{"product_id":"9789629968410","title":"Mirage","description":"First published anonymously in 1804—its author remains unknown—\u003ci\u003eMirage\u003c\/i\u003e is set in Guangzhou (Canton), some decades before the city was   overwhelmed by the opium trade and the Opium War. Su Jishi, the   adolescent son of the head of the Chinese traders’ association, the men   licensed to deal with foreign merchants in the port, is suddenly   burdened with responsibility for his powerful family after his father’s   unexpected death. More interested in sex than money, Su Jishi learns to   navigate between pleasure and commerce, as rebellions erupt just  outside  the city.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAt the crossroads of two of the greatest Chinese books—the aristocratic coming-of-age novel, \u003ci\u003eThe Story of the Stone\u003c\/i\u003e (\u003ci\u003eThe Dream of the Red Chamber\u003c\/i\u003e) and the military epic \u003ci\u003eOutlaws of the Marsh\u003c\/i\u003e—\u003ci\u003eMirage\u003c\/i\u003e is panorama of libertines and concubines, lecherous monks and celibate   soldiers, corrupt officials and drunken scholars. As entertaining as a   bestseller, it is a hectic recreation of vanished mores and customs,  and  the life of a Chinese city as it was beginning to discover—and deal   with—the rest of the world.","brand":"New York Review Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47182138409200,"sku":"9789629968410","price":12.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/292792180.jpg?v=1759511705","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/9789629968410","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}