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The Last Empress (Empress Orchid #2)

3.69 of 5 stars 3.69 · rating details · 3,510 ratings · 335 reviews

The last decades of the nineteenth century were a violent period in China’s history marked by humiliating foreign incursions and domestic rebellion, ultimately ending in the demise of the Ch’ing dynasty. The only constant during this tumultuous time was the power wielded by one person, the resilient, ever-resourceful Tzu Hsi, Lady Yehonala -- or Empress Orchid, as readers...more

Hardcover, 320 pages

Published March 21st 2007 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

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Dec 06, 2008 Lydia rated it 3 of 5 stars

Definitely not as good as Empress Orchid. There were about 100 pages in the middle that I was really stuggling to get through....I enjoyed the first part and last parts a lot though. Ended up being glad I finished it.

In Empress Orchid they really got into who she was and why. This book seemed so busy trying to make it through the rest of her life that it wasn't as well developed. Perhaps she should have divided into 2 books...

I still found it a fascinating and educational look at who the last Em...more

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Jan 10, 2011 Suzan Oktaria rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Novel fiksi sejarah karya Anchee Min berisi catatan kehidupan Ibusuri Cixi (disebut sebagai Anggrek) dari saat ia memperoleh kekuasaan sebagai Ibusuri Tzu-Hsi, hingga kematiannya pada usia 72 tahun. Novel ini merupakan sekuel dari novel Empress Orchid.

Cerita dimulai dengan kematian ibu Anggrek, dan meningkatnya konflik antaranya dengan Pangeran Kung mengenai masalah politik. Hubungan Anggrek dengan putranya, Tung Chih, juga memburuk. Bila dalam novel sebelumnya, kita akan dibawa dengan keindahan...more Novel fiksi sejarah karya Anchee Min berisi catatan kehidupan Ibusuri Cixi (disebut sebagai Anggrek) dari saat ia memperoleh kekuasaan sebagai Ibusuri Tzu-Hsi, hingga kematiannya pada usia 72 tahun. Novel ini merupakan sekuel dari novel Empress Orchid.

Cerita dimulai dengan kematian ibu Anggrek, dan meningkatnya konflik antaranya dengan Pangeran Kung mengenai masalah politik. Hubungan Anggrek dengan putranya, Tung Chih, juga memburuk. Bila dalam novel sebelumnya, kita akan dibawa dengan keindahan kota terlarang, dan betapa repotnya tatacara kekaisaran Cina. Maka pada sekuel ini lebih banyak nuansa kelabu.

Kekaisaran Cina yang mulai rapuh, kekuatan asing yang semakin merajalela. Disinilah kita akan disuguhi sebuah dongeng tentang diplomasi antarnegara. Bagaimana diplomat Cina di masa itu, harus bernegosiasi untuk mempertahankan wilayahnya dari negara asing.

Sementara di dalam negeri sendiri, terjadi pergolakan yang luar biasa, menuntut Kaisar mengusir kekuatan asing. Tarik-menarik kepentingan tergambar juga dengan jelas disini. Dan akhirnya aku belajar bagaimana seorang pemimpin harus mempertimbangkan begitu banyak variabel saat mengambil keputusan.

Bagaimana Ratu Yehonala, yang sudah mulai renta, harus berpikir keras menjaga keseimbangan politik untuk menjaga kelanggengan dinastinya. Di satu sisi, dia tahu tidak akan mampu menghadang kekuatan asing keluar dari negaranya. Karena melawan secara frontal berarti bunuh diri. Karena kekuatan militer Cina tak akan mampu membendung pasukan asing, dan teknologi mereka yang canggih.

Cina yang mengagung-agungkan dirinya sebagai yang terhebat, dan menganggap orang-orang Barat itu sebagai Bangsa Barbar, telah disadari oleh Ratu Yehonala sebagai sebuah kesalahan besar.Cina mungkin mempunyai teknologi tinggi di masa lalu, tapi kini mereka kalah jauh dengan teknologi yang dimiliki oleh negeri Barat.

Di sisi lain, golongan konservatif tidak menginginkan perubahan. Mereka juga tidak menginginkan adanya orang-orang asing amsuk ke negaranya. Mereka mulai menghasut untuk menciptakan kebencian pada orang asing. Kemudian menimbulkan sebuah gerakan yang disebut "Boxer". Mereka adalah para petani miskin yang putus asa, karena berbagai bencana alam, yang menyebabkan mereka gagal panen dan kelaparan.

