From its beginnings as a pestilent port and colonial backwater,
Hong Kong became the "pearl" of a declining British empire, and
then ascended to its present status as a gleaming city of commerce.
Throughout its history, Hong Kong has been steeped in drama,
intrigue, and seismic social shifts. Shih Shu-ching, an acclaimed
Taiwanese writer, sets her epic tale of one beautiful and
determined woman's family amid this rich and colorful history,
capturing in vivid, panoramic detail the unique tensions and
atmosphere that characterize the city. Critically praised and long
popular in the Chinese-speaking world, City of the Queen is now
available for the first time in English. After being kidnapped from
her home in rural China, Huang, the novel's heroine, is brought to
Hong Kong and sold into prostitution. Thanks to her shrewd,
sometimes devious business dealings and unexpected twists of fate,
she emerges from these cruel beginnings to become a wealthy
landowner. City of the Queen follows the fortunes of Huang's
family, including those of her devoutly Christian daughter-in-law,
who tries to redeem the sins she believes Huang has committed; her
grandson, who becomes the first Chinese judge on the Hong Kong
Supreme Court; and her great-granddaughter, a quintessential Hong
Kong young woman, who turns her back on family tradition to revel
in the pleasures offered by the 1970s and 1980s metropolis. The
novel introduces a range of other Chinese and British characters,
examining the complicated relationships between colonizer and
colonized in a searing and perceptive portrayal of colonialism.
There is Adam Smith, the British officer who struggles with the
competing seductions of Huang's beauty and British respectability;
Qu Yabing, Smith's servant, who despises anything Chinese, yet
becomes Huang's lover after she is abandoned by Smith; Colonel
White, the sadistic colonial police chief; and Auntie Eleven, a
concubine who owns a pawnshop and teaches Huang the secrets of the
trade.
General
Imprint: |
Columbia University Press
|
Country of origin: |
United States |
Series: |
Modern Chinese Literature from Taiwan |
Release date: |
February 2008 |
First published: |
February 2008 |
Authors: |
Shu-Ching Shih
|
Translators: |
Sylvia Lin
• Howard Goldblatt
|
Dimensions: |
222 x 146 x 19mm (L x W x T) |
Format: |
Paperback - Trade
|
Pages: |
312 |
ISBN-13: |
978-0-231-13457-6 |
Languages: |
English
|
Subtitles: |
Chinese
|
Categories: |
Books >
Fiction >
General & literary fiction >
Modern fiction
|
LSN: |
0-231-13457-6 |
Barcode: |
9780231134576 |
Is the information for this product incomplete, wrong or inappropriate?
Let us know about it.
Does this product have an incorrect or missing image?
Send us a new image.
Is this product missing categories?
Add more categories.
Review This Product
No reviews yet - be the first to create one!