In the late 1980s, Menzies and his wife took a vacation to China, seeing the Great Wall, the Palace Museum, the Temple of Heaven ... all the famous tourist attractions. They learned that these were all connected to the Chengzu Emperor of the Ming Dynasty, and were inspired to find out more about this great historical figure.
一九八○年代末期，孟西士與夫人相偕到中國渡假，參觀了北京的長城、故宮、天壇等名勝，發覺這些重要建築都與明成祖有關，故興起了研究這個古帝國的念頭。