Burlington Public Library

In thirteenth-century China, after trying to save his widowed mother from a horrendous second marriage, twelve-year-old Haoyou has life-changing adventures when he takes to the sky as a circus kite rider and ends up meeting the great Mongol ruler Kublai Khan.

On cover: The Mongol hordes--Rise of the Shoguns--Slave sultans of Egypt-The West's embattled empire--The Baltic Crusades--Europe's new monarchies.

Essays on religion, ethics, children, and the three perfections accompany an overview of Chinese history from the collapse of the Tang Dynasty through the foundation of the Ming Dynasty.

"In the turbulent final years of the Yuan Dynasty, Wang Meng is a low-level bureaucrat, employed by the government of Mongol conquerors established by the Kublai Khan. Though he wonders about his own complicity wit this regime-the Mongols, after all, are invaders-he prefers not to dwell on his official duties, choosing instead to live the life of the mind. Wang is an extraordinarily gifted artist. His paintings are at once delicate and confident;...