From the ruins of City Europe a healthier, less autocratic nation has arisen: a little China on the Rhine. Yet this fledgling state is fragile - under threat from the Warlords who have carved up Asia and from the Old Men of North America with their mastery of high-tech weaponry.
Yet the greatest threat to the reborn Chung Kuo comes from within - from the indolence of Li Yean and the cruelty of his all-powerful wife Pei K'ung. Like a spider at the centre of a web of darkness and deceit, she sits and spins her plans . . .
The darkness is not, however, the only force left in the troubled continent. The Clayborn - Kim Ward - has become a rich and powerful man. When he realises what fate awaits Chung Kuo he decides to take decisive action: a plan of breathtaking daring and danger.
