Throughout the novel, both men seek to destroy each other in matters of business and personal affairs.” Quote taken from Wikipedia, Tai-Pan, the novel, last visited August 29, 2015. Their rocky and often abusive relationship as seamen initiated an intense amount of competitive tension. the owners of two massive ( fictional) trading companies. A Tai-Pan was the Chinese word for leader (big shot) of the trading firm and amongst the firms there was only one supreme Tai-Pan at the time of our story, our hero Dirk Struen. That plot unfolds by telling the story of how various British and American trading company’s existing in China before Hong Kong was acquired, competed for goods to purchase and sell throughout the Orient and trade with Europe and the Americas. The story and plot provide an understanding of the island’s assets as a port and whether the Island was a valuable advantage worthy of British concern. The present story, Tai-Pan, is about the value of Hong Kong to the British Empire when it was first secured in the 1840s.
Tai-Pan: The Epic Novel of the Founding of Hong Kong, by James Clavell: The Asian Saga, Book 2, is a swashbuckler tale. The Importance of Hong Kong In the Asian Trade
All in all, Tai-pan was an excellent listen, and I recommend it to anyone who enjoys Clavell, cross-cultural novels, and good ol' swashbuckling fun. Actually, I enjoyed his performances so much that I am looking to read another book with his voice work just to experience it again every character sounded utterly unique, like a completely different person, and this made the story so much more enjoyable to listen too. As for the performance Gildart Jackson is, to date, the best narrator I could ever have imagined, and sets a new standard for me going forward. However, Tai-pan is a great novel in its own right, exciting from start to finish, and has one of the best endings I have ever read. Shogun was a brilliant novel, and the same can be said of Tai-pan, however it doesn't quite compare with the latter the story is less thoughtful, and less an exploration of the differences in Western and Eastern values, and more about swashbuckling, intrigue, and politics. Hong Kong as it transforms into a British/Western trade Enclave and military Bastion in the Orient.
Tai-pan, chronologically speaking, picks up where Shogun left off, set in 18th C. Like most people, the first James Clavell novel I read (that is, listened too) was Shogun, his epic novel about feudal Japan as witnessed through the eyes of a stranded Englishman.
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