Sir Frederick Bourne’s Gardening in Shanghai for Amateurs, Shanghai, Kelly & Walsh, 1925: third edition. Handier in 1925 it has to be said than a century later when gardens are pretty much a thing of the past in Shanghai. Bourne (1854–1940) was a British judge, diplomat and botanist who served in China with the British Supreme Court for China in Shanghai and at Weihaiwei (Weihai). He had first arrived as a student interpreter in China in March 1876. Bourne was also a keen botanist. He collected various botanical samples when in China. The genus Bournea of perennial flowering shrubs is named for him.
Looking for a serious Chinese read in translation this summer holidays? These two works by Xu Zechen (Two Lines Press, trans: Jeremy Tiang & Eric Abrahamson) – Beijing Sprawl and Night Train – are superb. I’ve made my feelings plain and they’ve stuck it on the back cover…..
A note to say I’ll be up at the Edinburgh International Book Festival this year, launching my own new book The Last Emperor: Twilight of the Forbidden City (Elliot and Thompson) but also chatting to writer/journalist Oliver Bullough. Following his oligarch-bustingButler to the World, Oliver Bullough is now hanging the world’s dirty money out to dry. In Everybody Loves Our Dollars, Bullough suggests there’s never been a better time to be a criminal in the UK. Moving and hiding money couldn’t be easier, and despite efforts to legislate, it’s estimated as much as 5% of world GDP is on the grubbier side. This revelatory conversation brings a murky underworld into razor-sharp focus. If you’d like to come and join us for a conversation – it’s on 24/8/26 and more details and tickets here…
Spent the day at the Musée de la Résistance in Limoges, France. Included in their collection this Vichyite poster aimed at Maghrebian Africa, Sub—Saharan Africa and French Indochina – Eric Castel, “Three colours, One Flag, One Empire”, published by the Secretariat of State for the Colonies – Information Service, 1941. Raoul Éric Castel (1915–1997), known professionally as Eric who specialised in travel and commercial posters for companies like Air France, Philips, and Tunis Air. He was also the designer with the highest number of official propaganda commissions for the collaborationist Vichy government, producing patriotic, pro-state, and anti-communist artwork.
The road to modern China began with the 1912 abdication of the final emperor Puyi and the establishment of the People’s Republic, ending half a millennium of imperial rule from the mysterious Forbidden City. Award-winning historian of modern China, Paul French, brings all his expertise to bear in the meticulously-researched The Last Emperor of China, and today reveals the hidden story of the last days of empire and how they influenced all that followed. Chaired by James Brodie.
The People’s Democratic Republic of Korea has become one of the most secretive and isolated societies in the world, with NGOs, UN agencies and even embassies being expelled from the country in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. In Witness to North Korea, Jerome Sauvage presents a unique first-hand account of life in North Korea based on his time as a UN Special Resident coordinator in Pyongyang. Recounting his work organising and delivering humanitarian aid, Sauvage reflects on his experience working with North Korean citizens, the successes, the setbacks and the missed opportunities. The book books asks the question: how can the world rebuild its relationship with this secretive regime.
The new biennial M Festival (so back in 2028) hosted and organised by Michelle Garnaut, formerly of M on the Bund and who many subscribers to this email will be familiar with, went off wonderfully at the end of July. Lots of great speakers, China as ever a major theme, wonderful food, music and parties…
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recalling the old days of the Shanghai French Concession
Finally got to share a stage with Anne Sebba to talk about Wallis Simpson’s life from Baltimore to China to London to Paris…
Dai Sijie’s novel (really a novella at under 200 pages) “5000 mètres avant l’aube”(Gallimard, 2026) is out in France, but I don’t know if/when there will be an English edition but it sounds like an interesting read….
In the jungle on the Sino-Burmese border, the Japanese army has built a POW camp on the site of a former Jesuit mission. Commandant Matsui, who runs the camp, rules with an iron fist — some buildings are reserved for biological weapons experiments on Chinese orphans.
A French pilot of Eurasian descent, Jean Sautet, is taken prisoner. Matsui is stunned – a former runner on the national team, he was beaten by Sautet at the 1924 Paris Olympics. He devises an outlandish plan – to rebuild the Parisian Olympic stadium in the jungle and rerun the race.
