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I have started rereading this very interesting book. Interesting in matters political, but is also gives a view into the workings of the Chinese court. For example; can anyone imagine ‘nationwide selections for imperial consorts’ these days? But in those days being a concubine brought some economic security for the woman who was chosen as one.
What follows for this 16-year old girl, which is chosen as one of the many concubines for the emperor, is that she is the one who will determine for a great part the political future of China. I keep thinking that her lineage has something to contribute to it as ‘ She came from one of the oldest and most illustrious Manchu families’.
Though the book has only 373 pages (without the notes), it is a though but exciting read. Jung Chang has managed to write a riveting story about the life of a concubine who came out of the anonymity, about the intrigues within the Chinese imperial court, the domestic policy, and the foreign policy, in particular with England after the two opium wars.
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