The last decades of the nineteenth century were a violent period in China’s history marked by humiliating foreign incursions and domestic rebellion, ultimately ending in the demise of the Ch’ing dynasty. The only constant during this tumultuous time was the power wielded by one person, the resilient, ever-resourceful Tzu Hsi, Lady Yehonala -- or Empress Orchid, as readers came to know her in Anchee Min’s critically acclaimed novel covering the first part of her life. 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. Moving from the intimacy of the concubine quarters into the spotlight of the world stage, Orchid must face not only the perilous condition of her empire but also a series of devastating personal losses, as first her son and then her adopted son succumb to early death. Yearning only to step aside, and yet growing constantly into her role, only she—allied with the progressives, but loyal to the conservative Manchu clan of her dynasty—can hold the nation’s rival factions together. Anchee Min offers a powerful revisionist portrait based on extensive research of one of the most important figures in Chinese history. Viciously maligned by the western press of the time as the “Dragon Lady,” a manipulative, blood-thirsty woman who held onto power at all costs, the woman Min gives us is a compelling, very human leader who assumed power reluctantly, and who sacrificed all she had to protect those she loved and an empire that was doomed to die.
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Anchee Min
Anchee Min ou Min Anqi em chinês, nascida em 14 de janeiro de 1957, é uma autora chino-americana que mora em São Francisco, nos EUA, e em Xangai, na China. Min publicou duas memórias, intituladas Red Azalea (Azaléia Vermelha), em 1994, e The Cooked Seed: A Memoir, em 2013, além de seis romances históricos, sendo eles: Katherine (2005), Becoming Madame Mao [2001: A Construção de Madame Mao, no Brasil; e Madame Mao (Outras Histórias), em Portugal], Wild Ginger: A Novel (2004), Empress Orchid (2004: Imperatriz Orquídea), The Last Empress (2007: A Última Imperatriz) e Pearl of China: A Novel (2010). Sua ficção se concentra em grandes personagens femininos, tal como em Jiang Qing, a esposa do presidente Mao Zedong, e imperatriz Dowager Cixi, a última imperatriz a governar a China. Após se mudar para os Estados Unidos, Min chegou ao ponto de trabalhar em cinco empregos ao mesmo tempo, além de ter aprendido inglês assistindo à Vila Sésamo. Ela se graduou na Escola de Artes Instituto Chicago. Ela foi casada com um imigrante chinês, o escritor Lloyd Lofthouse, com o qual ela teve sua única filha, de nome Lauryann Jiang, que estuda na Universidade de Stanford.
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