Jules Verne’s, ‘Tribulations of a Chinaman in China’ is an adventure novel exploring the themes of true happiness, and the real value of life. Kin-Fo is a young and extremely rich man who suddenly loses his fortune. He decides that there is no point in living but, since it’s impossible for him to take his own life, he asks his mentor, the philosopher, Wang, to do the deed for him. Things go wrong when Wang decides to give the task to a bandit. However what Kin-Fo does not know is that there is a plan going on behind his back and he is to be taught a lesson he’ll remember for the rest of his life – however long that might be...
Using humour, adventure and important life lessons, Verne questions whether we need to lose something in order to appreciate it.
Jules Verne (1828-1905) was a French novelist who became known as the ‘Father of Science Fiction.’ He wrote more than 60 novels, including ‘Journey to the Center of the Earth’ (1864), ‘Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea’ (1870), and ‘Around the World in Eighty Days’ (1873), the last of which has been released as a TV drama, featuring former Dr Who star, David Tennant.
