Peach Blossom Pavilion

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08-11-07Yip 021

Author, musician and artist, Dr. Mingmei Yip will present a reading (with performances) from her recently published novel, Peach Blossom Pavilion (Kensington Books, 2008) a fictionalized tale of the last mingji (prestigious prostitute) or Geisha, of China.

The novel tells the story about the last and most successful courtesan in China, in the 1920’s French Confession in Shanghai. Powell’s Books says “From a prodigiously talented new Chinese author comes a marvelous debut novel about a woman who becomes China’s most successful courtesan. Yip’s work echoes “Memoirs of a Geisha,” but with a sharper, more suspenseful pace.

In discussing her best-selling novel Peach Blossom Pavilion, now in its fourth printing, Mingmei will introduce the fascinating culture of the Chinese courtesan/Geisha, illustrated by old photographs. Following the talk, Mingmei will play the qin – the oldest Chinese stringed instrument performed in the recent Olympic Games Opening Ceremony and demonstrate calligraphy, in the Geisha’s tradition. Copies of Peach Blossom Pavilion will be available for sale and autograph.

Synopsis – “In a sunny California apartment, a young woman and her finance arrive to record her great-grandmother’s reminiscences. The story that unfolds of Precious Orchid’s life in China, where she rises from a childhood of shame to become one of the most successful courtesans in the land, is unlike any they’ve heard before….

When Precious Orchid’s father is falsely accused of a crime and found guilty, he is executed, leaving his family a legacy of dishonor. Her mother is banished to a Buddhist nunnery and she is abandoned to the “care” of a relative in Shanghai.

At first, life at Peach Blossom Pavilion feels like a dream. Surrounded by exotic flowers, murmuring fountains, colorful fishponds, and jade-green bamboo groves, Precious Orchid sees herself thriving. She is schooled in music, literature, paining, calligraphy, and to her innocent surprise, the art of pleasuring men. For the beautiful Pavilion hides its darker purpose as an elite house of prostitution. And even as she commands the devotion of China’s most powerful man, Precious Orchid never gives up her determination to escape the Pavilion, be reunited with her long-lost mother, avenge her father’s death, and find true love. As the richest, most beautiful and celebrated Ming Ji or “prestigious courtesan” in all of China, she just might have her way even if it comes with a devastating price…”

URL: www.mingmeiyip.com

Author Bio

Presented By:

Mingmei Yip received her PhD in musicology from the University of Paris (Sorbonne) on a scholarship from the French Government. A master performer on the qin, she has given lectures and recitals at venues such as Columbia University, Oxford University, Beijing University, the University of Paris, Amsterdam University, Oberlin Conservatory, the Cleveland Museum of Art, and the China Institute in New York.

Mingmei is also a writer, her literary career began at fourteen when her essay about art was published in a literary magazine. She has published fourteen books, with two on the qin. Her latest being her 7th novel The Witch’s Market (Kensington Books) which received a glowing review from the ew York Times and her 2nd children’s book Grandma Panda’s China Storybook (Tuttle Publishing, 2014) which she both wrote and illustrated. She wrote columns for seven major newspapers and has appeared on over 40 TV and radio programs in Hong Kong, Taiwan, China, and the United States. Her poems were published and performed in Hong Kong, Taiwan and the U.S.

Mingmei is also accomplished as a painter and calligrapher. A one-person show of her paintings of Guan Yin (the Chinese Goddess of Compassion) and calligraphy was held at the New York Open Center Gallery in SoHo in 2002. This exhibit was the subject of a full hour special program on CHN cable in New Jersey

Mingmei was a professor of music in Hong Kong, and in 2005, an International Institute of Asian Studies fellow in Holland. She has taught qin playing and calligraphy at two major Hong Kong Universities.