The Pavilion of Forgotten Concubines

In the closing years of the eighteenth century, the once great Qianlong dynasty languishes in a morass of corruption and waste. The emperor, formerly the powerful ruler of a thriving dynasty, is now the feeble tool of his devious minister, Heshen, who plies his ruler with opium and whispers shadowy innuendos into his receptive ear. This dark stagnancy is abruptly interrupted when the English envoy of King George III refuses to perform the traditional obeisance: the kowtow. The Imperial Interpret