[Read by Gildart Jackson] #1 New York Times bestselling author James Clavell's works have become beloved modern classics. This critically acclaimed historical novel is another fine example of a master at work. It is the early nineteenth 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 Struan, 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!