China
The Novel
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4.2 • 42 Ratings
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
The “unparalleled master of the historical saga" (Newsweek) and internationally bestselling author of Paris and New York takes on an exhilarating new world with his trademark epic style in China: The Novel
In China: The Novel, Edward Rutherfurd brings his renowned talents to the Middle Kingdom, when the clash of East and West in the nineteenth century shattered the stability of the two-thousand-year-old empire. This epic tale chronicles the great struggle for power, from the Opium Wars that erupted in 1839 through the Taiping revolt, the British burning of the Summer Palace, the Boxer Rebellion, and the long rule of the Dragon Empress, culminating in the momentous revolution of 1911. We meet a young village wife struggling with rigid traditions, Manchu warriors, powerful eunuchs and concubines of the Forbidden City, rapacious English soldiers and earnest missionaries, savvy Chinese pirates, and sage philosophers. Rutherfurd brings to vivid life the ever-changing fortunes of Chinese, British, and American families as they negotiate the tides of history. A rich human drama as well as a deeply researched portrait that sets the stage for China’s role in the world today, China: The Novel is the enthralling story of a rising global power.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Rutherfurd's immersive if uneven epic (after Paris: The Novel) focuses on the development of China's relationship with the West. He begins in 1839, on the eve of what became known as the Opium War. British traders have been profiting from selling the drug to the Chinese, and Lord Lin, a righteous government minister, vows to stamp out the lucrative trade, by force if necessary, a tack that prompts the British to showcase their naval superiority. Rutherfurd carries the story forward through the early 20th century, ending it after the Boxer Rebellion in 1900, and the untimely death of a Chinese emperor. The conflicts are illuminated via a large cast, including Lin's young assistant, Jiang Shi-Rong; Nio, a pirate who shifts his alliances out of expediency; the unimaginatively named Englishman John Trader, whose fortune hinges on the uninterrupted flow of opium from India into China; and Lacquer Nail, a father and husband who becomes a palace eunuch to support his family, a trade Rutherfurd illuminates with somewhat expositional dialogue. The earlier sections are more engaging than the exhausting second half, and the balance between Asian and Occidental characters may disappoint some who'd hoped, from the title, that the focus would be on the Chinese. Nonetheless, readers unfamiliar with the history will learn something from this action-packed saga.
