The Emperor and the Endless Palace is a debut novel by Justinian Huang. The sweeping novel spans two thousand years and contains three distinct story narratives. One is set in 4 BCE in the Han dynasty, the second in 1744 is set in a strange desolate mountain wilderness, and the third opens in present day Los Angeles at a gay Asian circuit party.
The emperor and some of the characters are recorded in historical records. One example, Consort Feng, is depicted in the famous “Admonitiions” handscroll by Gu Gaizhi now in the British Museum. The second narrative has a magic fox spirit in the form of a mysterious handsome young man searching for a magic elixir. The present day is depicted in a Crazy Rich Asian-style world of gilded, hunky male youth and designer duds. The beau monde of the circuit party of muscle shirts and buffed sweaty bodies and A-list gay Asians with money and looks set to throbbing house music is wonderfully evoked.
The 4 BCE Han world is where the writer uses florid language to recreate the courtly world of aristocrats of ancient times. The author heavily researched historical records to conjure up this time period. The 1744 tale is indebted to 18th century writer of fantasy Pu Songling. A lonely innkeeper in a remote wilderness is seduced by a handsome guest, an enchanted shape shifting fox spirit.
In the present day a major character is an object of art, the precious jade Heritage Seal of the Realm, created twenty three hundred years ago and coveted by a sinister evil billionaire is stolen in a brazen art heist along with other Chinese art treasures. At a chic museum party art thieves drop from helicopters guns blazing make off with national treasures.
The real life Han dynasty emperor Ai had a tragically short reign and was the last of his line and his lover Dong Xian was tragically forced to commit suicide.
“Passions of the Cut Sleeve,” a classical Chinese reference to same sex love occurs in the novel when emperor Ai is napping with his favorite Dong Xian, not wishing to wake him, he cuts the sleeve off his robe.
The other gay classical historical reference is ‘shared peach’ when another emperor was handed a peach in the royal garden had taken a bite from a peach the favorite had already eaten from, shocking the courtiers. Ancient Chinese had a tolerant let-it-be attitude on same sex relations before Confucian values, which emphasize male progeny and family conformity.
The most compelling characters in the novel is the time-after-time depiction of emperor Ai and his historical love Dong Xian, and their present time incarnations as River and Joey as the star crossed lovers.
The novel has a cinematic sweep and visual richness and has a lot of film potential. I hope it some day becomes a feature. Despite some holes in the plot The Emperor and the Endless Palace is a romp and is a mashup of ancient Chinese beauty and refinement and gay circuit party madness.
