Download or read book The Imperial China Trilogy written by Robert Elegant and published by Open Road Media. This book was released on 2018-05-08 with total page 1694 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The complete New York Times–bestselling trilogy of historical fiction set in China, from an award-winning novelist and Pulitzer Prize finalist in journalism. Spanning over three centuries of Chinese history, New York Times–bestselling and Edgar Award–winning author Robert Elegant takes readers from the opulent courts and complex intrigue of the emperors to the bloody battlefields, and vividly recreates a richly detailed world where the quest for power and pleasure drives men and women to extremes of both loyalty and betrayal. In this special single-volume edition, the novels are presented in chronological historical order. Manchu: In this New York Times bestseller, soldier of fortune Francis Arrowsmith joins a Portuguese expedition to aid the decadent and corrupt Ming dynasty in its fight against the Manchu invaders. He embarks on an epic adventure that will merge his destiny with the fate of China itself. “Does for seventeenth-century China what James Clavell’s Shogun did for sixteenth-century Japan.” —The Christian Science Monitor Mandarin: In nineteenth-century China, imperial rule is crumbling as the Opium Wars and Taiping Rebellion rage. On the streets of Shanghai, a Jewish silk merchant tries to save his Chinese partner from a false accusation and corrupt penal system, while in the imperial palace the “Virtuous Concubine” Yehenala contrives to bear the opium-eating, syphilitic emperor’s only son, thus laying the foundation for her elevation to the pinnacle of power in China as the formidable empress dowager. “Exciting, historically accurate, a good read.” —The New York Times Dynasty: A New York Times bestseller, this epic of love and adultery, money and power, set amid the revolutionary turbulence of twentieth-century China, from the fall of the last emperor to the rise of Mao Tse-tung, follows the Sekloong dynasty of Hong Kong, a trading empire founded by Sir Jonathan, the illegitimate offspring of an Irish adventurer and his Chinese mistress, in all its triumphs, tragedies, betrayals, and bloodshed. “An action-packed novel . . . conjured up with perception and vigor.” —The New York Times Book Review

Download or read book Manchu written by Robert Elegant and published by Open Road Media. This book was released on 2017-01-17 with total page 534 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: New York Times Bestseller: This epic novel of the conquest of the Ming dynasty “does for 17th-century China what James Clavell’s Shogun did for 16th-century Japan” (The Christian Science Monitor). Francis Arrowsmith is a man without a country, a soldier-of-fortune in search of a war. An English orphan raised in France by exiled Jesuits, he hopes to make a quick pile out of his rare skills in building and operating artillery. Little does he know that when he joins a Portuguese expedition to aid the decadent and corrupt Ming dynasty in its fight against the Manchu invaders, he is embarking on a journey that will merge his destiny with the fate of China itself. From the opulent courts of the emperors to bloody battlefields, author Robert Elegant employs his deep knowledge and love of China to create a richly detailed world of dangers and delights, where the quest for power and pleasure drives men and women to extremes of both loyalty and betrayal. Manchu is the compellingly vivid story of an empire in its last agonies and the people caught up in its fateful drama by the Edgar Award–winning author of Mandarin and Dynasty.

Download or read book Dynasty written by Robert Elegant and published by Open Road Media. This book was released on 2017-01-17 with total page 630 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: New York Times Bestseller: An epic of love and adultery, money and power, set amid the revolutionary turbulence of twentieth-century China, from the author of Manchu and Mandarin. Founder of the Sekloong dynasty of Hong Kong, Sir Jonathan, the illegitimate offspring of an Irish adventurer and his Chinese mistress, overcame colonial prejudice to build a vast and influential trading empire spanning half a century. The marriage of Sir Jonathan’s profligate son Charles to the ambitious and beautiful Mary Osgood comes to embody, on both personal and political levels, the tensions between Orient and Occident, and between Nationalists and Communists fighting for control of postimperial China. Dynasty follows the Sekloongs’ triumphs, tragedies, betrayals, and bloodshed through the decades as they expand and protect their own empire, even as their homeland is torn apart from within by war and ideological upheaval, from the fall of the last emperor to the triumph of Mao Tse-tung. As China turbulently enters the modern world, the Sekloongs also grow in stature and strength—as do their desires and wayward passions. Fluent in Mandarin, author Robert Elegant spent many years in Hong Kong as a journalist and commentator, and has authored many acclaimed books on China. His stirring drama combines vivid writing with a deep understanding of Chinese culture, creating “an action-packed novel . . . conjured up with perception and vigor” (TheNew York Times Book Review).

Download or read book Mandarin written by Robert Elegant and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 1983 with total page 531 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Tells of China under the Dowager Empress, and particularly of the families and lives of two merchants of the Jewish faith, one Chinese, one European, who are partners and friends.

Download or read book Mandarin written by Robert Elegant and published by Open Road Media. This book was released on 2017-01-17 with total page 605 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A grand tale of intrigue in nineteenth-century China, where imperial rule is crumbling as the Opium Wars and Taiping Rebellion rage, from the author of Manchu. Loyalty is put to cruel test in Shanghai, where Jewish merchant Saul Haleevie and his longtime Chinese partner, Aisek Lee, have weathered hardship and distrust to build a thriving business. When Aisek is falsely accused of “abomination” for causing his mother’s suicide, their world is shattered. Now, Saul must save his friend no matter the cost, navigating a brutal and corrupt penal system that could bring about his own ruin as well. Meanwhile, the quest for true love governs the fate of Saul’s wayward daughter, Fronah. Consorting with the Westerners now thronging Shanghai but truly comfortable only in her Jewish-Asiatic identity, she ends up destroying one man and confounding another. Love and deception also entwine in the imperial palace, where the “Virtuous Concubine” Yehenala contrives to bear the opium-eating, syphilitic Hsien Feng emperor’s only son, thus laying the foundation for her elevation to the pinnacle of command in China as the formidable empress dowager. She wins the power battle, but it is beyond her to win the war, for by then China faces not just the collapse of another imperial dynasty, but the end of the millennial imperial system of rule, threatening the lives and loves of all. This compelling saga of nineteenth-century China is filled with “intricate shuttlecock diplomacy, ceremonial/battle action, family saga/romance—all polished to an entertaining high gloss” (Kirkus Reviews).

Download or read book When the Sea Turned to Silver written by Grace Lin and published by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers. This book was released on 2016-10-04 with total page 368 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A New York Times Bestseller A National Book Award FinalistAn IndieBound Bestseller This breathtaking, full-color illustrated fantasy is inspired by Chinese folklore, and is a companion to the Newbery Honor winner Where the Mountain Meets the Moon. Pinmei's gentle, loving grandmother always has the most thrilling tales for her granddaughter and the other villagers. However, the peace is shattered one night when soldiers of the Emperor arrive and kidnap the storyteller. Everyone knows that the Emperor wants something called the Luminous Stone That Lights the Night. Determined to have her grandmother returned, Pinmei embarks on a journey to find the Luminous Stone alongside her friend Yishan, a mysterious boy who seems to have his own secrets to hide. Together, the two must face obstacles usually found only in legends to find the Luminous Stone and save Pinmei's grandmother--before it's too late. A fast-paced adventure that is extraordinarily written and beautifully illustrated, When the Sea Turned to Silver is a masterpiece companion novel to Where the Mountain Meets the Moon and Starry River of the Sky.

Download or read book Battles of Ancient China written by Chris Peers and published by Pen and Sword. This book was released on 2013-10-09 with total page 146 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the field of military history as in so many others, the Chinese have often been both admired and seen as something utterly mysterious and inscrutable. Chris Peers illuminates the evolution of the military art in China with reference to ten battles, spanning more than 2,000 years, from the Battle of Mu in 1027BC to the Fall of Chung Tu in 1215 AD. Selected both for their historical importance and for the light which they shed on weapons and tactics, the author uses these examples to discuss the many myths still current in the West about ancient Chinese warfare: for example that the Chinese were an unwarlike people, always preferring subterfuge over the use of force; or that they were essentially defensive minded, relying on works such as the Great Wall. On the other hand, a recent reaction to this dismissive attitude portrays China as technologically far in advance of the West. Battles of Ancient China shows that none of these stereotypes are accurate. Comparison with contemporary Western practice is a major theme of the book which adds a new perspective not developed in the author's previous works on the subject.

Download or read book Confucian China and Its Modern Fate written by Joseph Richmond Levenson and published by Univ of California Press. This book was released on 1968 with total page 644 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms written by N. K. Jemisin and published by Orbit. This book was released on 2010-02-25 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: After her mother's mysterious death, a young woman is summoned to the floating city of Sky in order to claim a royal inheritance she never knew existed in the first book in this award-winning fantasy trilogy from the NYT bestselling author of The Fifth Season. Yeine Darr is an outcast from the barbarian north. But when her mother dies under mysterious circumstances, she is summoned to the majestic city of Sky. There, to her shock, Yeine is named an heiress to the king. But the throne of the Hundred Thousand Kingdoms is not easily won, and Yeine is thrust into a vicious power struggle with cousins she never knew she had. As she fights for her life, she draws ever closer to the secrets of her mother's death and her family's bloody history. With the fate of the world hanging in the balance, Yeine will learn how perilous it can be when love and hate -- and gods and mortals -- are bound inseparably together.

