Two untitled studies of Chinese subjects by British artist Hilda May Gordon (1874-1972). Painted during her visit to China on a multi-stop six year tour of Asia between 1922-1928….
Gordon grew up on the Isle of Wight to Scottish parents who had previously lived in South Africa. She studied in part under the highly influential Frank Brangwyn. In 1922 she embarked on an independent round-the-world trip which eventually took six years to complete and involved visiting 22 different countries, including a number of the Balkan countries, Greece, India, China, Korea and Japan
Happy Publication Day to Jerome Sauvage, whose fascinating memoir of working for the UN in the DPRK, Witness to North Korea, reveals the country at a crucial time for the regime and the UN organisation is now available everywhere. It’s the latest book in my Bloomsbury Asian Arguments series of shorter books on contemporary Asian issues…. And here’s the author in conversation about his experiences and the book with Alannah Hill of the essential NK News….
Learnt something new today….. This type of French brioche is called Le Chinois because of a popular French idiom. It actually originates from Germany and the Alsace-Lorraine region of France, where its traditional name is Schneckenkuchen (literally meaning “snail cake” due to its spiral, snail-like shape). When the pastry was first imported into wider France bakers understandably found Schneckenkuchen entirely impossible to pronounce. In French, when something is completely incomprehensible, people say, “C’est du chinois” (literally, “It’s Chinese to me”). The nickname stuck. Bakers referred to the cake as “that Chinese stuff,” and the shorthand nickname Chinois permanently stuck as its official French name. So now you know too…
A short video from a visit to Bussière Garden (Jardin Bussière) in the Western Hills just outside Beijing last March with the Royal Asiatic Society Beijing. Just before exploring the former weekend retreat of long time Peking resident, doctor and salon host Jean-Augustin Bussière (1872-1958) we stopped for lunch nearby. It’s only ten minutes or so but Bussière, his life and friends are all fascinating. Click here to watch…
