The Manchurian Princess is a romance set in the time of the building of the Great Wall of China โ to many, a time of great betrayal by the Boy Emperor, Shihuangdi. He had at first welcomed those who fought with him to vanquish the various kingdoms that had chosen to remain independent, and so opposed and prevented the country from becoming united. But now that he had emerged as the victor, his overriding obsession was to build a "wall of defense" against the wild peoples beyond. Not a bad idea in itself, except that, for the most part, the ones to build it were to be non-Chinese, which included many of his former allies...such as Manchurians. What was worse, even unacceptable, was that those conscripted were to be no better than slaves, millions of them, as the task was superhuman.
Xu Lu Xun, over-lord of Manchurian Najinjiang, resists the arrogant, arbitrary enslavement. He rebels against this edict which results in war with the Han Chinese.
It is in this war, then, that his daughter, Yan Shan, becomes involved; and, with her, Wes Reinhardt, an American from our time who, mysteriously, finds himself in the year 221 BC.
What these two experience together โ war and death and love and hope โ makes for a sweeping epic of a story.