Konteks seperti ini, seakan mirip dengan apa yang terjadi saat ini. Sejarah memang berulang. Dan saatnya kita mulai belajar. Sangat impresif, karena aku belajar bagaimana seorang diplomat yang piawai bernegosiasi. Dan seorang pemimpin sejati harus mengakomodasi dan mengambil keputusan yang sulit.

(less)

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Nov 02, 2011 Suzanne rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: historical-fiction

“I had to be strong for my son. Although Tung Chih, who was seven, had been Emperor for two years, since ascending the throne in 1861, his regime had been chaotic.”

The follow-up to her acclaimed Empress Orchid, Anchee Min continues to tell the story of real-life Empress Tzu Hsi, who governs China on behalf of her son in the midst of huge changes in the world order. China, which had always been resistant to change, was powerless as Japan took over parts of her provinces, while France and Russia...more

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Oct 10, 2009 Khaya rated it 1 of 5 stars

Recommended to Khaya by: Mintzis

Shelves: chinajapan, historicalfiction

I'm not going to make it through 50 pages. First of all, as Jill noted in her review, Min basically takes what's written in the history books, puts quotes around it, and calls it dialogue, with occasional brief references to how it makes the empress feel. I felt this was true of Empress Orchid as well, and I don't have the patience to plow through another book like that. Second, as other goodreads reviewers noted, this book is extremely rushed, with each chapter picking up a few years after the...more

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Aug 06, 2008 Ladiibbug rated it 5 of 5 stars

" ... a powerful revisionist portrait [fictionalized account of a real historical person] of Tsu Hsi, Lady Yehonala, or Empress Orchid, who ruled China for more than 40 years in the late 1800's / early 1900's."

"The Dragon Lady" was portrayed in the Western press as a manipulative, blood-thirsty, ruthless woman who held on to power at all costs.

"The woman Anchee Min portrays gives us a compelling, very human leader who assumed power reluctantly and sacrificed all she had to protect those she love...more

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May 18, 2013 Phyllis Sommers rated it 3 of 5 stars

The third novel, and a fine addition, in this trilogy: "Becoming Madame Mao," "Empress Orchid," and "The Last Empress." This installment picks up after the death of Orchid's mother, as Orchid's young, natural-born son, Tung Chih, is being groomed for his role as Emperor. Orchid loves him dearly, but because she is Emperor Hsien Feng's concubine, his wife Nuharoo is the one with whom Tung Chih lives. It is Nuharoo who has the say over Tung Chih's upbringing and who makes the choice to be extremel...more

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Apr 25, 2013 Carolyn rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: historical-fiction, multicultural, wvreads150

When Emperor Hsien Feng dies at a young age, two of his widows, Orchid and Nuharoo, are left to act as co-regents on behalf of Tung Chih, the Emperor’s son by Orchid and the heir to his throne. However, Orchid and Nuharoo are often at odds with one another, and trustworthy allies are hard to find in the shifting political landscape of the court. Orchid makes many sacrifices and endures much slander in order to do what she thinks is best for her son and for her nation. Slightly more pedagogical t...more

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May 15, 2012 Carl Brush rated it 4 of 5 stars

My first look at Anchee Min’s work was her first novel, Katherine (see June 30, 2010), which was different as can be (supposing from reviews) as her first book, a memoir called Red Azalea. The Last Empress is different still from either of those.
Proving once again that historical fiction is wonderfully educational as well as wonderfully entertaining, I’ve now had a look inside the late-nineteenth-century decline and fall of the Chinese empire. I knew something of the opium wars and the western...more My first look at Anchee Min’s work was her first novel, Katherine (see June 30, 2010), which was different as can be (supposing from reviews) as her first book, a memoir called Red Azalea. The Last Empress is different still from either of those.
Proving once again that historical fiction is wonderfully educational as well as wonderfully entertaining, I’ve now had a look inside the late-nineteenth-century decline and fall of the Chinese empire. I knew something of the opium wars and the western world’s disgraceful treatment of Asia in the relentless quest for empire. I knew something of the Pearl Buck China, the Boxer Rebellion, Sun Yat Sen, Chiang Kai Shek, and the conditions that made the world fertile for Mao. But I knew nothing of the last dynasty. Now I do. And with that knowledge comes the fascinating character Min has created.

