Zachary Ying and the Dragon Emperor is a middle grade adventure fantasy and the second novel of Xiran Jay Zhao, released on May 10, 2022.
12-year-old Zachary has never had much chance to learn about his Chinese heritage. His single mother has never had time to teach him, and his schools have only ever taught Western myths. So when a demon from Chinese legend appears at his school and the First Emperor of China attempts to possess him, he exorcises him to his AR headset and runs home, only for the demons to follow him and seize his mother's soul. Rescued by Simon Li, the host for Tang Taizong, Simon reveals the truth: spirits have been leaking from the Chinese underworld, and unless they reseal it before the Ghost Month, they will wreak havoc across all of China.
Accompanied by Simon, Melissa Wu (the host for Wu Zetian), and Qin Shi Huang still in his headset, Zachary must travel to China, heist ancient artifacts, and battle ancient enemies to hopefully reseal the portal and bring his mom back before it's too late.
Zachary Ying And The Dragon Emperor contains examples of:
- Abusive Parents: Qin Shi Huang terrified Fusu and exiled him merely for suggesting he shouldn't kill 460 scholars because two scammed him. When Fusu was given a fake order to kill himself, he immediately followed through because he had no doubt that whatever Qin Shi Huang would do to him was worse and the idea that the order could be faked didn't even occur to him.
- Asleep for Days: A Running Gag whenever someone does a great feat of magic. And also a recurring problem, since they're on the clock.
- Berserk Button: Zachary snaps at any mention of the Chinese government, since they executed his father and forced his mother to run.
- BFS: Qin Shi Huang has the Tai'e sword, a ceremonial sword that's 1.62 m, or about 5'3". In life, it nearly got him killed in an assassination attempt because it was difficult to draw, but after he became a spirit, those problems no longer apply.
- Big Bad: The Yellow Emperor, who is trying to unseal the portal and take over the world, uncaring of how many people or nations get destroyed in his wake, and who opposes the heroes at every turn. Every other antagonist in the story has good intentions and legitimate grievances with the Emperors, but the Yellow Emperor is doing it purely for power and control.
- Boring, but Practical: Among his mahjong buddies (Ramses II, Genghis Khan, and Alexander the Great), Qin Shi Huang conquered the least amount of land, but focused on practical concerns like standardizing roads, writing, coinage, and measurements to promote unity. Because of this, China has remained a single country into the modern day, while all the others' empires are long gone.
- Cain and Abel: During his lifetime, Tang Taizong had his two brothers killed.note
- Cast from Hit Points: Tang Taizong's spirit bow harms its user with every shot, as a reference to how he used it to kill his own brothers.
- Charm Person: Wu Zetian. Taking a good look at her eyes makes most people fall desperately in love with her.
- Color-Coded Wizardry: Every type of qi has a distinct color based on its origin and element. Qin Shi Huang's qi is black and water-based, Tang Taizong's qi is red and fire-based, and Daoist magic shows up in gold.
- Commonality Connection: Zachary and Melissa bond over being from ethnic minorities in China, with him being Hui and her being Miao.
- Compelling Voice: The heirloom seal is the concentrated power of the authority of the Emperor. While other Emperors can resist, any command given by its holder must be obeyed.
- Death of Personality: A variation. Spirits can come back from death as long as their legend remains, but they will have no memories but that legend. After Qin Shi Huang's sacrifice, it's acknowledged that without his 2000 years of development, he'll come back as the monstrous tyrant everyone believes him to be.
- Deliberate Values Dissonance: Zachary is horrified when he learns about the atrocities that the emperors have committed, describing them as "basically supervillains". Qin Shi Huang fully admits to it, but points out that everyone around him was doing the same or worse.
- Disappeared Dad: Zachary's father spoke out against Uyghur oppression, and the Chinese government had him executed as a terrorist.
- Discriminate and Switch: Inverted. When Zachary receives a hateful message about him being a terrorist's son, he initially thinks it's a reference to his father who was executed by the government under false charges of terrorism. It takes him a moment before he realizes that it's an Islamophobic message directed at his mother, who wears a hijab.
- Drunk on the Dark Side: A side effect of the heirloom seal is inspiring murderous ambition in nearby emperors, and if not for their hosts, they'd have killed each other several times over to get it. Zack experiences a milder form of this when he wields the seal, giving out commands left and right to assert some control over his environment after learning the Awful Truth.
- Edutainment: Clearly inspired by the genre, as it's a story where a boy has to learn Chinese history and culture to increase his own magical power.
- Even Evil Has Standards: The three emperors are conquerors and have all committed atrocities in their time, but even they are appalled that Qin Shi Huang killed innocent mermaids to make their fat into lamps for his tomb. Qin Shi Huang, who is normally unapologetic about his past, admits that it was a cruel act done out of vanity, and one he's ashamed of.
- Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": The emperors are referred to as Qin Shi Huang, Tang Taizong and Wu Zetian, even though those weren't their real names (Qin Shi Huang's was Ying Zheng, Tang Taizong's was Li Shimin and Wu Zetian's is unknown, but she changed her name to 'Zhao' when she became emperor).
- Fake Memories: Thanks to being shaped by belief, the Emperors sometimes faintly remember things that didn't actually happen. Wu Zetian did not kill her own child, but a persistent legend of her doing so means she sometimes remembers it that way.
- A Form You Are Comfortable With: Downplayed. Qin Shi Huang puts up qi meters over characters because explaining what's actually happening would take too long.
- Freudian Excuse Is No Excuse: When Qin Shi Huang tells Zachary about the horrible things he suffered through as a child and teenager, Zachary bluntly tells him that "a tragic backstory" doesn't give you the right to do horrible things.
- Gayngst: Zack is slowly starting to realize that he has feelings for other boys, and is not remotely happy about it since he doesn't want yet another reason to feel like an outsider.
- Gods Need Prayer Badly: Spirits gain their strength and powers from their legend. Qin Shi Huang is unusually powerful because of his status as a legend, but is unable to connect to Zachary because Zachary has no idea who he is. This leads to Simon and then Zachary having to rattle off his Wikipedia page really quickly when they're attacked by a taotie.
- Haunted Technology: Since Zachary rejected him, Qin Shi Huang has to quickly jump to the nearest suitable vessel, which is Zachary's portal-lens.
- Hero Antagonist: A recurring theme is that nearly every spirit and enemy that the three have to fight their way through is someone who has a genuine grievance against the Emperors, especially Qin Shi Huang.
- Jing Ke and Gao Jingli are trying to assassinate Qin Shi Huang for his tyranny. Wu Zetian even (derisively) calls them heroes while talking about how predictably honorable they are, which makes Zachary very uncomfortable.
- The eight Immortals refuse to let Qin Shi Huang use their magic, fearing that he will try and take their magic if he gains access. Sure enough, Qin Shi Huang immediately tries to kill them once he gets the heirloom seal and has to be restrained by Zack.
- The Dragon King is just trying to rule his kingdom, and the heroes are the ones breaking in.
- Heroic Suicide: Qin Shi Huang vanquishes himself via Jing Ke to prove to Zack that he’s doing this for China and not himself.
- Historical Domain Character: Qin Shi Huangdi, Taizong of Tang and Wu Zetian among others.
- Historical Hero Upgrade/Historical Villain Upgrade: In-Universe. The spirits are based on legend, not fact, so even stories made up to smear their names or glorify them after the fact are true to them. The emperors often discuss murky parts of their legends and whether they really did something or not, but it doesn't matter: as long as people believe they did it, they will act like the people they're believed to be.
- Interchangeable Asian Cultures: Given a twist. Zachary is Hui and Melissa is Miao, and both bemoan the fact that everyone seems to think that Chinese people are all Han.
- It's All About Me:
- Qin Shi Huang is extremely egotistical, sacrificing mermaids to make their fat into lamps, building a lavish tomb, and is livid when Zachary knows Rameses II, Alexander the Great and Genghis Khan but not him. Even Tang Taizong, who himself was a conqueror who did very questionable deeds, calls him a megalomaniac who sacrificed innocent mermaids.
- Tang Taizong and Wu Zetian are also very full of themselves. Qin Shi Huang notes in Tang Taizong's bio about how he considers himself a much better emperor than everyone else.
- Laser-Guided Amnesia: Since revealing the existence of spirits and magic would be really inconvenient to both their quest and the world at large, the protagonists carry diluted Meng Po
broth in spray bottles. Full broth makes people forget their entire life, but a spritz of the diluted stuff only makes them forget the last hour. - A Lighter Shade of Black: The three emperors are all unapologetic conquerors and on their own they would probably be scheming to Take Over the World. However, they do not want China or humanity destroyed, and so are willing to put their differences aside and help reseal the portal plug for the greater good.
- MacGuffin: The heirloom seal, a legendary and long lost symbol of the power of the Chinese emperors. Touching it will grant the three emperors the power to reseal the gates to the spirit realm.
- Morph Weapon: Wu Zetian's weapon can become a whip, then a hammer, and then a dagger, due to a legend about her suggesting she'd use the three to tame an untameable stallion.
- Mugging the Monster: A local gang tries to rob Zack when he's walking alone in the rain. Zack still has the heirloom seal which compels everyone to obey them, and within minutes, he's their new leader.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Despite all Qin Shi Huang's blustering and excuses, 2000 years of Character Development have done a number on him and there are a few things he sincerely regrets. The most important being his abuse of his own son. When Fusu confronts him, he is nothing but apologies and does not beg for himself, but for China.
