She was the only one to give the Emperor a son, an heir to china.īefore his death, the Emperor named his 5 year old son, tung chih, as the emperor and Orchid and his first wife Nuharoo as the court members along with the very powerful Su shun, to run China on behalf of his son. With the help of her loyal eunuch servant an-te-hai, she found a way into the emperor’s bed and then gradually his heart. She was chosen as one of the 7 wives of Emperor Hsien Feng, a lower ranking concubine and was to live in The Forbidden city.Ĭonsidering the emperor had hundreds of wives and concubines, she decided to create a place for herself rather than living anonymously like so many of the Emperor’s concubines. Unlike what we think, this was actually a very prestigious position in china. At age 17 she auditioned to become one of the Emperors concubines or wives. She was born in Rural China to a low ranking government officer. This is the story of the last Empress of China called Yehonala or Orchid. There were so many details, so many parallel stories and so many emotions in this book I almost did not write this review for the fear of not getting it right. I didn’t know what to write, from where to start. But the page for this book stayed blank for a very long time. Generally after I finish reading a book, usually on the very day itself, I open a blank word document and start writing my review.
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