The bitter tea of General Yen by Grace Zaring Stone
"The Bitter Tea of General Yen" by Grace Zaring Stone is a novel written in the early 20th century. Set amid upheaval in Shanghai, it follows Megan, a young American engaged to a medical missionary, whose convictions and desires collide with the world of the warlord General Yen as civil conflict closes in. The story promises a tense cross-cultural encounter that tests faith, duty, and attraction. The opening of the novel places
Megan in rain-soaked Shanghai, where she witnesses a car crash involving a poised Chinese gentleman and a brusque French checkpoint, then shifts back to her arrival with the kindly but rigid Jacksons after learning she cannot reach her fiancé upriver. We learn her past—adolescent disillusionment transformed into fervent purpose—while she confronts the Jacksons’ narrow certainties, hears of the formidable General Yen, and briefly samples treaty-port nightlife with a naval officer. As the city quietly falls to the Cantonese, Doctor Strike arrives, recalling his former protégé Yen’s rise and his own ouster from a Christian college, yet clinging to hope for the General’s better nature. Fires spread through Chapei, Miss Reed refuses to evacuate her orphanage, and Megan sees Northern soldiers shot down at the Settlement edge. In the night, Strike secures a safe-conduct from Yen—helped by a mission-educated concubine at a late banquet—and, with Mr. Jackson ill, Megan volunteers to drive him through the Concessions before dawn. They reach the North Station area amid smoke, barbed wire, and exhausted or fallen troops, only to find the promised guard absent as this opening segment ends. (This is an automatically generated summary.)
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About this eBook
| Author | Stone, Grace Zaring, 1891-1991 |
|---|---|
| Illustrator | MacFarlane, Barbara (Painter) |
| Title | The bitter tea of General Yen |
| Original Publication | Indianapolis: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, 1930. |
| Credits | Al Haines |
| Language | English |
| LoC Class | PS: Language and Literatures: American and Canadian literature |
| Subject | Missionaries, Medical -- Fiction |
| Subject | China -- History -- 20th century -- Fiction |
| Category | Text |
| EBook-No. | 78108 |
| Release Date | Mar 4, 2026 |
| Copyright Status | Public domain in the USA. |
| Downloads | 5053 downloads in the last 30 days. |
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