This is an unforgettable tale told from both sides of the divide. We meet a young village wife struggling with the rigid traditions of her people, Manchu empresses and warriors, powerful eunuchs, fanatical Taiping and Boxer Rebels, savvy Chinese pirates, artists, concubines, scoundrels and heroes, well-intentioned missionaries and the rapacious merchants, diplomats and soldiers of the West.įortunes will rise and fall, loves will be gained and lost. This is the story of the Chinese people, high and low, and the Westerners who came to exploit the riches of their ancient land and culture.
The Opium Wars begin - heralding a period of bloody military defeats, reparations, and one-sided treaties which will become known as the Century of Humiliation.įrom Hong Kong to Beijing to the Great Wall, from the exotic wonders of the Summer Palace and the Forbidden City, to squalid village huts, the dramatic struggle rages across the Celestial Kingdom. Viceroy Lin is sent to the epicentre of the opium trade, Canton, to stop it. The Qing Emperor will not allow his people to sink into addiction. Instead, western adventurers resort to smuggling opium in exchange.
The West desires Chinese tea above all other things but lacks the silver to buy it. The internationally bestselling author portrays the great clash of East and West in his new epic: China China in the nineteenth century: a proud and ancient empire forbidden to foreigners.
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