As far as they’re concerned, Queen Victoria is a barbarian vassal who should pay tribute. And that they alone have the God-given right, as the only really civilized nation, to rule the earth. They all believe that anyone else-anyone-is a barbarian and of no account. By definition a Chinese is a uniquely superior being. “First thing to understand: For fifty centuries the Chinese have called China the Middle Kingdom-the land that the gods have placed between heaven above and the earth beneath. China is ageless and its rich history and culture permeated the world in 1841, then it went to sleep under Communism for most of the 20th century, only to awaken again. It does not matter that the story plays in 1841. Little did he know that I would learn immensely about China reading Tai-Pan in 2014. When Clavell wrote about China, he wanted to educate the population in the sixties about the country. Today, China is no longer a sleeping giant, but rather one that is very much awake and shapes international politics and commerce unlike any nation since the emergence of the United States in the late 19th and early 20th century.

Mao ruled the country with the will of a dictator, and the rest of us knew very little about China, except that one in four people in the world was Chinese. When Clavell wrote this novel in 1966, China was a sleeping giant behind the Communist iron curtain. He is not only running his business, shipping tea, silk and opium between ports in England, India and the Orient, he is also shaping politics with the Chinese and creating the free port of Hong Kong, which he sees as pivotal to trade in Asia. This is the story of Dirk Struan, a middle-aged Scott who worked his way up from cabin boy on a ship at age 12 to one of the richest men in the world. The Tai-Pan is the “CEO” of a trading company. It plays in 1841 in the Hong Kong area, including some scenes on the Chinese mainland and Macao. This is a novel about China and the beginnings of Hong Kong. Almost 50 years later I finally get around to reading it.

Tai pan james clavell review