The story of the distinguished writer Ling Shuhua (1900-1990) and her affair with Julian Bell (1908-1937) is well known, involving Virginia Woolf and a more recent lawsuit in China. Her husband Chen Yuan (1898-1970) neglected by Shuhua, has also been neglected by historians but the recent publication of some of his diaries reveals much about the man, his family and his devotion to culture. He spent the period 1943-1946 in England, trying to set up a Sino-British Cultural Centre before he was appointed to represent China in UNESCO. His diaries present an extraordinarily detailed account of wartime London, with his almost daily visits to the theatre, sleep disturbed by nightly V-bombs and endless meetings with everyone from J.B. Priestley to Arthur Waley and Harold Laski.
This family had resided in a traditional Beijing mansion, two courtyards of which were restored to become today’s Shijia Hutong Museum. Located at #24 Shijia Hutong, it’s well worth a visit, featuring displays, photographs, material objects and detailed bilingual captions about prominent individuals and entities linked to this historic hutong.
Frances Wood studied Chinese at Cambridge and at Beida (Peking University). She was curator of the Chinese collections in the British Library for 30 years with a special interest in Dunhuang manuscripts.
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SH Peplow and M Barker’s Hong Kong Around and About, first published by the Commercial Press (a long standing and still existing press in Hong Kong – its history here) and then republished in a second edition in 1931 by the charmingly named Ye Olde Printerie, Ltd. of Hong Kong (more on that fascinating publisher later in another post). The first edition had a tan cover, the second a green one. Peplow and Barker designed the book as a guide for new arrivals to the colony – a lot of short entries of life, sights, customs etc and with a fold-in map of Hong Kong (all for a quite expensive at the time HK$5). Peplow was a Hong Kong colonial official of long standing (fully the land bailiff in 1927 and district officer in 1930 for the Southern District of the New Territories) while Barker, I think, was something of an expert on Chinese village life and traditions.
An illustration by Bernard Leach (1887-1979) was a potter, art teacher and writer born in Hong Kong. He attended the Slade in London studying under the legendary Frank Brangwyn. he became particularlu interested in Japan, taught there, mixed with Tokyo art circles. This illustration of the Qianmen (Chienmen) Gate in Peking is dated 1918 (by the auction house) but may possibly be earlier, perhaps as early as 1913. Leach was a friend and admirer of the German art critic Alfred Westhap, who was living in Peking from 1913 and who Leach may well have visited. Leach left Asia for England in 1920 and didn’t return to Asia till 1934, so that helps date the illustration.
I am sure that many members know this story better than me (as it’s slightly confusing) but the Netflix show Transatlantic, based on the efforts of Varian Fry and the Emergency Rescue Commitee to assist Jewish artists and intellectuals escape the French Free Zone and Europe through Marseille does have a small China angle (in episode 6). It’s loosely based on Julia Orringer’s book, The Flight Portfolio.
It is a mix of fact, slightly altered facts and pure fiction, but it does reference the story of the Chinese Consul in Marseille who issued apparent visas that in Chinese characters said : “This person shall not, under any circumstances, be allowed to enter China.” But they looked and were official while Vichy French officials couldn’t read them and assumed them to be genuine transit visas thus allowing refugees to exit Vichy France. Some were also issued in Thai by the Kingdom of Siam Consul too, I believe – equally indecipherable to Vichy French officials. The series also shows the French Resistance forging Chinese visas – but i’m not sure this actually happened.
I don’t think anyone went from Marseille to China/Shanghai, but rather used them to get aboard boats to America. The French wised up to the Chinese/Siamese trick eventually.
Anyone who knows more how it all worked please get in touch?
Lisa Fittko mentions it in her memoirs – Escape Through the Pyrenees – and claims it was 100 Francs for a visa – I think she’s slightly misremembering as other sources say it was the visa application fee that was 100 Francs – the paperwork technically useless but fooled many immigration officers and border guards. The Chinese Consulate in Marseille was located at 26 Rue Nau, in the city centre and was open from 10 a.m. to 12 noon. An office in Rue Saint Ferréol also issued Chinese visas, apparently.
The Rue Nau today
Buildings on the Rue Nau (not the Chinese Consulate), 1930s
Many thanks to Maureen (and Lara) de la Harpe for sending a copy of their fascinating Dinner at the Cathay. Lots of good Shanghai detail and the family were interned at Lunghwa. Available on amazon etc….
Ker Gibbs was president of the American Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai for many years, focusing on US-China relations and business issues facing American companies operating in Asia. Before that, he worked for a number of large US corporations in China, including Boston Consulting Group, Apple and Disney, and also advised Chinese companies such as Alibaba and Baidu. Currently, he is an Executive in Residence at the University of San Francisco and is a member of the National Committee on US-China Relations.
Now, Ker has edited a collection of essays on doing business in China – a collection that often demonstrates that it is the business community that currently understands China best in this time of tensions between Beijing and the West. Selling to China: Stories of Success, Failure and Constant Change(Palgrave) brings together a host of US and Chinese experts to discuss various sectors – from legal to social media, sports to logistics. Expert contributors include senior executives from Wunderman, Procon Pacific, Chrysler, 3M, EF Education First in China and law firm Hogan Lovells.
Paul French caught up with Ker for the China-Britain Business Council magazine Focus to discuss why businesspeople can be great diplomats, how business can cut through the current tensions, and where the commercial world of China might be in the future. Click here…
Book #32 – Philip Snow’s The Fall of Hong Kong is the definitive account of the Japanese invasion and occupation of Hong Kong starting on Christmas Day 1941, through the Imperial Army’s departure and the rebuilding of this British colony.