Download or read book Crazy Rich Asians written by Kevin Kwan and published by Doubleday Canada. This book was released on 2013-06-11 with total page 451 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Crazy Rich Asians is the outrageously funny debut novel about three super-rich, pedigreed Chinese families and the gossip, backbiting, and scheming that occurs when the heir to one of the most massive fortunes in Asia brings home his ABC (American-born Chinese) girlfriend to the wedding of the season. When Rachel Chu agrees to spend the summer in Singapore with her boyfriend, Nicholas Young, she envisions a humble family home, long drives to explore the island, and quality time with the man she might one day marry. What she doesn't know is that Nick's family home happens to look like a palace, that she'll ride in more private planes than cars, and that with one of Asia's most eligible bachelors on her arm, Rachel might as well have a target on her back. Initiated into a world of dynastic splendor beyond imagination, Rachel meets Astrid, the It Girl of Singapore society; Eddie, whose family practically lives in the pages of the Hong Kong socialite magazines; and Eleanor, Nick's formidable mother, a woman who has very strong feelings about who her son should--and should not--marry. Uproarious, addictive, and filled with jaw-dropping opulence, Crazy Rich Asians is an insider's look at the Asian JetSet; a perfect depiction of the clash between old money and new money; between Overseas Chinese and Mainland Chinese; and a fabulous novel about what it means to be young, in love, and gloriously, crazily rich.

Download or read book When China Ruled the Seas written by Louise Levathes and published by Open Road Media. This book was released on 2014-12-02 with total page 235 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: One hundred years before Columbus and his fellow Europeans began their voyages of discovery, fleets of giant junks commanded by the eunuch admiral Zheng He and filled with the empire’s finest porcelains, lacquerware, and silk ventured to the world’s “four corners.” Seven epic expeditions brought China’s treasure ships across the China Seas and Indian Ocean, from Japan to the spice island of Indonesia and the Malabar Coast of India, on to the rich ports of the Persian Gulf and down the East African coast, to China’s “El Dorado,” and perhaps even to Australia, three hundred years before Captain Cook’s landing. It was a time of exploration and expansion, but it ended in a retrenchment so complete that less than a century later, it was a crime to go to sea in a multimasted ship. In When China Ruled the Seas, Louise Levathes takes a fascinating and unprecedented look at this dynamic period in China’s enigmatic history, focusing on the country’s rise as a naval power that briefly brought half the world under its nominal authority. Drawing on eyewitness accounts, official Ming histories, and African, Arab, and Indian sources, many translated for the first time, Levathes brings readers inside China’s most illustrious scientific and technological era. She sheds new light on the historical and cultural context in which this great civilization thrived, as well as the perception of China by other contemporary cultures. Beautifully illustrated and engagingly written, When China Ruled the Seas is the fullest picture yet of the early Ming dynasty—the last flowering of Chinese culture before the Manchu invasion.

Download or read book On the Run in Ancient China written by Linda Bailey and published by Kids Can Press Ltd. This book was released on 2022-05-17 with total page 56 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: It’s the tantalizing smell of Chinese food that’s enticed the Binkerton children back into the creepy Good Times Travel Agency. Sure, the fried noodles are delicious, but then the shop owner pulls another one of his mysterious guidebooks off his shelf and before they can stop him, he’s sent the children hurtling back in time once again. This time they land in first-century China, where little Libby quickly manages to slip away from Josh and Emma in an official carriage headed to the capital city. But while she’s living the ancient China high life with nobility, the twins get mistaken for barbarian spies and soon they’re being chased by imperial guards! Will the twins manage to find Libby, and their way back home, before the guards catch up to them? This graphic novel from the critically acclaimed time-travel series by award-winning duo Linda Bailey and Bill Slavin offers a fun read with a terrific historical overview of ancient China. Bailey’s fast-paced narrative is quirky and funny. The fun device of featuring excerpts from an engagingly-written guidebook on every page keeps the key historical facts and figures easy to digest. Slavin’s detailed and humorous illustrations are pitch perfect for the story. Thoroughly researched, this book would be an excellent companion to social studies and history lessons, encompassing politics and government, philosophy, science and technology, travel and trade, civic rights and responsibilities, community and traditions. The back matter includes an index, further resources and six pages of additional information about ancient China.

Download or read book China Rich Girlfriend written by Kevin Kwan and published by Anchor. This book was released on 2015-06-16 with total page 460 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The author of the international sensation Crazy Rich Asians delivers a “snarky … wicked … funny” follow-up (The New York Times) that’s a deliciously fun romantic comedy of family, fortune, and fame in Mainland China. It’s the eve of Rachel Chu’s wedding, and she should be over the moon. She has a flawless Asscher-cut diamond, a wedding dress she loves, and a fiancé willing to thwart his meddling relatives and give up one of the biggest fortunes in Asia in order to marry her. Still, Rachel mourns the fact that her birth father, a man she never knew, won’t be there to walk her down the aisle. Then a chance accident reveals his identity. Suddenly, Rachel is drawn into a dizzying world of Shanghai splendor, a world where people attend church in a penthouse, where exotic cars race down the boulevard, and where people aren’t just crazy rich … they’re China rich.

