This volume, based on the French Quai D'Orsay's archives, depicts the saga of the post-Napoleonic France's desperate efforts to struggle for a strong presense in the Far East following the Opium War (1839-42), in competition with the much superiour British hegemony in the China Seas. The story is constructed around the outstanding and colourful personality of Dabry de Thiersant who served as the French Consul in Hankow during the 1870's. His efforts comprised diplomatic and military as well as commercial and missionary activities. While he launched his career as a shining meteor, he ended it in disgrace as a burnt out comet.