Seamlessly magnificent and explores the chines culture in the 1800,s poetically. The dramatic start begins with Lao Mangzi, the executioner in the process of beheading THE MANADRIN. Lao describes this mans poise as brave and dignified despite the dire circumstances. The mandarins wife has paid Lao to ensure the blade is sharp and signifies her love for her husband in her desire to ensure a swift death. The mandarins last moments are richly described and embellished with the sadness and anguish of his fate. His last thoughts are of his daughter, which compels as forward to jinhua. The bond between father and daughter are detailed by the memories of them swapping stories and jinhuas genuine adoration for her father further tragedies the telling of this tale.
The mandarins wife is deeply jealous of the child, because the child is not hers, but that of her husbands concubine who died giving birth. This broaches the dilemma of jinhuas fate as the first wife is too lost in her own grief to be able to offer the child solace, instead, jinhua is sold and handed over to a destiny that forces her to strive for virtue through much adversity. This novel is fabulously written, and propels the reader back into the culture of China, the compelling ups and downs of jinhuas extraordinary life.
The mandarins wife is deeply jealous of the child, because the child is not hers, but that of her husbands concubine who died giving birth. This broaches the dilemma of jinhuas fate as the first wife is too lost in her own grief to be able to offer the child solace, instead, jinhua is sold and handed over to a destiny that forces her to strive for virtue through much adversity. This novel is fabulously written, and propels the reader back into the culture of China, the compelling ups and downs of jinhuas extraordinary life.