It is the early 19th century, when European traders and adventurers first began to penetrate the forbidding Chinese mainland. And it is in this exciting time and exotic place that a giant of an Englishman, Dirk Straun, sets out to turn the desolate island of Hong Kong into an impregnable fortress of British power, and to make himself supreme ruler...Tai-Pan!

Praise for Tai-Pan

"Unforgettable."--Chicago Tribune

"[James] Clavell is, as always, a matchless tale-spinner."--Cosmopolitan

"Every five or six years there appears on the horizon a book so vast in scope, so peopled with bold, colorful characters, it eclipses other efforts. . . . Such a book is Tai-Pan."--Pittsburgh Press

"Grand entertainment...packed with action...gaudy and flanboyant with blood and sin, treachery and conspiracy, sex and murder...fresh and vigorous." --The New York Times