor of History, University of Washington