Tai-Pan: A Novel of Hong Kong.

The second novel in Clavell's six-part Asian Saga and the first to feature the fictional Struan family, Tai-Pan tells the story of European and American traders who move into Hong Kong in 1842 following the end of the First Opium War. Published in 1966, the book was an immediate best-seller and film rights were sold to MGM and Filmways for $500,000, although it would take two decades for the film to be made. By 1976 the novel had sold over a million-and-a-half copies in paperback. The New York Times described Tai-Pan "almost an archetype of pure story telling... undoubtedly grand entertainment... hordes of readers will revel in Tai Pan."