The Inevitable China Barbie pics

As it is apparently obligatory to post Barbie pics this summer, here’s a reminder from 1998 of Qipao Barbie and Chinese Empress Barbie….

My Review of the British Museum’s China’s Hidden Century Exhibition for the South China Morning Post Weekend Magazine

My long read review of the China’s Hidden Century exibition on at the British Museum until 18th October 2023 for the South China Morning Post’s weekend magazine… click here…

Xi Jinping’s economic strategies, explained

My July author Q&A colum for the China-Britain Business Council’s Focus magazine with Andrew Cainey and Christiane Prange’s on their book Xiconomics: What China’s Dual Circulation Strategy Means for Global Business (Columbia University Press)… click here…

Covert Colonialism – Governance, surveillance and political culture in British Hong Kong, c. 1966-97

Florence Mok’s Covert Colonialism looks interesting….

This book fills the long-standing void in the existing scholarship by constructing an empirical study of colonial governance and political culture in Hong Kong from 1966 to 1997.Using under-exploited archival and unofficial data in London and Hong Kong, it overcomes the limitations in the existing literature which has been written mainly by political scientists and sociologists, and has been primarily theoretically driven. It addresses a highly contested and timely agenda, one in which colonial historians have made major interventions: the nature of colonial governance and autonomy of the colonial polity. This book focusing on colonialism and the Chinese society in Hong Kong in a pivotal period will generate meaningful discussions and heated debates on comparisons between ‘colonialism’ in different space and time: between Hong Kong and other former British colonies; and between colonial and post-colonial Hong Kong.

HK$3 Stamp, 1905

HK$3 Stamp, 1905 with head of Edward VII….

Book #28 on The China Project Ultimate China Bookshelf – Wu Ting-fang’s America Through the Spectacles of an Oriental Diplomat (1914)

In Wu Ting-fang’s 1914 travelogue “America, Through the Spectacles of an Oriental Diplomat” – the latest on The China Project’s Ultimate China Bookshelf – the former Qing diplomat observes American society while asking big questions, many of which are still relevant. Click here to read…

BTW: the book is available to buy here or read on Project Gutenberg here.

The Junkman Smiles and Botel Tobago

I found myself browsing through GRG Worcester’s memoir of his years as a Chinese Imperial Maritime Customs Officer, The Junkman Smiles. Published in 1959 it is about the first half of the twentieth century, or just before WW1, concluding with the author and his wife being interned by the Japanese in China. If you have a particularl interest in junks, traditional Chinese sailing craft of the intricasies of the customs then this might be the book for you, otherwise it is, I fear, a little dull.

But it does have a great frontpiece map…and among a few other little idiosyncracies it also identifies Botel Tobago, which you don’t see on many maps.

Botel Tobago is an island off the southern coast of Taiwan more often referred to in English as Orchid Island (Tao as Ma’ataw, Irala and Tabako are other alternative names). The Chinese knew it as “Redhead Island” (Hung-t’ou Yü). Botel Tobago is the original name used for the island by the Philippines and was formerly the mostly common attributed name by English language sources. There is also a smaller island off the southern coast of Botel Tobago known as Little Botel Tobago.

Not much goes on on Botel Tobago – mostly fishing and a Taipower nuclear waste facility. When a 7-Eleven opened on the island in 2014 it was big news. There’s a small airport and a ferry from Houbihu port in Kenting.

China Jewellery Company of Shanghai

A pair of Chinese silver smokers stands, circa 1900, stamped ‘C.J. Co, Sterling’. Each with a dragon decorated matchbox holder on a circular ashtray with three cigarette holders, height 10.5cm, diameter 11.5cm, weight 144 and 162 grams. (2) ‘C.J.Co’ were the China Jewellery Company who were active in Shanghai between 1875 and 1920.