- Never My Fault: Qin Shi Huang blames Zachary for accidentally exorcising him, even though he was trying to kill a kid at the time.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero:
- Qin Shi Huang and the emperors had Zachary's mother kidnapped to motivate him to come on their journey. When Zack finds out, he snaps and heads off on his own, letting himself get possessed by Fusu and nearly undoing the portal plug himself because he's convinced the Emperors are manipulating him into an evil plan.
- Qin Shi Huang had the engineers of his tomb killed so they could never reveal the death traps to someone else. Fusu summons their spirits, who are more than happy to guide him through them.
- "Not So Different" Remark: Having grown up as a Qin hostage in a Zhao court, Qin Shi Huang can relate to Zachary being torn between two worlds. He bluntly tells Zachary to stop waiting for people to accept him and to create his own path in life. Zachary also admits to himself that as much as he despises Qin Shi Huang's ruthlessness, they both share a desire for power.
- Not Too Dead to Save the Day: Zack's father briefly escapes the portal to possess a charioteer statue and help his son escape the collapsing tomb.
- Pop-Cultured Badass: All three of the protagonists are well versed in popular culture and make references to it often. If the popular culture is connected to their emperors, they can even draw power from it. Qin Shi Huang in particular has seen every single depiction of himself.
- Pretty Boy: Zachary has been teased his whole life for looking girly, and is shocked when Melissa tells him that his features are considered very attractive in Chinese men.
- The Proud Elite: All of the emperors. They draw power from their legend and thus talking it up does serve a purpose, but they are very full of themselves in general and frequently boast about how amazing they were while putting down the other emperors.
- Recognition Failure: Zachary didn't know who Qin Shi Haung was until Simon talked about him. Qin Shi Huang is livid about this, particularly when Zachary can name Alexander the Great, Ramses II, and Genghis Khan, his mahjong buddies.
- Semantic Superpower: Spirits have powers based on their legends. For examples, Wu Zetian declared herself "the sun and moon in the sky" so she can create a blinding light, Cheng Yaojin was known for showing up out of nowhere so he can teleport, and Tang Taizong had six of his best warhorses immortalized so he can call upon their spirits.
- Sequel Hook: The final lines reveal that Ms. Ying's spirit is still in Li Jing's tower, but something else has possessed her and taken her body.
- Situational Sword: Due to the legend of Jing Ke's assassination attempt on Qin Shi Huang, his sword can only be drawn if others are shouting "Bear your sword, my King!" at him.
- Stating the Simple Solution: After they're captured by the Dragon King, Zack realizes that there was a much simpler way of getting what they wanted: simply walking in and asking the Dragon King for the seal, which he would have given to them simply for being polite, unlike every other hero who broke into his house. Wu Zetian and Tang Taizong are quite sheepish when they admit it never occurred to them.
- Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: It's obvious that Tang Taizong and Wu Zetian don't like Qin Shi Huang due to his egoism (despite their own pride), with both making frequent digs at him, Tang Taizong calling him a megalomaniac who terrorized everyone he met and sacrificing innocent mermaids, and Wu Zetian calling his assassins Jing Ke and Gao Jingli heroes. Qin Shi Huang is also very disdainful of Tang Taizong, talking about how he chose his weakest son as heir due to the son's kindness, and how the son let Wu Zetian rise to power, them mainly not liking each other because both of them think they are better emperors than the other. However they are willing to work together to prevent humanity from being destroyed.
- Twofer Token Minority: Deconstructed. As a Hui immigrant, Zachary is Chinese, American, and Muslim. Because of this he's an outsider in every group, which gives him a desperate desire to belong. He only really starts to come out of his shell when he and Melissa bond over being Chinese ethnic minorities.
- The Watson: Zachary knows nothing about Chinese history and culture. Since his power literally relies on it, the other two have to get him up to speed fast.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: Qin Shi Huang grew up in the Seven Warring States and suffered many horrible things as part of their Forever War, so he decided to conquer them all to end it. He committed many atrocities himself, but considered them all worth it for creating China. Zack, however, wonders how much of it is true and how much of it was him justifying his own desire for power. In the end, Qin Shi Huang proves it by sacrificing himself to save China.
- Worthless Foreign Degree: Justified. Mrs. Ying fled China after her husband was executed and had to start her life over in the US, and can't call on her biochemical engineering degree without drawing attention to herself.
- Your Princess Is in Another Castle!: The heroes succeed in using the heirloom seal's power to strengthen the portal plug, but it's not fully in place, and might break again at the Zhongyuan festival. By the end of the book, they have 11 days to gather the five colored stones to build a new one.
