Book Review: Empress Orchid by Anchee Min

I love a good historical fiction. Geography is not a matter. It can be England, Egypt, Greece, Rome, China, Tibet or Timbuktu, if it's a good blend of real historical figures with fictitious plots or storyline (closely linked to true historical events) or behind the scenes of the events. I'm a sucker for it if it fulfills that criteria.

Let's just say that this book fulfills all the above expectations and more.
I've read and heard a lot about the Last Empress. More often than not, in bad light. She's always that "Dragon Lady" who's nasty to her subjects, heartless on the account of how she manages the "love life" of the emperor, her "son" and her penchant for draining national resources on frivolous projects without a care.

This book however, gave me a totally different view of the Last Empress. Instead of "judging" her actions (as we mere mortals tend to do), the author managed to present possibilities that her various historically "evil" / poor decisions & actions may not be borne out of any malice! There are possibilities that she may be the victim of circumstances. The strong & resilient woman (at an age where women are seen as only good enough for breeding, mending & cooking) taking the blame for the fall of an ancient empire - regardless of the fact that the empire was already a very sick "dragon" by the time she came too power.

Historically, across the Globe, we're a race (& I mean the human race here) that tend to pass judgement & "assign" a scapegoat to any downfall. In this case, the person to take the blame & carry that "shame" for all eternity as part of records we call "history", just happens to conveniently be the Empress Orchid (Yehonala). No (or I should amend - to a lesser degree) blame was heaped on the emperor himself or the emperors before him (caveat: I must exclude Kang Xi & err... I can't remember the other great emperor; from the list), who did not have the foresight nor take the effort to keep up the ancient glory of China in comparison to the progress of the industrial revolution in the West.

This novel explores the various historical events including the infamous marble "entertainment boat" that was commisioned under the empress' name - and present a different view. The view of the empress herself. What if she did not commission that expensive & frivolous project? What if it was all an attempt of the court official's "smear" campaign to tarnish her name to hand-over the reins to the next of kin that they can better / easily manipulate? What if she's a victim - who's forced to take up the rein? What if the officials around her & court politics were so life threatening that she had to go along with some of the decisions put forth by some powerful ministers despite not being the best course of action? What if she truly wanted to bring in smart & fresh new blood as part of the advisory team within the ministries but were hampered by the traditional Manchu ministers who are unable to accept Hans among their midst? What if she very much wanted her son to take over the rein, but the rein was thrust back to her in pursuit of more "fun" endeavors like "accumulating" concubines?

Are we truly reading "history" and facts when we go through the various scribes of the period? It may very well be recorded based on the perception of the scribe / historian - not the actual dynamics behind that occured behind the scenes. If so, could we have "prosecuted" the Empress by our righteous judgement of her supposed actions?
Yea... amazing isn't it! I got all this from reading "fiction"! :)

Summary: I'm truly satisfied - both in entertainment & mental stimulation. Not for those who find history a bore & too tedious to recall the various characters that fleet through the various scenes. I must also warn that at times it's also very depressing (even for me, it got rather difficult to continue) - especially towards the end when losing is inevitable & just a matter of time.

I came across a quote once that "History is written by the victors". This piece of work indirectly demonstrated such possibility. She's in the losing team in this case - so are we reading records of the victor or hers? Points to Ponder.