Download or read book Imperial Twilight written by Stephen R. Platt and published by Vintage. This book was released on 2018-05-15 with total page 592 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As China reclaims its position as a world power, Imperial Twilight looks back to tell the story of the country’s last age of ascendance and how it came to an end in the nineteenth-century Opium War. As one of the most potent turning points in the country’s modern history, the Opium War has since come to stand for everything that today’s China seeks to put behind it. In this dramatic, epic story, award-winning historian Stephen Platt sheds new light on the early attempts by Western traders and missionaries to “open” China even as China’s imperial rulers were struggling to manage their country’s decline and Confucian scholars grappled with how to use foreign trade to China’s advantage. The book paints an enduring portrait of an immensely profitable—and mostly peaceful—meeting of civilizations that was destined to be shattered by one of the most shockingly unjust wars in the annals of imperial history. Brimming with a fascinating cast of British, Chinese, and American characters, this riveting narrative of relations between China and the West has important implications for today’s uncertain and ever-changing political climate.

Download or read book The Chinese in America written by Iris Chang and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2004-03-30 with total page 512 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A quintessiantially American story chronicling Chinese American achievement in the face of institutionalized racism by the New York Times bestselling author of The Rape of Nanking In an epic story that spans 150 years and continues to the present day, Iris Chang tells of a people’s search for a better life—the determination of the Chinese to forge an identity and a destiny in a strange land and, often against great obstacles, to find success. She chronicles the many accomplishments in America of Chinese immigrants and their descendents: building the infrastructure of their adopted country, fighting racist and exclusionary laws and anti-Asian violence, contributing to major scientific and technological advances, expanding the literary canon, and influencing the way we think about racial and ethnic groups. Interweaving political, social, economic, and cultural history, as well as the stories of individuals, Chang offers a bracing view not only of what it means to be Chinese American, but also of what it is to be American.

Download or read book Bianca written by Robert Elegant and published by Macmillan + ORM. This book was released on 2014-01-28 with total page 461 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Bianca: A Novel of Venice by Robert Elegant At the height of the Renaissance, one vibrant city triumphs over the rest of Europe in nearly every aspect of human life: painting, music, architecture, banking, publishing, medicine and manufacturing. Her empire reaches the Black Sea and her trade, Asia. This is the illustrious and famed Venice, fierce in war and passionate in love.Dotting this flourishing city-state, the nobility glitters with sumptuous finery, lush parties and savory meals. Never has there been such an aristocracy as this, the wealthiest circle in this wealthiest of cities. And of these, never has there been a more intriguing woman than one Lady Bianca Capello, who rises to power when vaulting ambition in young ladies is anything but a virtue. If her soul belongs to her homeland, Bianca's heart belongs to Francesco de' Medici, scion of the richest ruling family in Europe, at once the most powerful and the most glamorous. To the public, the match seems a perfect one-the union of society's two most influential people can only mean glad tidings for politics. To the two lovers, their devotion extends well beyond the politic and into the sublime. But every rose has its thorn. Evil forces even in her own circles begin to work against Bianca: noblemen plan to humiliate her and a scheming brother-in-law pits his allies against her. Love has been known to conquer all, but Bianca and her beloved never dreamed that would include battles, conquests, espionage, death-wishes and hatred. Love confronts the enemy it never suspected: beauty.

Download or read book Iron Widow written by Xiran Jay Zhao and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2021-09-21 with total page 372 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An instant #1 New York Times bestseller! Pacific Rim meets The Handmaid's Tale in this blend of Chinese history and mecha science fiction for YA readers. The boys of Huaxia dream of pairing up with girls to pilot Chrysalises, giant transforming robots that can battle the mecha aliens that lurk beyond the Great Wall. It doesn't matter that the girls often die from the mental strain. When 18-year-old Zetian offers herself up as a concubine-pilot, it's to assassinate the ace male pilot responsible for her sister's death. But she gets her vengeance in a way nobody expected—she kills him through the psychic link between pilots and emerges from the cockpit unscathed. She is labeled an Iron Widow, a much-feared and much-silenced kind of female pilot who can sacrifice boys to power up Chrysalises instead.​ To tame her unnerving yet invaluable mental strength, she is paired up with Li Shimin, the strongest and most controversial male pilot in Huaxia​. But now that Zetian has had a taste of power, she will not cower so easily. She will miss no opportunity to leverage their combined might and infamy to survive attempt after attempt on her life, until she can figure out exactly why the pilot system works in its misogynist way—and stop more girls from being sacrificed.