An Episcopal minister, Dr. Herbert H. Gowen served in the department of Oriental Studies at the University of Washington (UW) teaching from 1909 until 1944. Josef Washington Hall was better known to newspaper rewaders as Upton Close. He was one of the best known correspojndfents in China during the 1920s (see my history of foreign correspodnents, Through the Looking Glass, for more on him).
Outline History of China was published in 1926 by D. Appleton and Company of New York and comes into the public domain this year.
Gowen in his office – with a very nioce Chinese screen
Pristine copies of Ellen Thorbecke’s beautiful 1940 book Shanghai complete with illustrations by the Austrian Shanghailander artist Schiff are rare and when they come up for grabs expensive. So the fact that a copy has been scanned into the Internet Achive is good news for all those of us financially challenged! Click here to view.
I happened to be at an event for the launch of Joseph Sassoon’s excellent study of the Sassoon family held at Hatchards bookshop on Piccadilly the other night. I used the lift at the rear of the shop, which I didn’t actually know existed. Inside is this plaque….
What interested me of couse was the mention of Joseph Banks, who of course is crucial to our understanding of Chinese botany and the recorded version of Lord Macartney’s Mission to China.
A piece by me for the Crimereads web site (here) on Qiu Xiaolong’s new Judge Dee reboot The Shadow of the Empire, the enduring global popularity of the franchise and its origins….
Shortly after the end of the War Chiang Yee, living in Oxford at the time, held his first post-war gallery show, and his first show for some time that wasn’t ostensibly about raising money for various charities and camapign groups supporting China’s war effort against Japan.
Billed as the “Silent Traveller” Chiang showed a range of his watercolours of English scenes that had ensured the Silent Traveller books to date in 1945 (Lake District, London, Wartime & Yorkshire Dales) sold so well.
The Royal Arcade (built in 1879) still exists of course, connects Old Bond Street with Albemarle Street. So too does #15, which was a first floor property accessed by a staircase, as you can see below. When the arcade was first built #15 was occupied by Smith & Sons (Umbrella makers), and is now Erskine, Hall & Coe, a Ceramics and Modern Art Gallery.
the New Bond Street end of the arcade
the interior walkway
the former entry to the Arcade Gallery which was on the first floor
the Albermarle Street, western, end of the arcade. the large arched window centre first floor is part of the Arcade Gallery
I have a new 4-part audio podcast, The Lady From Hong Kong, airing on Hong Kong’s RTHK3 all this week, then uploaded to Facebook and, eventually, to RTHK3’s podcast site. So, if you’re in Hong Kong the episodes are on everyday at 11.10am HK time, then on the RTHK3 Morning Brew Facebook page. Listen to Episode 1: The Lady Arrives here.
Chinese War refugee, drug mule & jilted lover. The true story of Seto Gin’s amazing jiourney from HK to the US, the man who did her wrong & the 1939 court case that decided her fate. A true intercontinental crime tale and the best 1940s Hollywood noir never made!
If you’ve listened to my recent BBC Radio 3 documentary A Chinese Odyssey: Artists, Poets and Exiles in Interwar London (and if not, it’s here) you’ll know that the London-resident Chinese artist, poet and author Chiang Yee published several childrens book featuring pandas, inspired by the 1938 arrival of the first giant pandas at London Zoo.
But he wasn’t alone in cashing on the panda craze that swept Britain in the late 1930s and during WW2. Here is Cecile Adair’s Peter and the Pandas published by George Harrap in 1943…
