The formal name of Emperor Taizong’s firstborn son, the heir, was Li Chengqian, but I chose to use Taizi, which means “the crown prince” in Chinese. It is unknown whether he was homosexual, but records showed he was rather attached to his Turkic heritage.
The assassination attempt on Emperor Taizong and the rebellion of Li Chenqian and Prince Yo appear in historical records, but the two princes’ plots were planned separately and were discovered before they caused damage to the palace.
All the quotes from Sun Tzu’s The Art of War were translated by Lionel Giles (1875–1958), with one slight change in the line “ju qiu hao bu wei duo li.” Giles translated it as “To lift an autumn’s hair is no sign of great strength.” I changed it to “To lift a feather is no sign of great strength,” as “qiu hao” refers to a very fine down feather in the autumn in archaic Chinese.
I used the modern pinyin system for the majority of the Chinese names, but I used the names of Confucius, Lao Tzu, and Sun Tzu as they are commonly known to English readers.
The city Chang’an is now known as Xi’an. The kingdom Koguryo is now the modern North Korea.
Reading Group Guide
1. How much did you know about the palace women in ancient China before you read this novel? In what ways do you think the palace women in China were similar to those in Europe?
2. Discuss the many facades of love in the novel and how it manifests itself in the following characters: Mei, Pheasant, Jewel, Emperor Taizong, Taizi, and the Noble Lady.
3. Discuss the theme of deception. How does the Emperor deceive the kingdom? How does Jewel deceive the Emperor and the other women?
4. The novel opens with the monk’s prediction of Mei’s destiny. How would you define the concept of destiny? How does Mei perceive her destiny?
5. Compare the relationship between Mei and Jewel and the relationship between Mei and the Noble Lady.
6. For nearly two thousand years, Confucius’s instruction of five virtues—filial piety, tolerance, courtesy, faith, and wisdom—determined the values of ancient China. Describe how filial piety is demonstrated in Mei and how it motivates and suppresses her.
7. Have you heard of Sun Tzu’s The Art of War? Do you think the master’s insight in strategies set up a tone for this novel? Do you think the master’s teaching helps Mei in the Inner Court? How?
8. Silkworm farming was an important industry in ancient China, and silkworms were often revered, but Mei is forced to destroy them in the novel. Do you agree with what she did?
9. Discuss the relationship between Mei and Pheasant. When does their relationship begin to grow? At what point does it begin to deepen and change?
10. How would you describe Jewel’s character? Do you consider her to be a sympathetic figure or an evil one?
11. Discuss the intricate relationships within the imperial family. How do these relationships affect the Emperor and his sons?
12. What do you think the title The Moon in the Palace means?
13. The descriptions of nature, animals, birds, and sceneries are very rich in this novel. Discuss the symbols of the sun, snow, and rain. Where do you see them? What do you think they symbolize?
14. If you were one of the Emperor’s hundreds of concubines confined in the Yeting Court and Inner Court, how would you attempt to rise within the palace hierarchy?
Read on for an excerpt from
the Empress of Bright Moon
Available April 2016 from Sourcebooks Landmark
1
Would he die tonight?
The thought flickered in my mind as I dabbed at a brown stain on the Emperor’s chin. He did not respond, not even to twitch his lips or blink. He lay there, his mouth open, his gaze fixed on the ceiling. The right side of his face was a ruinous pool of skin, and his good left eye was opaque, like a marble that the light of candles failed to penetrate. Now and then, there seemed to be a spark in that eye, as though his old valor was struggling to come to life, to surface, to fight the fate that conquered him, but the light flashed like a fish in a murky pond. It was there, swimming, but it did not come up to the surface, not even for a breath of air.
He did not see me. He was gone, I could tell—a once-powerful whirlwind of wrath and will, now a bag of slackened skin, a shell of vaunting vanity.
I straightened, and an ache shot through my back. How long had I been kneeling at the bedside, watching him? I could not remember. All of us—the Talents, Graces, and Beauties, once the bedmates of the Emperor—had been his caretakers for the past ten months. Every day, we took turns feeding him, cleaning him—for he had long ago lost the ability to control his fluid—and carefully we watched him, listening to his every labored breath and every painful groan.
When the Emperor had announced Pheasant as the heir of the kingdom last year, he had been frail, and he had collapsed a few days later, shaken by the mysterious hand that had tormented him all these years. Writhing, gushing white foam from his mouth, he fell out of a stretcher on the way to his bedchamber and had not wakened since.