All things old China - books, anecdotes, stories, podcasts, factoids & ramblings from the author Paul French

Tickets for the 2019 Shanghai International Literary Festival are now on sale…

Posted: March 4th, 2019 | No Comments »

I’ll be appearing at a couple of events…

Destination Shanghai: The Lost, the Wanted, the Famous & the Forgotten Sojourners to China (moderated by NPR’s Rob Schmitz)…23/3/19 – 4pm – M on the Bund, Shanghai…

From the brief but crazy visits of American playwright Eugene O’Neil and British occultist Aleister Crowley, to recruiting spies on the Suzhou Creek while German silent movie stars flee from the Nazis to Hongkou. From the success of the Russian refugee chorus girls who became Hollywood stars and the writers who found their muse on the Bubbling Well Road, to the tragic murders and crimes of passion that characterised the darker side of Shanghai in the first half of the twentieth century. From around the world a fascinating range of people, at one time or another heard the siren call of Shanghai.

And I’ll be moderating the Australian travel writer Richard Fidler in taking about ancient Constantinople – 22/3/19 – 12 noon – M on the Bund…

Richard Fidler is the author of Ghost Empire, a history of the medieval Roman city of Constantinople. A thousand years ago, Constantinople was the greatest and richest metropolis in Europe. People from all over the world described it as a mirror of heaven. The Vikings called it ‘Miklagard’, the Big City. In China, it was known as Fu-Lin, a city of enormous granite walls and fantastical creatures. Positioned on the threshold of Europe and Asia, Constantinople became one of the world’s great centres of trade and culture. Yet the story of the city, and the great empire it ruled over, has largely been forgotten in the West. Richard Fidler and Paul French discuss the story of this lost city, and how its culture continues to haunt the world.

More details on booking tickets and other events – https://yoopay.cn/host/m-restaurantgroup?showevent=1

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