All things old China - books, anecdotes, stories, podcasts, factoids & ramblings from the author Paul French
Book #24 on The China Project Ultimate China Bookshelf – tackling the Taiping with Stephen R Platt’s Autumn in the Heavenly Kingdom….click here
Author Mike Chinoy discusses his new book “Assignment China” with moderator Melinda Liu
WHEN: June 28, Wednesday, 7:00 to 8:00 PM Beijing Time (online)
MORE ABOUT THE EVENT: Published recently by Mike Chinoy, “Assignment China: An Oral History of American Journalists in the People’s Republic” tells the story of foreign correspondents in China and their coverage of stories from the 1940s’ civil war to the COVID-19 pandemic. The author uses the journalists’ own words to document the insights, trials and tribulations of the foreign media in China over a period of 70-plus years. Chinoy will discuss how the foreign media sought to “test the boundaries, challenge the restrictions on coverage…and explore parts of Chinese society that had long been off limits”, in conversation with foreign correspondent Melinda Liu.
HOW TO JOIN THE EVENT: Click “Register” or “I will Attend” and follow the instructions. After successful registration and payment, you’ll receive a confirmation email. If you seem not to have received it, please check your spam folder. If you encounter difficulties paying via WeChat Pay, you may wish to try Alipay instead. Members of partner RAS branches: Please register at least 72 hours in advance to allow time for membership verification. You will receive several emails from RASBJ: one confirming receipt of your registration request, another requesting payment, and a third confirming your registration and payment, with a link to join the event. In cases of non-payment, you will not receive login information. If you have questions please contact communications@rasbj.org
My monthly author Q&A for the China-Britain Business Council magazine Focus this June is with Vaudine England & her excellent new history of Hong Kong, Fortune’s Bazaar (CorsairBooks) – click here…
This is the logo of the Yamamoto photo studio in Peking from about 1914….
Bristol University’s Historical Phootgraphs of China (HPC) site has this to say of the man and his company:
Sanshichiro YAMAMOTO 山本讃七郎 (1855-1943) was a Japanese photographer, born in Okayama Prefecture. He had a photography studio in Shibahikage-cho (near present day Shimbashi Station) in Tokyo, Japan, from 1882 to about 1897. When news of the Boxer Uprising swept the world, he quickly went to Peking (Beijing) to photograph the historic activities of foreign troops in the capitol, including the Japanese. After photographing the aftermath in Peking (Beijing), he finally settled down in Tientsin (Tianjin) and opened his third photographic studio (Yamamoto Shōzō Kan or Yamamoto Syozo House), from where he sold photographs, souvenir photobooks and coloured post cards, taken in and around Beijing and North China. Yamamoto’s photographs were published in Views of the North China Affair, Picturesque Views of Peking and View and Custom of North China (1909).
For anyone who likes Wang Shuo’s novels or Jia Jiangke’s films (particularly Xiao Wu) then Xu Zechen’s newly translated (but composed of stories originally published in Chinese from around 2008 I think) Beijing Sprawl (Trans: Jeremy Tiang and Eric Abrahamsen) is a great read from Two Lines Press….
Helen FS Lopes’s new study of Macao’s neutrality and collaboration in WW2 looks fascinating….
The South China enclave of Macau was the first and last European colonial settlement in East Asia and a territory at the crossroads of different empires. In this highly original study, Helena F. S. Lopes analyses the layers of collaboration that developed from neutrality in Macau during the Second World War. Exploring the intersections of local, regional and global dynamics, she unpacks the connections between a plurality of actors with competing and collaborative interests, including Chinese Nationalists, Communists and collaborators with Japan, Portuguese colonial authorities and British and Japanese representatives. Lopes argues that neutrality eased the movement of refugees of different nationalities who sought shelter in Macau during the war and that it helped to guarantee the maintenance of two remnants of European colonialism – Macau and Hong Kong. Drawing on extensive research from multilingual archival material from Asia, Europe, Australasia and America, this book brings to light the multiple global connections framing the experiences of neutrality and collaboration in the Portuguese-administered enclave of Macau.
Cost: £15 per person HKS members / £25 non-members
Timings:
2.00pm: Cash Bar and Book Signings with authors
3.00pm: ‘In Conversation with the Authors’ followed by Q&A
4.00pm: Meet the Authors
5.00pm: Finish
‘In Conversation with the Authors’
Les Bird
Vaudine England
May Holdsworth
Simon Roberts
Other authors at the book signing:
Rachel Cartland
Hugh Davies
Sir Malcolm Jack
Jean O’Hara
Patricia O’Sullivan
We are delighted that the following authors have kindly accepted our invitation to join our first ‘In Conversation with the Authors’ panel event, where they will discuss their current books. There will also be ample time for questions and audience participation is encouraged!
All of the books listed below will be available for purchase and signing on the day or feel free to bring your own copies to be signed.
More details here
I wrote a piece about the birth of the Yakuza in Japan for the new issue of All About History magazine – the legends & the reality – the Samurai foundation myth & the story of the early tekiya temple fair peddlers & bakuto gamblers. There’s a lot else too, inc a history of Tiananmen Square….
