{"product_id":"the-peach-blossom-fan-9781590178768","title":"The Peach Blossom Fan","description":"A tale of battling armies, political intrigue, star-crossed romance, and historical cataclysm, \u003ci\u003eThe Peach Blossom Fan\u003c\/i\u003e is one of the masterpieces of Chinese literature, a vast dramatic composition that combines the range and depth of a great novel with the swift intensity of film. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eIn the mid-1640s, famine sweeps through China. The Ming dynasty, almost 300 years old, lurches to a bloody end. Peking falls to the Manchus, the emperor hangs himself, and Ming loyalists take refuge in the southern capital of Nanking. Two valiant generals seek to defend the city, but nothing can overcome the corruption, decadence, and factionalism of the court in exile. The newly installed emperor cares for nothing but theater, leaving practical matters to the insidious Ma Shih-ying. Ma's crony Juan Ta-ch'eng is as unscrupulous an operator as he is sophisticated a poet. He diverts resources from the starving troops in order to stage a spectacular production of his latest play. History, however, has little time for make-believe, though the earnest members of the Revival Club, centered on the handsome young scholar Hou Fang-y  and his lover Fragrant Princess, struggle to discover a happy ending.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/sureshotbooks-com.myshopify.com\/search?type=product%2Carticle%2Cpage\u0026amp;q=AUTH-16606184\"\u003eK'Ung Shang-Jen\u003c\/a\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e New York Review of Books\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 07\/21\/2015\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 352\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBinding Type:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.80lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 8.00h x 5.30w x 0.90d\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9781590178768\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN10:\u003c\/b\u003e 1590178769\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBISAC Categories:\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e- \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/sureshotbooks-com.myshopify.com\/search?type=product%2Carticle%2Cpage\u0026amp;q=CAT-DRA\"\u003eDrama\u003c\/a\u003e | \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/sureshotbooks-com.myshopify.com\/search?type=product%2Carticle%2Cpage\u0026amp;q=BISAC-DRA005000\"\u003eAsian | General\u003c\/a\u003e\u003cbr\u003e- \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/sureshotbooks-com.myshopify.com\/search?type=product%2Carticle%2Cpage\u0026amp;q=CAT-POE\"\u003ePoetry\u003c\/a\u003e | \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/sureshotbooks-com.myshopify.com\/search?type=product%2Carticle%2Cpage\u0026amp;q=BISAC-POE009010\"\u003eAsian | Chinese\u003c\/a\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eK'ung Shang-jen\u003c\/b\u003e (1646-1718) was a sixty-fourth generation descendant of Confucius and was raised in his ancestor's hometown of Qufu in Shandong province. A noted expert in music and Confucian rites, he was chosen in 1684 to lecture to the visiting emperor Kangxi, who later appointed him to the Imperial Academy in Beijing. \u003ci\u003eThe Peach Blossom Fan\u003c\/i\u003e was completed in 1699 and was performed to great acclaim in 1700. It was not published, however, until 1708, a few years after K'ung had left his post and returned home to Qufu. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003eJudith T. Zeitlin\u003c\/b\u003e is the William R. Kenan, Jr. Professor in East Asian Languages and Civilizations at the University of Chicago. Her most recent book is \u003ci\u003eThe Phantom Heroine: Ghosts and Gender in Seventeenth-Century Chinese Literature\u003c\/i\u003e. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003eChen Shih-Hsiang\u003c\/b\u003e (1912-1971) was a professor of Chinese and comparative literature at the University of California, Berkeley. Among his books are \u003ci\u003eThe Genesis of Poetic Time\u003c\/i\u003e and, with Harold Acton, \u003ci\u003eModern Chinese Poetry\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHarold Acton\u003c\/b\u003e (1904-1994) was a prolific Anglo-Italian writer, poet, novelist, and translator. He lived in China from 1932 to '39, teaching English literature at the University of Peking.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCyril Birch\u003c\/b\u003e is a translator and the Agassiz Professor of Chinese and Comparative Literature emeritus at the University of California, Berkeley.","brand":"New York Review of Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44706207236333,"sku":"9781590178768","price":25.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0550\/8097\/6621\/products\/img_f025ee04-b95c-49f1-8558-ebaea91d38ed.jpg?v=1703951769","url":"https:\/\/sureshotbooks.com\/es\/products\/the-peach-blossom-fan-9781590178768","provider":"SureShot Books Publishing LLC","version":"1.0","type":"link"}