Peach Blossom Pavilion
Mingmei Yip
Avon
An imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd
77–85 Fulham Palace Road
Hammersmith, London W6 8JB
First published in Great Britain by HarperCollinsPublishers 2014
Copyright © Mingmei Yip 2008
Cover photographs © Natalia Campbell / Getty Images (woman); myu-myu / Getty Images (bird); Shutterstock.com; Kevin Hua Long Jiang / Getty Images (background).
Mingmei Yip asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.
A catalogue copy of this book is available from the British Library.
This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.
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Source ISBN: 9780007570126
Ebook Edition © February 2014 ISBN: 9780007570133
Version: 2014-07-25
For Geoffrey, Who gives me both the fish and the bear’s paw.
When there is action above and compliance below, this is called the natural order of things.
When the man thrusts from above and the woman receives from below, this is called the balance between heaven and earth.
–Dong Xuanzi (Tang dynasty, AD 618–907)
Table of Contents
7. The Jade Stalk and the Golden Gate
15. The Prestigious Prostitute
18. The Jade Stalk Refuses to Salute
19. Last Journey in the Red Dust
25. This Woman Is Not My Husband
26. The Monk and the Prostitute