Dirk Struan and Tyler Brock left many children, legitimate and illegitimate, who take up their respective fathers' mantles and continue the battle.

We see things from both British perspectives as well as a Chinese ones, each with their own unique view on the matters at hand and a diverse range of opinion within each respective camp. There are other more minor scenes and references, but the story is always planted more firmly in British soil. Set in the budding village of Hong Kong in 1841 this is a historical fiction about that time and place, and its place in the socio-economic world of that time, as much as it is a character study about the Tai-Pan – Dirk Struan. As part of his efforts to protect his father, Gordon Chen arranged the assassination of Gorth Brock and sought a cure for May–May's malaria. But if you’re looking for propulsive swashbuckling bullshit set in a hyperreal version of the past, then you could do far worse.

Clavell seems to not have been able to decide whether he wants Brock to be simply a rival of Struan's or an evil fantasy antagonist. The true love between the two, despite the different world views and cultural differences and despite the fact that Maymay would never be accepted in European society is quite beautiful. Not the crappiest crap I've ever seen, but really - if an author has to repeat the same "foreign-flavor" word 4 times on one page, he clearly doesn't have the most innovative of spirits.

Currently watching a re-run of Shogun which has spurred me to finally pick up this novel which has been on my list for sometime now. I'll admit that the first 100 pages or so are difficult to get into, as the author flits from one new character to the next, explaining their backgrounds before getting on with the storytelling. Immediately, the fact that Dirk Struan is relentlessly Scots attached itself to the image of a snake and somehow I ended up with an inability to imagine him as anything other than Sean Connery in Zardoz.In 1837, Jin-qua arranged for May–May, his favourite granddaughter, to become Dirk Struan's mistress. It felt not unlike the last Harry Potter book, where the author decided that a pure happy ending with everyone succeeding and the protagonist essentially being a God is boring, so she added half a page of "oh, and also these 5 good people died! I mean megabooks in the sense that this is a pretty long one at around 7-800 pages but it’s also unashamedly full of pure entertainment.

The hero of the book is Dirk Struan: The Taipan (Taipan having a first amongst equals type of meaning).TAI-PAN is epic in scope, a novel whose background is the inception of Hong Kong by the British, circa 1841. I just try to protect mysel’ and mine as best I know how and to choose the time of my dying, that’s all. Set in 1840s China (Canton), Macao and most importantly, the brand-new English colony of Hong Kong (which Dirk negotiated away from the Emperor through the oh-so-pliable governor), the story is set around Dirk Stuan, a larger than life English “China trader” pitted against Brock, his dark and brutish arch enemy, in a nonstop race to be the best, make the most and outsmart all the rest as tai-pans of The Noble House and the Second Noble House. I do not think I will be able to muster enough words to explain the sensations I felt while reading this awesome novel. Horatio Sinclair – clerk to William Longstaff, church fanatic and harbours incestuous desires for his sister Mary.

But it doesn’t get more, because it doesn’t significantly deliver on its promise on the cover to be part of an ASIAN SAGA; one in which two cultures encounter one another, and the political and cultural consequences that follow.Much has also been written about Clavell's fondness of blending those aspects that he believed were the best of both worlds to make a new culture. To a 1960's reader this wouldn't have been unacceptable, but in 2012 I have to agree that it might be difficult to swallow. Their rocky and often abusive relationship as seamen initiated an intense amount of competitive tension.