I say Min created her because from various references in reviews and in the book itself, the portrait in The Last Empress is not the one painted by most (western) journalists and historians. She has been portrayed as ruthless, sybaritic, venal. She supposedly plundered the treasury and starved the people to feed her own insatiable appetite for power and luxury. Min gives us, first person, a lady conscious of her power but determined to use it sparingly and responsibly. Officially not a ruler in her own right because women were forbidden that station, she acted as regent for first a son and then a nephew, neither of whom was fit for emperorhood. Always she yearned to step aside and retire, but always duty and circumstances forced her back into the fray.

Not only was she forced to carry out responsibilities for which she lacked full power, but she was caught in the middle of a feudal system that refused to change to meet changing circumstances. Despite the concept of emperor, China’s central government was weak. It ruled a collection of warlords and governors, each of whom held sway over his own territory, army, taxing system, and official underlings. The system operated on a complex interweaving of graft, privilege, superstition, and tradition. Thus, the Forbidden City’s operations consisted more of playing off factions and competing philosophies against one another than of developing and exercising a centralized governmental structure.

Royal edicts were supposed to be absolute commands, but that idea was as illusory as the notion that China was the center of the universe. A good example: the “empress” was not allowed to meet with western powers, to allow foreign devils into the Forbidden City. Any negotiations had to be carried out by agents and underlings. Another: Contrary to her express wishes. some council or another decided that she should spend her summers in the summer palace on a lake outside Peking. Huge sums were appropriated to refurbish said palace, including the construction of a marble boat, which she neither requested nor wanted. I’ve been on that boat. It’s grotesque. At any rate, most of the appropriated money never reached the palace. The whole project was a scheme to collect taxes and enrich a huge array of people. Sort of like a modern defense contract for Star Wars technology or the F-24 fighter plane. At any rate, the summer palace money was one of the big weapons used by the western press and Chinese revolutionaries to unfairly besmirch the empress’s reputation.

Of course, she was not sweetness and light. She was immensely powerful and wealthy, concerned first and foremost with preserving her dynasty and Chinese preeminence. Had she been allowed to negotiate directly with western powers, had she been able to control the finances of her corrupt empire, there is little doubt that she would still have pulled resources out of the countryside to the throne room, despite her peasant beginnings. She ordered her share of beheadings, some with regret, but many as part of the daily business as usual. She often subordinated China’s welfare to the desire to save the face of her pathetic offspring. Still, Min offers us a glimpse of a tormented soul trying vainly to maintain stability and dignity amidst historical forces far beyond her--or anyone’s--ability to direct or control. Empress Orchid is someone you can admire and sympathize with, though not someone you’d want to spend an afternoon with. Nice, job, Anchee.(less)

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Feb 29, 2012 Liz rated it 4 of 5 stars

This is the second and final book in Anchee Min's series about Empress Orchid and the Chi'ing Dynasty in China. I must admit I was very much looking forward to reading it because I loved the first book, Empress Orchid, because of how it drew me in with all the details of scenery and lifestyle of what life was like in China for royal women during this time period. However this book had a very different feel to it. From the very beginning The Empress is faced with struggles such as losing her favo...more

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Nov 22, 2011 Indri Hapsari rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: terjemahan

sekuel lanjutan dari empress orchid yang pertama.
bagian pertengahan lanjutan dari perjuangan seorang anggrek untuk menstabilkan kekacauan negara Cina akibat kesalahpahaman dan adu domba politik yang berujung pada peperangan dan penjajahan negara Cina oleh Inggris dan sekutu.
memang pada akhirnya beberapa bagian negara Cina berhasil diduduki oleh negara Inggris (dan sebagainyalah, saya lupa juga :D), akan tetapi anggrek tetap mampu mempertahankan harga diri bangsa dan berjuang hingga ajal menjempu...more

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Feb 12, 2011 Nives Kobra rated it 5 of 5 stars

Autorica je uspjela uspješno spojiti opsežno povijesno istraživanje i dirljivu priču o tradicionalnoj Kini iz ženske perspektive pružajući suosjećajan prikaz života carice Orhideje. Čitajući se osjeća preobrazba mlade carice Orhideje u inst...inktivnu i mudru vladaricu koja nastoji razumno vladati i donositi odluke čak i onda kada se to protivi njezinim životnim stavovima.
Povijest ju inače prikazuje kao ženu zmaj, međutim autorica je uspjela objansiti i zašto se Orhideja morala tako predstavljat...more

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May 22, 2009 Shauna rated it 3 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Apr 13, 2009 Elketw rated it 3 of 5 stars

Category: Books
Genre: Biographies & Memoirs
Author: An Chee Min

Di sekuel ini Anchee Min meneruskan perjalanan panjang Anggrek aka Lady Yehonala, Tzu Chi, Ci Xi, dan Dragon Lady.
Min menggambarkan diri sang maharani sebagai sosok yang rapuh namun berkemauan besar untuk mempertahankan Cina dari kehancuran yang sedang dihadapi. Perjuangannya menjadikan anaknya Tung Cih sebagai kaisar yang besar Cina dan Guang Shu sebagai penerusnya.

