Surrounded by exotic flowers, murmuring fountains, colorful fishponds, and jade-green bamboo groves, Precious Orchid sees herself thriving. Her mother is banished to a Buddhist nunnery and she is abandoned to the “care” of a relative in Shanghai.Īt first, life at Peach Blossom Pavilion feels like a dream. When Precious Orchid’s father is falsely accused of a crime and found guilty, he is executed, leaving his family a legacy of dishonor.
The story that unfolds of Precious Orchid’s life in China, where she rises from a childhood of shame to become one of the most successful courtesans in the land, is unlike any they’ve heard before…. Synopsis – “In a sunny California apartment, a young woman and her finance arrive to record her great-grandmother’s reminiscences. Copies of Peach Blossom Pavilion will be available for sale and autograph. Following the talk, Mingmei will play the qin – the oldest Chinese stringed instrument performed in the recent Olympic Games Opening Ceremony and demonstrate calligraphy, in the Geisha’s tradition. In discussing her best-selling novel Peach Blossom Pavilion, now in its fourth printing, Mingmei will introduce the fascinating culture of the Chinese courtesan/Geisha, illustrated by old photographs. Yip’s work echoes “Memoirs of a Geisha,” but with a sharper, more suspenseful pace. Powell’s Books says “From a prodigiously talented new Chinese author comes a marvelous debut novel about a woman who becomes China’s most successful courtesan.
The novel tells the story about the last and most successful courtesan in China, in the 1920’s French Confession in Shanghai. Mingmei Yip will present a reading (with performances) from her recently published novel, Peach Blossom Pavilion (Kensington Books, 2008) a fictionalized tale of the last mingji (prestigious prostitute) or Geisha, of China.
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