Livraria Portuguesa, Macao

Just a quick post to say that all my books, plus the China Revisited series are on sale at Livraria Portuguesa in Macao….so, if you’re in Macao, pay a visit….

Scott D Seligman’s Murder in Manchuria Now Available for Pre-Order

Having had a sneak peak at an early draft of Scott Seligman’s Murder in Manchuria – now available for pre-order….out October (here on Amazon UK and Amazon US) from Potomac Books (available direct from them here)…

In Murder in Manchuria, Scott D. Seligman explores an unsolved murder set amid the chaos that reigned in China in the run-up to World War II. The story unfolds against the backdrop of a three-country struggle for control of Manchuria—an area some called China’s “Wild East”—and an explosive mixture of nationalities, religions, and ideologies. Semyon Kaspé, a young Jewish musician, is kidnapped, tortured, and ultimately murdered by disaffected, antisemitic White Russians, secretly acting on the orders of Japanese military overlords who covet his father’s wealth. When local authorities deliberately slow-walk the search for the kidnappers, a young French diplomat takes over and launches his own investigation.

Part cold-case thriller and part social history, the true, tragic saga of Kaspé is told in the context of the larger, improbable story of the lives of the twenty thousand Jews who called Harbin home at the beginning of the twentieth century. Scott D. Seligman recounts the events that led to their arrival and their hasty exodus—and solves a crime that has puzzled historians for decades.

Mekong Review – Aug-Oct 2023 – Memory & Reinvention

Love, Libel, Literature and Loss: the tribulations of the distinguished family of Chen Yuan and Ling Shuhua in 20th-century China, an RASBJ online talk by Frances Wood – 31/8/23

The story of the distinguished writer Ling Shuhua (1900-1990) and her affair with Julian Bell (1908-1937) is well known, involving Virginia Woolf and a more recent lawsuit in China. Her husband Chen Yuan (1898-1970) neglected by Shuhua, has also been neglected by historians but the recent publication of some of his diaries reveals much about the man, his family and his devotion to culture. He spent the period 1943-1946 in England, trying to set up a Sino-British Cultural Centre before he was appointed to represent China in UNESCO. His diaries present an extraordinarily detailed account of wartime London, with his almost daily visits to the theatre, sleep disturbed by nightly V-bombs and endless meetings with everyone from J.B. Priestley to Arthur Waley and Harold Laski.

This family had resided in a traditional Beijing mansion, two courtyards of which were restored to become today’s Shijia Hutong Museum. Located at #24 Shijia Hutong, it’s well worth a visit, featuring displays, photographs, material objects and detailed bilingual captions about prominent individuals and entities linked to this historic hutong.

Frances Wood studied Chinese at Cambridge and at Beida (Peking University). She was curator of the Chinese collections in the British Library for 30 years with a special interest in Dunhuang manuscripts.

This online event is free for members of RASBJ; RMB 50 for members of RAS branches; RMB 100 for non-members. Interested in becoming an RASBJ member? Please sign up at https://rasbj.org/membership

Please click “Register” or “I Will Attend” and follow the instructions. After successful registration you’ll receive a confirmation email with a link to join the event. If you seem not to have received it, please check your spam folder.

Members of partner RAS branches: Please register at least 72 hours in advance to allow time for membership verification; you’ll receive several emails from RASBJ: one confirming your registration request, another requesting payment, and a third confirming your registration with a link to join the event. Please check your spam folder to ensure you see all RASBJ emails.

If you experience difficulty paying via Wechat, please try Alipay instead. We hope to “see” you there!

Take a tour of Macao’s forgotten landmarks with New York Times best-selling author Paul French

In the Macao News – a few places I find interesting in Macao….click here

Hong Kong Around and About, Peplow & Barker, 1931

SH Peplow and M Barker’s Hong Kong Around and About, first published by the Commercial Press (a long standing and still existing press in Hong Kong – its history here) and then republished in a second edition in 1931 by the charmingly named Ye Olde Printerie, Ltd. of Hong Kong (more on that fascinating publisher later in another post). The first edition had a tan cover, the second a green one. Peplow and Barker designed the book as a guide for new arrivals to the colony – a lot of short entries of life, sights, customs etc and with a fold-in map of Hong Kong (all for a quite expensive at the time HK$5). Peplow was a Hong Kong colonial official of long standing (fully the land bailiff in 1927 and district officer in 1930 for the Southern District of the New Territories) while Barker, I think, was something of an expert on Chinese village life and traditions.

Bernard Leach’s Qianmen Gate, 1918

An illustration by Bernard Leach (1887-1979) was a potter, art teacher and writer born in Hong Kong. He attended the Slade in London studying under the legendary Frank Brangwyn. he became particularlu interested in Japan, taught there, mixed with Tokyo art circles. This illustration of the Qianmen (Chienmen) Gate in Peking is dated 1918 (by the auction house) but may possibly be earlier, perhaps as early as 1913. Leach was a friend and admirer of the German art critic Alfred Westhap, who was living in Peking from 1913 and who Leach may well have visited. Leach left Asia for England in 1920 and didn’t return to Asia till 1934, so that helps date the illustration.

Netflix’s Transatlantic and the story of the Chinese Visas out of Marseille in WW2

I am sure that many members know this story better than me (as it’s slightly confusing) but the Netflix show Transatlantic, based on the efforts of Varian Fry and the Emergency Rescue Commitee to assist Jewish artists and intellectuals escape the French Free Zone and Europe through Marseille does have a small China angle (in episode 6). It’s loosely based on Julia Orringer’s book, The Flight Portfolio.

It is a mix of fact, slightly altered facts and pure fiction, but it does reference the story of the Chinese Consul in Marseille who issued apparent visas that in Chinese characters said : “This person shall not, under any circumstances, be allowed to enter China.” But they looked and were official while Vichy French officials couldn’t read them and assumed them to be genuine transit visas thus allowing refugees to exit Vichy France. Some were also issued in Thai by the Kingdom of Siam Consul too, I believe – equally indecipherable to Vichy French officials. The series also shows the French Resistance forging Chinese visas – but i’m not sure this actually happened.

I don’t think anyone went from Marseille to China/Shanghai, but rather used them to get aboard boats to America. The French wised up to the Chinese/Siamese trick eventually.

Anyone who knows more how it all worked please get in touch?

Lisa Fittko mentions it in her memoirs – Escape Through the Pyrenees – and claims it was 100 Francs for a visa – I think she’s slightly misremembering as other sources say it was the visa application fee that was 100 Francs – the paperwork technically useless but fooled many immigration officers and border guards. The Chinese Consulate in Marseille was located at 26 Rue Nau, in the city centre and was open from 10 a.m. to 12 noon. An office in Rue Saint Ferréol also issued Chinese visas, apparently.