North Korea. The Hermit Kingdom. For nearly eight decades, it has marched defiantly to its own beat, shaking off its Soviet and Chinese sponsors to emerge as the world’s most enigmatic nation–a nuclear-armed state ruled by a dictatorial dynasty unlike any before seen. Underpinning the state is a personality cult more soaked in religiosity than those constructed by Stalin or Mao–one that, unbeknownst to the world, traces its roots back to the Christian fervor of post-Civil War America. In Korean Messiah, Jonathan Cheng, the Wall Street Journal’s China bureau chief and former Korea bureau chief, takes us deep inside Pyongyang, a city once so dominated by Christianity it was known as the “Jerusalem of the East.” Cheng introduces us to Samuel Moffett, a Presbyterian missionary from Madison, Indiana, who would venture into Pyongyang at the turn of the nineteenth century and build a remarkable following–one that would include the very Kim family that today presides over one of the world’s harshest persecutors of the Christian faith. At the center of this story–its messiah–is North Korea’s founder, Kim Il Sung, son of two fervent Christians and progenitor of an ideology known as Kimilsungism, an exercise in idolatry that has elevated him, and his successor son and grandson, to Christlike status, from the humble manger where he was born to the subway seat on which the venerated leader once placed his posterior, cordoned off as if it were a religious relic. Drawing on letters, diaries, and never-before-unearthed archival material that temper and oftentimes contradict the glorious historical record promoted by Kim Il Sung’s legions of hagiographers, Korean Messiah tells the true story of a country shrouded in fictions.
Noted on a recent visit to Dr Jean Augustin Bussiere’s Western Hills home near Haidian – wooden barrels (presumably c.1920s/30s) stamped “Canton” in the Western Hills of Peking – did they transport wine to the north from the port of Canton (Guangzhou)? Any other theories of what might be required in Peking from Canton?
A rare (slightly chipped) Chinese blue and white armorial charger (ceremonial platter) with the arms of the Coelho family, Kangxi period, c.1715, incorporating a lion and seven hares, within bands of scrolling leaves and flowers. Formerly owned by António de Albuquerque Coelho de Carvalho (1682–1745) who held various administrative posts in the Portuguese colonial empire. Carvalho is believed to have received the plate while Governor of Macau from 1718 to 1719. He was later Governor of Portuguese Timor, 1722–1725.
“From the trenches of World War I to the heart of revolutionary China, Harold J. Timperley bore witness to some of the most turbulent events of the 20th Century. As a foreign correspondent, he exposed the brutality of Japan’s war in China, risking his life to document the horrors of the Nanking Massacre. As a propagandist for the Chinese government of the day, he helped shape global understanding of the conflict, and later as a diplomat, he walked the razor’s edge between impartiality and conviction during Indonesia’s fight for independence. In this meticulously researched biography, Brendan Cook unravels the complex legacy of a man revered by some and reviled by others—a man whose work influenced war crimes tribunals, challenged Western involvement in Asia, and helped to forge the modern Asian narrative. Drawing on personal letters, archival records, and eyewitness accounts, A Man of Exquisite Honour is a compelling portrait of a brilliant, difficult, and deeply principled figure whose life was defined by truth, justice, and sacrifice.”
Travel reprint house Eland reprinted Fleming’s News From Tartary some time back but Eland’s boss, Barnaby Rogerson, just did a neat little explainer on Fleming and the book for their website (here)
HMS Centurion, off Hong Kong, late 1890s, unknown artist….
Completed in 1894, Centurion was assigned to the China Station as its flagship. Together with her sister ship, Barfleur, she supported Allied operations during the Boxer Rebellion of 1899–1901 and contributed landing parties to participate in the Battles of the Taku Forts and of Tientsin. The ship returned home in 1901 to be rebuilt with a more powerful secondary armament. Centurion rejoined the China Station two years later and remained there until 1905 when she returned to Britain. Already made obsolete by the increasing speeds of the cruisers the ship was designed to defend against, she was placed in reserve until 1909. Centurion was decommissioned that year and sold for scrap in 1910.
HMS Blenheim off Hong Kong, early 1900s, unknown artist.
Blenheim was launched in 1890 and recommissioned 1901 with a complement of 593 men to serve at the China Station to support the British during the Boxer Uprising. In June 1902 she left China to visit Yokohama.
“Bestselling author Paul French travels to the most storied cities in China to tell the true tales of fascinating people who visited or lived in these places in the 19th and 20th centuries.
With a special focus on the glamorous years between the world wars, the Destination series describes the local and international assortment of adventurers, writers, spies, artists, socialites and scoundrels who inhabited Macao, Peking and Shanghai during that golden age.”
I often walk past Flagstaff House in Hong Kong Park and pay it little attention. It’s a rather mundane museum to tea ware and attracts few tourists or curious locals. However, it is the oldest western building in Hong Kong remaining, built in 1848 for Major D’Aguilar (who also got a street later) and known as Headquarters House. It became Flagstaff House in 1932 and was the residence and offices of the commander of British forces in Hong Kong till 1978.
With some time to kill recently I popped in and can report the two-storey Greek Revival structure is in good condition both in terms of interior and exterior, partly due to several renovations over its lifetime. The entrance is still impressive and the fireplaces have survived.
