Explore the real-world places that appear in She Who Became the Sun by Shelley Parker-Chan. Each location on the map shows what happens there in the novel, the real history of the place, and what's there today. Featured locations include Zhongli Village (Zhu Family Farm), Wuhuang Temple Site (Zhu's Monastery), Fengyang Ming Zhongdu City Site, Huang River Plain Road to Anfeng, Huangzhou Red Turban Region and 6 more.
Near Fengyang, Anhui — the Zhu family's home on the yellow plain
In this famine-stricken village on the dusty Central Plains, a fortune-teller gives the eighth-born son, Zhu Chongba, a fate of greatness and his clever younger sister a fate of nothingness. After bandits attack and their father dies, Zhu Chongba succumbs to despair and dies. The girl chooses to live by taking her brother's name and identity, the decision that drives the whole novel.
The Fengyang area was the birthplace of Zhu Yuanzhang, who became the Hongwu Emperor. The region suffered devastating famine, drought and plague in the 1340s, which fed the peasant uprisings against the Yuan dynasty.
The area around Fengyang is a rural county of Chuzhou, Anhui, with farmland and small villages. Local memorials and sites celebrate its link to the first Ming emperor.
Fengyang area — where Zhu hides as the novice Zhu Chongba
Zhu enters the Wuhuang Monastery disguised as a young male novice, taking her dead brother's name. She learns to survive through ruthlessness, and she bonds with her fellow novice Ma Xiuying's world of ideas and ambition only later; here she befriends the monk Xu Da and endures the abbot's disdain. The monastery is later burned by Mongol forces for supporting the rebellion, destroying her sanctuary and pushing her toward her brother's greatness.
Zhu Yuanzhang is historically recorded as having entered the Huangjue Temple as a novice during the famine. The Ming later built grand temples at Fengyang to honor his origins.
Remnants of Buddhist temple complexes and the Ming-era Longxing Temple sites around Fengyang draw heritage visitors.
Visit: Fengyang Ming Imperial Tomb and Longxing Temple area (historic site)
Fengyang, Anhui — the future emperor's planned Middle Capital
The region around Fengyang is the landscape of Zhu's origins, where she returns in memory as she builds her path from nothing to Mandate-bearer. It stands for the destiny she seizes, and for the soil that shaped her hunger to survive.
After becoming the Hongwu Emperor, Zhu Yuanzhang began building Zhongdu (Middle Capital) at Fengyang in 1369, though work was halted in 1375. Its walls and gates were once enormous.
Remains such as the Drum Tower foundations and city wall segments survive as a protected heritage site.
Visit: Ming Zhongdu Imperial City Site (historic site)
Anhui Central Plains — flight of the refugees
After the monastery burns, Zhu leaves the ruined landscape with Xu Da and joins the rebel forces of the Red Turbans. The roads across the plains are filled with the starving, soldiers and corpses, showing the cost of Mongol rule and the opportunity for those who will seize a future.
The Central Plains were struck by Yellow River floods and plague in the 1340s. These disasters helped spark the Red Turban Rebellion in 1351.
The plains are farmland crossed by highways and rural towns.
Anhui rebel heartland — Zhu joins the rebellion
Zhu enters the world of the Red Turban rebels, where she rises through cunning, charisma and ruthless choices. She forms a bond with the general Ouyang's world only through conflict, and she gathers men who believe in her destiny. Her rise sets her against the eunuch general Ouyang and the Mongol prince Wang Baoxiang's forces.
The Red Turbans were a millenarian rebel movement associated with the White Lotus sect that rose against Yuan rule from 1351.
The area is rural Anhui, with local museums touching on regional history.
Northern Anhui — early Red Turban stronghold
Zhu's early military career unfolds in the contested territory of the Red Turban armies, where she masters strategy and manipulates loyalty. She learns to wield the story of her own greatness as a weapon.
Yingzhou was an early center of the Red Turban movement. Liu Futong and Han Shantong led the uprisings that eventually spread across the Yuan lands.
Fuyang is a modern prefecture-level city in Anhui.
Jiangsu — the great river barrier
The Yangtze marks the boundary between Zhu's northern campaigns and the southern prize of Nanjing. Her forces and the Mongol commanders contest the river crossings, and control of the water decides the war.
The Yangtze long served as a defensive line in Chinese history. Zhu Yuanzhang's forces crossed it in 1356 to take Jiqing, later Nanjing.
The river is crossed by huge bridges, including the Nanjing Yangtze River Bridge, and promenades line the banks.
Visit: Nanjing Yangtze River Bridge Park (park)
Jiangsu — the southern city Zhu seeks to capture
Nanjing is the great prize of the southern campaigns, where Zhu's ambitions lead after the early rebel victories. It becomes the foundation of her claim to the Mandate of Heaven and her rivalry with Ouyang and Wang Baoxiang's remnant armies.
Zhu Yuanzhang took Nanjing in 1356 and made it his base. It became the capital of the Ming dynasty in 1368.
Nanjing is a major city and the capital of Jiangsu Province, with extensive Ming-era sites.
Visit: Nanjing City Wall (monument)
Xuanwu District, Nanjing — Imperial seat of the new dynasty
The imperial palace embodies the destiny Zhu claims by taking her brother's greatness. Though the novel ends before the Ming throne is won, it points toward the dynasty she will found.
The Ming Palace was built by Zhu Yuanzhang beginning in 1366. It was the model for the later Forbidden City in Beijing.
The Ming Palace ruins are preserved as an archaeological park with gates and stone foundations.
Visit: Ming Palace Ruins Park (park)
Purple Mountain, Nanjing — the Hongwu Emperor's tomb
The tomb marks the real destination of Zhu's story, the endpoint of the girl who refused to be nothing. Her rise in the novel reimagines the life of the man buried here.
Built from 1381 to 1383, the Xiaoling Mausoleum holds the Hongwu Emperor and Empress Ma. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Visitors walk the Sacred Way lined with stone animals and reach the tomb buildings on Purple Mountain.
Visit: Ming Xiaoling Mausoleum (monument)
Beijing — seat of Mongol rule
Dadu is the center of the Yuan court that Zhu and the rebels oppose, the far seat of the Mongol power that rules the starving Central Plains. The Mongol court's decisions shape the politics of Wang Baoxiang and Ouyang.
Kublai Khan founded Dadu in 1267. The Ming took the city in 1368 and renamed it Beiping.
Remnants include the Yuan Dadu city wall ruins park in Beijing.
Visit: Yuan Dadu City Wall Ruins Park (park)
More by Shelley Parker-Chan: All Shelley Parker-Chan books
Other nearby maps: Empire of the Sun by J.G. Ballard locations map