Description
Chang’s grandmother, Yu-fang, was born into a China in turmoil. China’s isolationism, its Confucianist bureaucracy, which had kept it relatively safe and stable for centuries, was crumbling. The Emperor was overthrown and a fragile republic formed. China faced invasion by Japan, and possibly Russia, as well as growing internal conflict between rival warlords. It was to the general of one of these warlords, influential enough to play a role in the overthrow of a Chinese President, that Yu-Fang was offered by her father as a concubine.
While she has a life of relative luxury, prolonged boredom and loneliness take a psychological toll. Though she has a daughter, the General is getting old and ill and, as a concubine, Yu-Fang has few rights and may lose her daughter and all financial support. Her only option appears to be a daring escape and a life on the run.
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