This is a very insightful read to the real Geishas, or chinese courtesans who entertained and dined with powerful men of their time. High class courtesans in ancient China were fallen scholar officials daughters whose family fell into dire circumstances and were forced to give up their daughters.
Reading this book is like reading a book written by my mum. Initially, I did not understand what my mum means when I acted like a tomboy during my teenage years and she said it bought disgrace to my “scholar official ancestors”. This book gave me insights into ancient chinese culture and what was expected of scholar official daughters, how they behaved and how they viewed others in the society.
Although the language is chunky, when translated to mandarin it makes perfect sense and resonated with classical chinese shows and books I had read when I was younger. The story reads like a classical book more than a contemporary novel. It is quite lengthy and the heroine takes her own internal quest to find her closure on each issue, before her departure from China. Books written in english accurately about pre-communist China is rare, and I highly recommend this book as it is written by an overseas Chinese. The knowledge of the classical arts is lost on mainland China under the rule of communism.
I like reading Mingmei Yip books as an alternative to Japanese fiction which are dominating the charts in Asian literature, when in fact, ancient chinese culture was the source of japanese culture. Her writings are very insightful into pre-communist China, well researched and accurate. I look forward to reading her books and I am glad she is releasing books annually.
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AVERRAL writes under pen name Scarlet Risqué. She stars in Scarlet Queen YouTube with over a million views. She holds a degree in business. The RED HOURGLASS is ranked Top 50 Espionage Thriller on Amazon. She is currently writing the sequels to the Hourglass Series. Grab a free copy of her novel now RED HOURGLASS on Amazon |
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