{"product_id":"go-ask-the-river-9781848190924","title":"Go Ask the River","description":"\u003cp\u003eHere is the haunting story of the great female poet Hung Tu  who flourished in the ninth century during one of the great periods of Chinese literature. The daughter of a Government official far from the capital  on the Silk River  she was  most unusually  brought up with her brothers whom she far outshone. Falling on evil times  her father sells her to the best Blue House on the Silk River. Hung Tus poetry and calligraphy bring her great renown  and the story traces her rise from Flower-in-the-Mist to Official Hostess at the court of the governors of the Silk City  and her love affair with the poet Yuan Chen. Set against the backdrop of the scholars  poets  officials  and warring factions of ninth century China  this wonderful story reconstructs one of the great periods of China - turbulent  cruel  yet with a sense of beauty remarkable by any standards and in any age. Go Ask the River is a tale not only of historical China  but of the human struggle to discover how to be alive. Throughout runs the Taoist Philosophy - the Eight Signs of the Golden Flower  the meaning of Tao  the place of women in Oriental society. Hung Tu emerges as a vibrant figure  radiating a sense of beauty  balance  and well-being. - Montreal Star The stylized sensuality of the world that Miss Eaton writes about is so clearly defined by the cool simplicity of her language that as we read this tale of ninth-century China we see that it all happened just as she tells it  and her characters are as real to us as though we read about them in the newspapers every day. - The New Yorker A many-splendored trip through a rainbow world. - Publishers Weekly\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"My Store","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":67929282641973,"sku":"ByrdShop_1848190921","price":103.24,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0627\/8139\/0901\/files\/9781848190924.jpg?v=1794196196","url":"https:\/\/atxbooks.com\/products\/go-ask-the-river-9781848190924","provider":"ATX Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}