
The Last Empress by Anchee Min
The last decades of the nineteenth century were a violent period in China's history, marked by humiliating foreign incursions and domestic rebellions and 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. In this concluding volume Min gives us a compelling, very human leader who assumed power reluctantly and sacrificed all to protect those she loved and an empire that was doomed to die.In 1957, Anchee Min was born in Shanghai. She was sent to a labor collective at the age of seventeen, where she was discovered by a talent scout for Madame Mao's Shanghai Film Studio and hired as a movie actor. With the support of actress Joan Chen, she immigrated to the United States in 1984. Her memoir, Red Azalea, was named a New York Times Notable Book in 1994 and earned the Carl Sandburg Literary Prize in 1993. Becoming Madame Mao, Empress Orchid, Katherine, and Wild Ginger are among Min's other works.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9780618531462 |
| ISBN 10 | 0618531467 |
| Title | The Last Empress |
| Author | Anchee Min |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Hardback |
| Publisher | Houghton Mifflin |
| Year published | 2007-03-01 |
| Number of pages | 308 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |