China

For centuries, China’s rulers could regard the great upheavals of the West as if they had happened on another planet. But within the empire, an ideal of rule built on moral judgment was about to collide with the claims of a ruler’s own son.

Writing in the late nineteenth century, Demetrius Charles Boulger begins his history in ancient China, where the first rulers hover between legend and record. Fohi’s deeds are mythical, yet Hwangti is credited with ordering the realm, and Yao, Chun and Yu stand as models of wise government: rulers who sought the best successor, not merely the next in their family. That ideal cannot last. As power passes from exemplary leaders to dynasties, disunion and ambitious princes begin to reshape the empire. What becomes of a government founded on virtue when the throne becomes a family’s prize?

With centuries of literature, it's inevitable that some will fall through the cracks. We hunt down public domain works and restore them so they're not lost to the world.

Who are we? We're Cairn Press. Our background is in design, publishing, typography, and technology. These skills fuel our mission to create the highest quality Public Domain eBooks available online, at an affordable price. We give them the treatment they deserve; our proprietary process restores books for a better overall user experience in design, readability, and e-reader compatibility.