This is the first book published by Oxford Paperbacks written by a Chinese that I have ever come across.
The story is set against the background of the bureaucratic corruption and the webs of intrigue and deceit which flourished in China before the overthrow of the Manchu dynasty.
The main character, Golden Orchid, was a sing-song girl who became the concubine of the Chinese Ambassador to Germany and Russia. As I read this historical novel, I can't help but contrast the details of living between 1895-1904 to what I saw during my two short trips to Shanghai and Canton earlier this year.
At least in the two cities that I visited, housing and transportation rivaled that of Singapore. The cuisine in Canton is indeed something to be remembered for a long time. From what I read recently of western press and what my cousins told me, the present government officials are not any less corrupt than those in the by gone years. But at least the citizens have decent housing and there are many new and expensive cars on the road driven by ordinary folks.
Of course the big difference is that free trade enable the free movement of people. Many professionals from abroad relocated to work there for the sake of the spreading of the gospel. The many decades of suffering of the Chinese people could be seen as the price that brought about the religious reform.
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