Summary
Robert Wells, a half‑American, half‑Chinese youth raised amid the lantern‑lit alleys of Shanghai, is dispatched to the remote frontier of Thundergate at the behest of his uncle, James Sanderson, to supervise a monumental bridge project commissioned by the Chinese government. Under the ostensibly benign gaze of Ray Williams, the construction manager who covertly serves imperialist interests, Wells is lured into a narcotic haze that erodes his diligence and spirals him into a state of languid neglect. In this stupor, he encounters the errant heir of the enigmatic Lord of Thundergate, whose uncanny resemblance to Wells triggers a daring exchange of identities. The swap catapults Wells into a labyrinthine conspiracy, where he must navigate treacherous sabotage, a burgeoning romance with a Chinese‑reared white woman, and a grueling path toward physical redemption, ultimately emerging as a reluctant hero whose dual heritage becomes the linchpin of his salvation.
Synopsis
Robert Wells, an American youth who was reared in China, goes abroad for his uncle, James Sanderson, to assist in the construction of a bridge for the Chinese Government. Ray Williams, construction manager secretly employed by Chinese imperialists whose aim is to impede construction, introduces Wells to a narcotic that when taken causes him to neglect his work. Wells is in a dissolute stupor when the wayward son of the Lord of Thundergate meets him by chance and, noting the striking resemblance between them, exchanges identities with Wells, who as a result becomes involved in a daring conspiracy culminating in romance with a Chinese-reared white girl and in his own physical rehabilitation.
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