The Ten Thousand Desires of Emperor Chenghua

Passions, intrigue and sensuality within the walls of the Forbidden City…

Beijing, 1660. The ravishing courtesan Yadil, swathed in veils of precious fabric, trembles fearfully before the heavy sculpted door of the Forbidden City. The Emperor of China has requested her presence at his side tonight. And the Son of Heaven is known to be demanding when it comes to matters of the bedroom… At the same time, in one of the hidden streets of Beijing, Straight Forward, a charming young man who has only recently been granted the status of adult, has just entered a brothel where the very experienced Red Moon will give him his first lesson in love. All would be well in the sweetest of worlds, if the priceless Burmese Bell, an object essential to successful nights of passion, had not just disappeared from the Emperor’s very room, awakening fury, desires and envies from all those surrounding it….

The adventures of Yadil, Red Moon and Straight Forward, but also of the Emperor, and many others, bring to life a most secret aspect of Imperial China, under silken sheets, true History is forged night after night, between sighs of passion.

José Frèches, a former curator of the Guimet museum, who writes passionately about Ancient China, has conquered the public with the huge successes that are his series, translated into 23 languages, such as The Legend of the Jade, The Silk Empress and The Empire of Tears.