Tai-Pan: The Second Novel of the Asian Saga

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Este despre a-ti pastra cuvantul indiferent de situatie, viclenie pentru a negocia astfel incat sa fii mereu in avantaj, curaj si antrenarea obiceiului de a vedea imaginea mai mare, de ansamblu. Struan, as always, finds a solution to this problem after an almost too convenient opportunity appears just as all seems lost. Tai-Pan is an excellent historical fiction about the early days of Hong Kong and British-Chinese trade. Under the command of Tyler Brock, third mate and future nemesis, Dirk Struan was whipped mercilessly. They spend a good portion of their time thinking to themselves how annoying it is that he is perfect and that they are weak.

But Clavell goes farther, for while there is a George Washington and an Abraham Lincoln who resemble who they generally were in history in Jakes‘ series, Clavell actually invents names to stand in to the company of historical figures. However, he does suffer from being made to look like the less intelligent, alcoholic and abusive version of Struan. In what is literally the last page, however, one of Struan's oldest friends says a few words to Culum, which make him decide that he is his father's son and is going to lead the Noble House as a man. It seems that there is a circular argument, at least in ‘Tai-Pan’ that while Struan appreciates Chinese/Cantonese culture, it is because he is not only a merchant, and one waging a personal vendetta/war against the other merchant rival, Tyler Brock, former, somewhat sadistic shipmaster, but because he’s from Great Britain proper, that his perspective carries more weight, and not necessarily that China has truly (e.He plans for any contingencies and shows resilience in the face of a series of setbacks beyond his control. In 1834, free trade reform advocates succeeded in ending the monopoly of the British East India Company under the Charter Act of 1833. We see the rise of the Triads during this time as well, and in this story, Gordon Chen, a bastard of Struan with his head for intrigue, is the head of the movement. As the pace kept speeding up and the end of the book was getting closer and closer I stopped hoping for some interesting finale and accepted that I would likely get some terrible twist of fate or act of god in the end that would make the finale seem less wholesome and try to make up for the fact that the protagonist faced no challenge throughout the entire story.

E ammetto della tristezza per la conclusione, avrei voluto davvero un minimo di gioia per la Tai Tai. If Queen Victoria was the biggest drug dealer in the history of the world, then Dirk Struan, the 'Tai-pan' is her Main Dealer in Hong Kong. The man could tell a tale, and one with enough recognizable features enmeshed within the exotic and the historic to propel his literary vessel across roiling, tempestuous seas. trying to get what they want out of China (this is usually purely financial gain but, as we come to discover, not always. Due to the bargain struck between Dirk Struan and Jin Qua, Gordon Chen managed Jin Qua's financial interests in Hong Kong, investing in land and money lending.

At different points Sean Connery, Roger Moore, and Steve McQueen were attached to the project, but negotiations fell through each time. I also loved his clever, funny, ultra-sweetheart mistress May-May and loved hating cruelly violent psycho nemesis Brock. He is unpredictable, but only seemingly so, because he gauges every situation by much more than just what is before him. Finally, I guess it had the same sort of slight historical liberties as Shogun did, probably, but I know nothing whatsoever of the history of China so I never noticed, and thus that too didn't bother me.

Especially for one who has read Gai-jin (and probably for anyone who hasn't), Tai-pan is a terrible disappointment. as she attempts to appease the Chinese god’s to help their listing boat to safety, by pretending to offer the god gold, but “cheating” in the end, and promising Struan that the god would never know that she tricked the god out of her end of the bargain by not dropping some gold into the sea (195). I really loved the words used and how the language used is an older and some words I need to look up.They hate and despise each other, but more than once as the plot unfolds they find themselves allied in a common cause. g. “spiritually“), opened his eyes, and certainly not to the degree of Blackthorne’s love affair with Japan.