Strange Tales of Old Macao – Livraria Portuguesa, Macao – March 2023 – Video

Posted: April 6th, 2023 | No Comments »

Old Macao keeps recurring in the research and writing of author Paul French. From European Jewish refugees & escaping British spies in the “Casablanca of the Orient” in WW2, to Portuguese gangsters running contraband to 1930s Shanghai and investing their profits in lavish casinos. In this talk French details a few stories that have intrigued him over the years – did Japan try to buy Macao in 1936?; Were the men who declared Macao a Republic in 1930 revolutionaries or extortionists?; Who was the European who escaped across the border from China in 1956 and begged to stay in Macao – a hardened criminal or a poor stateless refugee? French will discuss these and other strange tales of old Macao. Click here to watch…

Paul French is the author of the New York Times Bestseller Midnight in Peking and Kirkus-starred City of Devils: The Two Men Who Ruled the Underworld of Old Shanghai. Both books are currently being developed as movies. He is currently working on a biography of the inspirational year (1924/1925) Wallis Spencer, later the Duchess of Windsor, spent in China for publication in 2024. He is also the author of Strangers on the Praia, an investigation into the little-known story of the European Jewish refugees who came to Macao from Shanghai in World War Two and the role they played in resisting the Japanese.

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