Lembaran awal buku ini dimulai dengan eposide kematian ibuny...more

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Oct 11, 2012 Matija rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: historical-fiction, history, memoir, own

Anchee Min continues the story of the last Chinese Empress much in the same vein as she did in the first book, Empress Orchid. So pretty much everything I stated in review for that book still stands, except that this volume now covers the decades from her cementing of the power to her very last day.

The struggles to keep China together, the intrigues, the yearning for love are still all there, as is the compassionate portrayal of the empress. My feeling of Anchee Min whitewashing, or at least glo...more

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Jan 18, 2011 Beth rated it 5 of 5 stars

I thought this book was absolutetly fascinating. The first book in the series Empress Orchid was an amazing book too. Detailing China's history, The Last Empress not only focuses on the Empress and her struggles, but also the struggle of China to merge its cultural past with the "western" technologies and advancements that are needed to enable China to compete in the world. This book made me want to take a Chinese history class. In both books by Anchee Min, I was amazed at the great lengths she...more

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Aug 21, 2007 Barb Shoffner added it Recommends it for: Yes

I am fascinated by Chinese history and read Anchee Min's book about Tzu Hsi's earler life in the court, "Empress Orchid". "The Last Empress" provides insight to her long life (73 years). She faced challenges with her son (named emperor, but died as a young adult), struggles with the political court, Chinese internal uprisings (i.e. warlords and the Boxer Rebellion) and with foreign powers. On her death bed she named Puyi as emperor. He was the last emperor of China.

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May 27, 2012 Kathy rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: historical-fiction

Our book club read the first of these two books ("Empress Orchid" by Anchee Min) and I just had to know the rest of the story, so I sought out "The Last Empress." I'm glad I did, especially after I did some research upon finishing this book. Anchee Min did an amazing job of taking the facts of history (the positive and inaccurate) regarding this time in Chinese history, and intertwined it into a story that made it more human and real than any history book or lecture.

Every mother wishes the best...more

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Jul 17, 2009 Kirsty (Blatant Biblioholic) rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: china, historical-fiction

This book picks up where its predecessor (Empress Orchid) left off. It continues to follow the life of China's last Empress, Tzu Hsi.

I didn't enjoy this book as much as the first. I think the main reason is that it felt rushed. The book follows the Empress from her late twenties until her death at age 73, therefore there was a large amount of ground to cover and I think it would have been better in two books rather than cramming it into one.

The story itself was still fascinating. The Empress i...more

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Jul 05, 2012 Jane rated it 5 of 5 stars

I find Chinese history fascinating and realise that I have quite an interest. I fell in love with Jung Chang's Wild Swans when I read the book a few years ago. The Last Empress has reinforced my interest and appetite to read more. Typically, I found this book and picked it up to read to find that it follows on from Empress Orchid which I have not read yet. I was lucky enough to come across the first instalment in a charity shop this week. My reviews of this series will not be in order.
I found t...more

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Nov 09, 2010 Yun Zhen rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: asian-stories

I thought perhaps this sequel to Empress Orchid might prove as vividly stunning but I was dismayed.

This sequel focuses largely on Empress Ci Xi's later life as a ruling regent for two different Emperors but seems to continually regurgitate historical facts and processes towards the second half of the book.

While the first half was not as disappointing, giving an account of how Empress Ci Xi tries hard to reconcile with her son, the second half merely uses the last few wars of the Qing Dynasty t...more

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Jan 14, 2010 Nathan rated it 1 of 5 stars

The best part is when the Empress dies. Not just because I couldn't stand the character, but that also meant I was finally done with the book.

