1587, A Year of No Significance

1587 is absolutely one of the great books on Chinese history. It is a series of vignettes, each a chapter centered on the life of a single notable individual in a single year during the Ming dynasty's decline.

Actually kind of gives ATLA's "Tales of Ba Sing Se" vibe

if you're unfamiliar with Tales of Ba Sing Se please rectify your ignorance forthwith

1587 gives a vivid sense of the stultifying moral-political order of the late Ming. And nobody was more put upon than the emperor himself.

One deeply sympathizes with Wan Li's decision to just quiet quit for 4 decades.

一本好书 made it into a tv episode

As one would expect, though, Huang saves the best for last. Even the chapter title—a divided conscience—is chef's kiss.

It profiles a devote Confucian civil servant (Li Zhi) who at the age of 50 decides the tartuffery is just too much and becomes a buddhist monk.

but his fate was to be the same as all of 1587's protagonists: a group whose fascinating "toil and trouble proved to be only futile."

An aside, his China: A Macro History is also really good, concise, often incisive intro text overviewing the duration of the country's history.

I don't know of any that do a better job!