Han Suyin

I note that Han Suyin, best known for her book A Many Splendoured Thing which was subsequently a big movie, passed away recently. A lot of obituaries around including this in The Guardian and others. Her book and film shocked Hong Kong at the time and, though the film starred William Holden as an American, her foreign lover had of course been Ian Morrison, the son of George “Morrison of Peking” Morrison who died covering the Korean War. Her early life was fascinating including studying at Yenching and marrying a KMT officer before the revolution. Naturally the obits talk of her difficult and problematic relationship to Mao’s China which was a problem for many readers, especially her initial defense of the Cultural Revolution, simply because it was a difficult and problematic relationship for her too.

I’ll post some classic covers of her books on my tumblr site…