Forbidden City: Rise of the Empress
Part One
Hakkasan Nightclub Las Vegas
Behold the famed legend of the Empress of Hakkasan, who on Halloween night more than a century ago, saved the Forbidden City from the imminent invasion of four rebel emperors who sought to dethrone her, overtake the kingdom and seize the Golden Palace, Hakkasan’s crowned jewel and the most lavish of all marquee celebration quarters in the entire realm.
Get Hakkasan Las Vegas’s stories in your inbox
Join Medium for free to get updates from this writer.
What would transpire echoes vividly throughout modern Chinese mythology and has forever galvanized Hakkasan folklore.
The tale begins in the dead of night, when four conspiring monarchs breached the Forbidden City’s once unassailable walls in pursuit of the grandiose Golden Palace. Anticipating ferocious battle, the men diverged to ambush the guard, but were astonished to see the gates to the palace agape and abandoned. Stunned and weary, they stood flat, peering vigilantly past the vestibule into the great hallway aglow with candle-lit chandeliers and blinding gold-paved, wall-to-ceiling décor. Without an inkling of what awaited beyond their bleak visibility, the men edged heedfully toward the palace steps but were halted when the colossal solid gold gates behind them slammed shut.
A barrage of militia quickly swarmed and flanked the entryway, delivering a demoralizing blow to the four bewildered men who endeavored to take it. Refusing to surrender, the men stood brave and balked at no sign of the Empress, drawing their swords and cursing her name — demanding the Empress show her face or stand losing the thousand men that had besieged them.
Suddenly, below the dazzling crystal-paned atrium atop the Empress’s bedroom chamber, a figure of what appeared to be a bright, mystical silhouette of a tall, sleek and slender woman hovered gracefully. Its presence cast a near sinister spell amid the warrior brawn trembling beneath it. Paralyzed, the men gasped in fright and awe, and collapsed to their knees in enduring capitulation.
It was then that the Empress revealed herself. Draped symmetrically in her fitted satin, gilt-laced robe, she removed her bejeweled headdress, pulled the ivory fillet from her hair and stepped into the shimmering reflection of the starlit sky — unveiling her true identity to the men. The Empress glared stoically down upon them, hoisted her arms, condemned further blood shed and invoked a truce to all those who lust after her Golden Palace.
For the next four nights, the men were to compete for her honor and abide by her grace as ceremonial guests of the Golden Palace. They would be summonsed to entertain the Hakkasan Kingdom’s sovereignty during a weekend-long coronation commencing the Empress’s eternal legacy over the Forbidden City.
