William Empson Remembered on Marchmont Street

Dear old Bloomsbury…I was there last week and noticed a blue plaque I never had before on Marchmont Street (walked by maybe 3 or 4,000 times!) to William Empson (1906-84), the English literary critic, poet and China Hand. In fact the plaque was only unveiled in June 2011 by Empson’s family, I found out on the internet, so I needn’t feel too foolish. If you don’t know Empson then do look him up (his Wikipedia entry here in probably as good a place as any to start). Or there’s a good essay on Empson by Frank Kermode form the London Review of Books here.

He was an odd sort and I’ve never got very far with his poetry but he pops up regularly in memoirs of 1930s ex-pat China, usually doing or saying something charmingly bonkers. He moved around teaching but his posts were always being disrupted by the Japanese invasion – he’s mostly associated with Peking and Peking University but then taught at the relocated universities in Kunming after the full-scale Japanese invasion.

Midnight in Peking Available on Kindle Now

At last, for everyone who complained to me about how long it took for a Kindle version to be available – here it is on Amazon.com at last….(Amazon.co.uk from May 31st)

A Wee Bit of Chinois Going on and some Opium in Sherlock Holmes 2

Finally got to see the second Guy Ritchie Sherlock Holmes flick – Game of Shadows. Early on in the film Holmes (Robet Downey Jr) disguises himself as a Chinese man with a bit of an opium thing (i think he’s posing as a Chinese opium merchant?) apparently going on complete with wispy beard, queue and various opium puffing accouterments. There’s also a reference to an opium traders death in a London newspaper.

After that I rather lost it a bit with the plot I’m afraid….

In case you were wondering there is no point to this post, just thought I’d mention it….

RAS Shanghai – The Missing Catalogue and Diaries of Pang Yuanji Pang and his Modern Art World – April 24

RAS LECTURE

Tuesday 24th April 2012 at 7.00pm

The Tavern, Radisson Blu Plaza Xingguo Hotel 78 Xingguo Road,Shanghai

KATHARINE BURNETT

ON

The Missing Catalogue and Diaries of Pang Yuanji

Pang and his Modern Art World

Wang Zhen (Wang Yiting) – “Pang Yuanji Holding a Rabbit,” 1927, hanging scroll,

ink and color on paper, 136.6cm x 69cm

Pang Yuanji (1864-1949) is well known for the important catalogues of his ancient painting collection that he compiled between 1909 and 1925, especially the Xuzhai Minghua Lu. Less recognized is his patronage of over 20 artists who lived and worked in his home. Less known still are his undertakings in transforming China’s public sphere. Despite Pang’s passion for collecting the Six Orthodox Masters, his own paintings in the literati mode, and his memberships of seemingly conservative painting societies, his activities with political, social, and arts reformers indicate a modernist sensibility. By examining Pang’s activities and network of associations, this lecture will attempt to provide a better understanding of Pang’s contributions toward modernizing China and its art.

Dr. Katharine Burnett is an Associate Professor at the University of California, Davis, where she teaches Chinese art history and culture. Her research considers issues including theory, criticism, connoisseurship, collecting, and display, and spans the late Ming through to the contemporary. Her book, Dimensions of Originality: Essays on Seventeenth-Century Chinese Art Theory and Criticism, is forthcoming summer 2012 from the Chinese University Press, Hong Kong. Her recent article, “Inventing a New ‘Old Tradition’: Chinese Art at the Panama-Pacific International Exposition,”《美術史與觀念史》(2010), and this lecture are aspects of her book in preparation, Pang Yuanji (1864-1949): Artist, Patron, Collector, Dealer.

Entrance: RMB 30.00 (RAS members) and RMB 80.00 (non-members). Those unable to make the donation but wishing to attend may contact us for exemption, prior to the RAS Lecture. Membership applications and membership renewals will be available at this event.  Members will have priority booking until 21th April 2012.

To RSVP:  Please “Reply” to this email or write to

RAS Bookings at: bookings@royalasiaticsociety.org.cn

The Baidu of 1941…The Shanghai Yellow Pages

…was the Shanghai Yellow Pages. Need an address, a supplier, a company, a store – basically the Yellow Pages was Baidu, Taobao, Tencent, Google and Alibaba all rolled into one. Of course I’m of an age that grew up using the Yellow Pages and indeed, when I first started a market research company way back when, the first item we had to get was a complete set of Yellow Pages!! For young people reading this blog Wikipedia actually has an entry to explain to you what a Yellow Pages is!

Midnight in Peking at the Georgia Center for the Book – Tuesday 24th April

I’ll be at the Georgia Center for the Book in Atlanta this Tuesday evening talking about Midnight in Peking…more details here

Georgia Center for the Book at DeKalb County Public Library
215 Sycamore Street Decatur, Georgia 30030
(404) 370-8450 x 2225

Coming Down Alert – Tanggu Road and one of the last of the beautiful Hongkew balconies

Pity old Tanggu Road (once Boone Road) – it was once one of Shanghai’s great streets and certainly one of the best north of the Suzhou Creek. The section of the street around the junction with Zhapu Road (formerly Chapoo Road) was the most impress. The modern day Shanghailander tendency to never venture north of Soochow Creek means many people have missed out on the architecture around this area – Zhapu Road, again one of old Shanghai’s more impressive boulevards, still has a number of impressive apartment buildings and commercial/retail premises along its length.

However, Tanggu Road has now been almost gutted to the point that it is no longer a street of any interest but rather just another bland, architecturally uninteresting thoroughfare. Some of the finest longtang on the street are now almost gone, those around the junction with Zhapu Road. Small balconies were a feature of the architrectural style around this area and you can see one of the last, and dilapidated, ones below. Shame, this was a nice stretch.

You can see some more on Tanggu Road (and naturally much better photography than me and my camera phone!) on sue Anne Tay’s blog here.

Tanggu Road south side looking east

One of the last of the distinctive balcony features that once characterised this area’s residential architecture

Boarded up at ground level and doomed

Archways were also distinctive features of this area of Hongkou

And Tanggu Road looking west towards Zhapu Road

Get Down to the Del Monte to see the Dixie Sisters

The Dixie Sisters may or may not have been any good as a “fast stepping song and dance team” and who knows who the other “8 additional high class acts” were – the whole thing was free so they may not have been exactly top rank. Still, it beats some nouveau riche overpriced bar full of Eurotrash on the Bund somewhere…and it all kicks off at 10.30pm