A Chinese Odyssey: Artists, Poets and Exiles in Interwar London – BBC Radio 3 – 6/2/22
Posted: February 3rd, 2022 | 1 Comment »A Chinese Odyssey: Artists, Poets and Exiles in Interwar London
Paul French explores a unique moment in British-Chinese solidarity between 1937 and 1945 when a small group of Chinese artists and intellectuals forged a unique bond between Britain and China through their work and presence. Paul French recovers the story.
On the first night of the Blitz, a bomb destroyed the Hampstead home of the best-selling Chinese artist and author, Chiang Yee. That night began the scattering of what had been an incredibly productive, influential and vibrant circle of Chinese émigré poets, journalists, playwrights, translators and artists who had gathered in London NW3.
Chiang Yee, Hsiung Shih-I, Dymia Hsiung and Hsiao Chien were in effect a ‘Chinese Bloomsbury’. Both in love with Britain, despite its Imperial racism, and in turn popular and well known on the British cultural scene crafting popular travel guides to the British terrain, a best-selling West End play, Lady Precious Stream, and broadcasting frequently to Britain and the Empire about China’s fate and freedom in a world hurtling to war.
Despite their influence and impact at the time, their historical presence has been almost totally overlooked. Paul French and actor/playwright Daniel York Loh retell this unique odyssey, a moment of war-born internationalism that placed such a creative group at the heart of empire .
Producer: Mark Burman
Thank you for this fascinating information. I just listened to your ‘Peking Noir’ audio drama. It was amazing. I am currently writing a work of historical fiction that is inspired by my English grandmother who married my Chinese grandfather in 1918 or 1919 in London, although I am setting it in Liverpool, I believe he passed through there. If I can finish this project, there is more to come that’s inspired by the next generation including an Uncle who moved to China around 1947 and managed to return to England in 1949, by the skin of his teeth, despite having renounced British citizenship. I’m interested in connecting with people who are also researching / writing about Chinese diasporic subjects. I have ordered your book, ‘Midnight in Peking’ and look forward to reading it. Best wishes Helen.