The story of Tzu Hsi is the story of the last empress in China. In the novel, Nobel Prize Winner, Pearl S. Buck recreates the life of one of the most interesting rulers during a time of intense turbulence. Â Pearl S. Buck's knowledge of and fascination with the Empresses' life are contagious. She reveals the essence of this self-involved and infamous last empress, at the same time she takes the reader through China's struggle for freedom and democracy.