1638: Zhang Dai in Nanking

Duncan M. Campbell During the winter of 1638, the Eleventh Year of the reign of the Chongzhen emperor of the Ming dynasty, Zhang Dai (張岱, 1597-?1684),[1] the prolific late-Ming historian and essayist, spent some months living in Nanking, then the Secondary Capital 留都 of a dynasty that was lurching towards oblivion.[2]… Read