Reddit mentions of Empress Orchid: A Novel

I actually found it a relief to not be bogged down by magic. Fantasy doesn't have to have magic, it just has to be a different place or setup than history (alternate histories and dystopias are kind of a grey area for me - I usually call them sci-fi). Clockwork's just as interesting to me, especially when it's not just run by phlebotinum! The Winner's Curse is the only fantasy I can think of off the top of my head that had no magic whatsoever.

In terms of feel though, The Goblin Emperor reminded me more of Empress Orchid, in that someone young and mostly unprepared is thrust into a public role and the entire plot is built around learning and navigating the place and solving political crises. That's pure historical fiction though (1800s China).

Pretty much anything by Anchee Min should be right up your alley.

Empress Orchid is a sympathetic account about the early years of Empress Cixi, and continues in The Last Empress, which is significantly more brutal and gets deeper into the politics. Empress Orchid is one of my favorite books.

She's also written about Jiang Ching in Becoming Madame Mao, coming-of-age and schooling in Wild Ginger, and reeducation camps and the film industry in Red Azalea.

You might also be interested in Dai Sijie's Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress, which is a (depressing) historical novel about a reeducation camp in a small village.