[REVIEW] BOOK: EMPRESS ORCHID (2004) *ENGLISH EDITION*

SynopsisEmpress Orchid tells a real story about a mere concubine called Orchid, who was not afraid to break a harsh stereotype about women leaders. Even when the whole nation went against her and her own son despised her, Orchid’s dream never died. Written by a true Chinese woman, who learned about all vicious things Orchid done, grew like fellow Chinese who believe that Orchid was a villain behind the downfall of Ch’ing Dynasty, didn’t narrowed her perspective, but instead she portrayed another side of this great woman, who even until her last breath, ruled China, as its wall tumble around her.

Orchid was a daughter of a poor, but noble family. Her father was a mayor of the poorest district in China, until he was fired because he couldn’t handle the Taiping rebellion. After her father died, Orchid and her family moved to Peking, the cold and cruel capital city of China. She was treated like a slave by her uncle and threatened to marry her idiotic cousin – until she saw an announcement to search for the king’s wives. It was a long and hard journey, but Orchid, despite her poor background made it as the king’s fourth wife because of her splendor beauty.

But, it was not a good time to enter the palace. In 1852, Ch’ing Dynasty has lost its vitality, and the court became an insular, xenophobic place. Within the walls of the Forbidden City, hundreds of women tried to take the Emperor’s attention. Orchid soon discovered that she must play dirty, so she trained herself in the art of pleasing a man and bribed a eunuch to her way into the royal bedchamber and seduced the Emperor. It was not love for eternity, but their love was passionate and genuine. Orchid has a great good fortune to bear him a son. Elevated to the rank of Empress, she must struggle to maintain her position and the right to raise her own child and turned him into a great king, later known as Puyi, the last Emperor of China.




Moral values

Women canIt is generally acknowledged that even in this modern time, women are still underestimated. It was told in this story, a poor girl who just lost her father was forced to live in her uncle’s house and marry her idiot cousin. This girl had nothing but her outstanding beauty and ambition. Tried to escape from her unfortunate life, she dared to attend the Emperor’s wives audition, even though she knew it was almost possible for a girl without any proper background like her. But as the proverb says, sometimes the dreams that come true are the dreams you never even knew you had, the girl made it. She, who was just a pitiful girl, blossomed to an Empress of China, surpassing her boundaries, turning the impossible into possible. This girl was called Orchid, like her name, she was really an admirable and respectable woman to look up to.

A throne is only a bench covered with velvetIt was a traditional custom in China that the emperor had absolute control of the country. He must be treated as the most precious and sacred being, because he was believed to be the incarnation of God. But what they left was the true job of the emperor itself. An Emperor is a leader, one who guided the way, and one who found the remedy, not the fault. In the story, a mother (Orchid) who was a mere concubine dared to change the palace’s custom. She tried to make her son (Tung Chih), who was a crown prince to put himself into people’s shoes, so he would understand what his people needed and not the other way around. It was a tough path for a mere concubine, she was criticized by her mother in law, her own husband, the queen, and even her own son who insisted that he was in a higher position than his own mother. But the mother believed her son could handle the chaos that was happening in the country, with the requisite that he must have the skill and his people’s trust. So, what made she tried so hard to change her son? It was because she saw her husband’s misery. While others saw their Great Emperor as the Son of Heaven, Orchid only saw a man fighting a battle where he couldn’t win. Watching him on his last days, she believed that his ego was the cause of his own agony.

Loyalty takes no prisonersOne of new knowledge I found in this story was about a eunuch. Eunuch is a man who have been castrated and served as the palace’s servants. It was common to found eunuchs in the Forbidden City. From the belief that the only man that can have children in the palace was the Emperor, appeared the customs for eunuch. In the story, there was a eunuch I truly admired. His name was An-te-hai. An-te-hai was the one who guided Orchid from her first day in the Forbidden City, till she rose to the Empress seat. The eunuch was truly loyal to Orchid. He believed that loyalty was all that he could offer. A young man who truly knew his duty, even when he was prisoned a few times for the sake of his mistress, he hanged on, and what did he get? A trust from Orchid. All that he needed to achieve his dream to take what he lost.