guangxu, 1875-1908

A fictional account of the life of Tsu Hsi, known as Empress Orchid, telling of her rise to power in China, and the political skills that allowed her to remain in a position of leadership for more than four decades.

Tzu Hsi, otherwise known as Orchid, becomes the lover, and eventually the wife of the king, and after a coup that deposes her husband, she is left in charge of a troubled country until her son comes of age.

Tzu Hsi, known as Orchid, enters China's Forbidden City at the age of seventeen to serve as a concubine for the Emperor, and when she bears the monarch a son, she is elevated to the rank of Empress, where she struggles to maintain her position and the right to raise her own child.