Farewell to My Concubine is a story of jealousy and passion set against the exhilarating spectacle of the Peking opera. One of the most unusual epic romances of all time, the novel moves swiftly from the decadent glamour of 1930s China through the horrors of the Japanese occupation right up to Hong Kong in the 1980s. This riveting and sensual story could only have come from the pen of Lilian Lee, one of the Chinese reading world's most beloved and best-selling authors. Introduced to international acclaim with the 1992 publication of her novel The Last Princess of Manchuria. In 1930s China, Peking opera was a luxurious entertainment for the privileged class - but only children from the poorest families were sent to opera schools to train as actors. Farewell to My Concubine begins when Xiao Douzi is brought to an opera school - and abandoned there by his mother, a prostitute who can no longer care for him. With seeds of bitterness sown. In his soul, the nine-year-old boy endures hardships and misery to learn and perfect his craft. He befriends and then falls in love with an older, stronger boy, who becomes his guardian, protector, and best friend. As the boys mature, they are assigned to learn the specific roles of the opera. Xiao Douzi is selected to learn the female part; his protector trains for the warrior's role. Farewell to My Concubine focuses on the all-consuming love Xiao Douzi holds for his. Friend, and the beautiful female courtesan who comes between them. As these three remarkable individuals are caught up in the great historical events devastating China, they are forced to betray each other in order to protect the one they love. Lee brilliantly interweaves the story of the protagonists with the stories of the classic operas the actors perform onstage. And throughout it all are breath-taking descriptions of life in China; the opium-laden bedroom that hosts. Bizarre feasts and private sexual performances; the stage turned into a site for Cultural Revolution savageries; the elegant brothel where human lives are brought and sold; the theaters and mansions of a world that is forever gone.