Apparently the author was absent the day they gave the lecture on "Show-Don't Tell" in her creative writing class. I cringe saying this, knowing that she spent some of her early years in a Chinese labor camp (a horrid reason for missing vitally important instruction, if you plan on writing an engaging novel). I was hoping a historical fiction about Late Im...more

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Aug 18, 2009 Julianna rated it 3 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Suzanne Horton, Candace Stockstill

Recommended to Julianna by: Newcomer's Literary Review

This was a well written interesting book with limited appeal. I liked it but I have read quite a few Chinese novels. Chinese novels have a mindset and cadence that are difficult for most uninitiated Americans. Even if you like Jet Li movies with subtitles these Chinese novels are hard to get through.
The common Empirical Chinese novels are interesting up to a point and then they all tend to read the same...Chinese Royal family segregated from the rest of China, Women segregated from men, Machiave...more

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Jul 04, 2012 Baljit rated it 4 of 5 stars

I read this book right after completing the Empress Orchird, the 1st part of this story, so it is subject to comparison. The story is eloquent but in much more detail here. It is an historical account of the Dowager Empress, and her viewpoint of the tribulations facing China in the 19th cnetury. While the rest of the world had embraced the Industrial revolution and modernisation, China was hanging on to ancient traditions despite widespread corruption amongst its court officials and politicking...more

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Jan 06, 2012 Mary rated it 1 of 5 stars

I read this book before I read "part one" ... Empress Orchid. I also read the audio version... I 'm not sure if it was the reader or the book but I did not like this book at all... It was somewhat interesting but very dry. Not as interesting as Empress Orchid. The author puts forth the idea that the Empress was not the monster that China and the western world claimed her to be at that time and even to this day. It is possible that she may have been erroneously vilified but it's hard to say to wh...more

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Dec 09, 2012 Hock Tjoa rated it 3 of 5 stars

In this longish book we are presented with Orchid's view of events as well as that of Prince Gong. The international humiliations forced upon China, the palace intrigues among ministers, eunuchs and concubines and Orchid's own survival and rise to the position of co-empress are given a sincere but uncertain and unconvincing voice.
She achieved her status by virtue of having given the late emperor the only male heir and stays atop that greasy pole with luck, pluck and the loyalty of a couple of e...more

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May 29, 2012 Judy rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: china, fiction, 2012-reads

I regret not being able to read Empress Orchid by Anchee Min before reading The Last Empress. I assume Empress Orchid reveals Orchid's childhood and rise to the throne. Reading the books in sequence would have filled in some of the gaps, nevertheless, Min supplies the necessary information to understand the Empress's life.

In my youth, I gobbled up books about English and some French aristocracy. Whether it was romances, historical fiction or biographies made little difference. However, the heavy...more

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Apr 09, 2012 John rated it 2 of 5 stars

Started out loving this book but quickly grew tired as it seemed to be nothing more than list of characters with no substance. (Actually, started listening to it…and found the reader a. dreadfully dull and b. hard to keep characters straight by listening…needed to “see” the name in print it seemed to recognize who was who.) The long list of characters are pawns in her advancement from shy, country girl/second wife to the Emperor (she was only one to give him a son) to the Empress Orchid (Mother...more

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Oct 05, 2011 Lee Anne rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This sequel to Empress Orchid couldn't help being less exciting, I suppose. Where the first novel had the wonder of discovering the Forbidden City, Orchid finding love with the Emperor and Yung Lu, her rivalry with Nuharoo, etc., this follow-up is mostly all politics and scheming. Yung Lu marries and moves away, so their tension of their unconsummated love dissipates; Nuharoo dies (no spoiler--everyone dies by the end of this one); the Boxer Rebellion is confusing, probably for the parties invol...more

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Jun 01, 2009 Jill rated it 2 of 5 stars

If you loved Empress Orchid like I did, don't bother with this book. I don't say that often, and I don't think reading a review would have dissueded me from reading the sequel about the rule of the Grand Dowager Empress. However, Min seemed to have forgotten how to tell a story. The dialogue was atrocious. She basically just took crib notes of the facts she uncovered and formed them into sentences and then followed them up with a sentence of the Empress revealing her true feelings about it. Seri...more

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Oct 28, 2012 Pauline rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: library-books

The best analogy I could come up with for this book was like taking the bar exam--write a lot, but without a lot of depth. Shallow. That's the biggest impression this book left me. The author touched on a lot of events that happened, from the point of view of the empress, but I never felt like it was any more than words to fill a page. I also didn't find any of the characters particularly likeable--was I supposed to feel sympathy/anger/anything toward the empress? Because I didn't. To me, she wa...more

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About Anchee Min

Anchee Min was born in Shanghai in 1957. At seventeen she was sent to a labor collective, where a talent scout for Madame Mao's Shanghai Film Studio recruited her to work as a movie actress. She moved to the United States in 1984. Her first memoir, Red Azalea, was an international bestseller, published in twenty countries. She has since published six novels, including Pearl of China and the forthc...more

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