Days of Bitter Strength

Armageddon has come and gone. From the ruins of City Europe a healthier, less autocratic society has arisen; a little China on the Rhine. Yet this fledgling state is fragile – under threat from the Warlords who have carved up Asia and from the Old Men of North America, whose mastery of high-tech weaponry has been born of necessity.

The greatest threat to peace and stability comes from within – from the indolence of Li Yuan and the cruelty of his wife Pei K'ung, the de facto ruler. Like a spider at the centre of a web of darkness and deceit, she sits and spins her plans... for war in the east and liberation from her husband's constraining hand.

But the darkness is not all, for the Clayborn – Kim Ward – has become a rich and powerful man. When he realises what fate awaits Chung Kuo he decides to take decisive action. But will it be enough?

In this, the seventh volume of the Chung Kuo saga, we see the old order finally swept away. But will the new be allowed to grow, or will it be choked off by old patterns of behaviour?

And what of DeVore? What is his rule in the future of Chung Kuo?