Fleming’s Thrilling Cities Reissued

Fantastic to see Ian Fleming’s (yes, the Bond guy, and brother of China explorer Peter) Thrilling Cities reissued. It’s been hard to find except in second hand stores for years and, if the store knew the value of it, expensive. But now it’s back as a Vintage Classic. Why should China Rhyming readers care? Surely it’s the elder Fleming brother, Peter, we care about? And usually yes, but in this case the cities that thrilled Fleming include Hong Kong and Macao. Fleming’s tour of Hong Kong in 1963 was courtesy of The Sunday Times correspondent Richard Hughes, a man so cool he became the model for Dikko Henderson in You Only Live Twice and “Old Craw” in John Le Carre’s superb novel of Hong Kong, The Honourable Schoolboy. Still Fleming only stayed three days. He moved on to Macao and then Tokyo though, if I recall correctly, Fleming basically thought Macao a seedy dump infested by gangsters, wastrels and Catholics! Below the lovely original cover…