A tale of battling armies political intrigue starcrossed romance and historical cataclysm The Peach Blossom Fan is one of the masterpieces of Chinese literature a vast dramatic composition that combines the range and depth of a great novel with the swift intensity of film. In the mid1640s famine sweeps through China. The Ming dynasty almost 300 years old lurches to a bloody end. Peking falls to the Manchus the emperor hangs himself and Ming loyalists take refuge in the southern capital of Nank