The cultural dismissal of women is a constant subtext throughout the book. My husband's grandfather wrote the history and ancestry of the Yuan family out for us in English. My son's name is part of this document, but not my daughter's, since she will not be a considered part of the bloodline after she marries. In Empire of Women , Celine gives a piece of jade that should have been passed only to a son, to Alice. Every motivation in Empire is suspect.
Every gesture is layered with meaning.
This book is an outstanding achievement, and we can only hope for more books from a phenomenally gifted writer. Her husband's great-grandmother, whom Margaret met in China in 1979, had bound feet.