DAWN OF MING

Digital illustration created using Blender and Adobe Photoshop brushes.

In the sixth year of emperor Hongwu’s rule, the head of the Tang family built a pagoda in order to gain favour with the early Ming dynasty. In front of it, he forced his most brilliant son to recite Gao Qi's verses hoping he would obtain a title during the imperial evaluation. But he was unaware then, that those same verses the emperor had just declared proscribed and their author imprisoned. He listened prideful and naive while his son enunciated them at the court’s evaluation the eve before his execution:

I cross the water, again I cross the water
I observe the flower, again I observe the flower
On the course of the river a spring breeze blows
Without realising I have reached your home