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Last Empress by Anchee Min |
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CHINA_FICTION FICTION_HISTORICAL | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Description/Notes |
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The last decades of the nineteenth century were a violent period in China's history, marked by humiliating foreign incursions and domestic rebellions, ultimately ending in the demise of the Ch'ing Dynasty. The only constant during this tumultuous time was the power wielded by one woman, the resilient, ever-resourceful Tsu Hsi-or Empress Orchid, as readers came to know her in Anchee Min's critically acclaimed, best-selling novel covering her rise to power. The Last Empress is the story of Orchid's dramatic transition from a strong-willed, instinctive young woman to a wise and politically savvy leader who ruled China for more than four decades. Anchee Min offers a powerful revisionist portrait based on extensive research of one of the most important figures in Chinese history.Tsu Hsi was viciously maligned by the Western press of the time as the 'Dragon Lady,' a manipulative, bloodthirsty woman who held on to power at all costs. In this concluding volume Min gives us a compelling, very human leader who assumed power reluctantly and who sacrificed all she had to protect those she loved and an empire that was doomed to die. 'Evokes the intrigue and opulence of nineteenth-century China while telling the story of its improbably dominant ruler.' 'The vision of an empress who very nearly had it all: vulnerability and strength, motherhood and power, earthiness and dignity, compassion and ambition.' 'Admirers of Empress Orchid will be interested in this sequel. Othes may find the introduction to relatively modern Chinese history a revelation. '[Min] has taken on the task not only of bringing to life the fall of monarchist China but also of revising the canon's version of it.' 'This tale of royal intrigue is played out in an era when China was beset by foreigh intervention...a sympathetic look at a woman who was reviled in the Western press of her era.' Min offers a powerful revisionist portrait based on extensive research of one of the most important figures in Chinese history. 'The Last Empress' is the story of Orchid's dramatic transition from a strong-willed, instinctive young woman to a wise and politically savvy leader. |
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