The Middle Kingdom

Publication history Originally published between 1988 and 1999, Wingrove planned the series as nine books (three trilogies), but after publication of the seventh volume Wingrove's publisher insisted that the series be concluded in the next (eighth) volume, Marriage of the Living Dark.

In February 2011 Corvus / Atlantic Books began a re-release of the entire Chung Kuo saga, recasting it as twenty books with approximately 500,000 words of new material. This includes two brand new prequel novels, Son of Heaven (released February. 2011 in e-book and March 2011 in hardback) and Daylight on Iron Mountain and a significant restructuring of the end of the series to reflect Wingrove's original intentions.[1][2] The two prequels cover events between 2045 and 2100 AD, telling the story of China's rise to power.

Originally, only one prequel novel was planned for September 2010.[3] News of the additional prequel volume and a delayed release schedule was announced on the Interstellar Tactics blog.[2]

Original release The Middle Kingdom (1989) The Broken Wheel (1990) The White Mountain (1992) The Stone Within (1993) Beneath the Tree of Heaven (1994) White Moon, Red Dragon (1994) Days of Bitter Strength (1997) The Marriage of the Living Dark (1999) Re-release[edit] The twenty books in the re-release schedule were planned to be published at regular intervals between February 2011 and June 2015.[2][3] After The White Mountain was published, the publishers discontinued the series because of poor sales. No future volumes are planned.

Son of Heaven (February 2011) Daylight on Iron Mountain (November 2011) The Middle Kingdom (August 2012) Ice and Fire (December 2012) The Art of War (March 2013) An Inch of Ashes (July 2013) The Broken Wheel (November 2013) The White Mountain (March 2014) Monsters of the Deep The Stone Within Upon a Wheel of Fire Beneath the Tree of Heaven Song of the Bronze Statue White Moon Red Dragon China on the Rhine Days of Bitter Strength The Father of Lies Blood and Iron King of Infinite Space The Marriage of the Living Dark Reception[edit] Reviews of the original eight-book series praised its scope and detailed worldbuilding, comparing it to Frank Herbert's Dune series, James Clavell's Shōgun and Isaac Asimov's Foundation series. The Washington Post declared the series was "one of the masterpieces of the decade." However, in 1990, the New York Times felt that Wingrove's vision of a Chinese-dominated future was unlikely and "ungrounded in historical process."[4] One reviewer felt the final volume was so "nigh-incomprehensible" that it warranted a review of "a fake concluding novel."[5]