Rana Mitter’s Chinese Characters Starts on BBC Radio 4 April 9th

An interesting new series from Rana Mitter on BBC Radio 4 (and then, presumably, on the BBC iPlayer for a time afterwards) – Chinese Characters….

In this first episode Rana Mitter tells the story of Wu Zetian, the only woman ever to rule as China’s emperor in her own right, in two thousand years of dynastic history. Even more remarkably, she did it during one of the finest moments of China’s cultural history – the medieval Tang dynasty.

Wu Zetian grew up as a lady of the court, but threw off her humility to plan her way to the top with strategic precision, leaving a trail of elite corpses along the way. Once on the throne, she secured China’s borders and promoted Buddhism as a powerful new religious force. Later, history condemned her as a dreadful anomaly, as women were never supposed to rule in traditional China. But she has had the last laugh – now regarded as a feminist icon in China with a 74-part TV soap opera dedicated to her rise and rule.

Starts BBC Radio 4 – April 9th – 1.45pm GMT

French Soldiers at the Cinema in Shanghai – They’re Almost as Bad as the Italians!!

I’ve talked before about Italian soldiers behaving badly in Shanghai’s cinemas – in 1937 Italian sailors rioted at the Isis Cinema in Hongkew, egged on by some local fascisti from the Italian community, complaining about a Soviet documentary detailing the Italian army’s abuses in Abyssinia. More on that here…

But it seems there was precedent.

In 1928, nearly a decade before former French soldiers, about 60 in total, turned up at the Carlton Theatre (Ka’erdeng) to protest a screening of Beau Geste. The Shanghai Municipal Police were in attendance but were, apparently sympathetic towards the veterans. But why Beau Geste?

There are several movie versions of Beau Geste and we’re talking about the 1926 Ronald Coleman version from Paramount, based on Percival Christopher Wren’s novel. Michael “Beau” Geste leaves (a pre-WW1) England in disgrace and joins the infamous French Foreign Legion. He is reunited with his two brothers in North Africa, where they face greater danger from their own sadistic commander than from the rebellious Arabs. It was the biggest movie in box office terms in 1926. I’m assuming the French veterans objected to the sadistic French commander, but if anyone knows different….???

Scott’s of Shanghai – The “best equipped funeral establishment in the Orient”

I’ve blogged about Scott’s the best known funeral directors in the Shanghai International Settlement – there’s a post on the firm’s history here…

I came across another ad for them the other day so best mention them again – this ad is from 1930. I still love that their cable address (their WeChat name of the day) was ‘Chincasket’. Their offices and private chapel were up on Kiaochow Road, now Jiaozhou Road…

Cha Journal Review of Bloody Saturday

My Penguin Special published last summer on the 80th anniversary of August 14th 1937 and the Bloody Saturday bombings in Shanghai was review in Cha Journal – click here to read…you can buy the e-book on amazon.com or amazon.co.uk.

“China Watching” during the GPCR with John Gittings – SOAS – 9/4/18

What should be a fascinating event for anyone in London this early April….

“China Watching” during the GPCR

John Gittings (SOAS, University of London)

9/4/18 – SOAS

50 years ago, John Gittings joined the Far Eastern Economic Review  in Hong Kong  as its “China Watcher”, following  the turbulent events of the  GPCR across the uncrossable Chinese border.  In 1971 he finally managed to visit the mainland, not as a journalist but with a delegation from the  Society for Anglo-Chinese Understanding .  At the time and after, both types of observation aroused controversy, with outside commentators criticised for Pekinology and lack of understanding, while “friendship” visitors were accused of bias and self-censorship.   In retrospect the limitations of both approaches are evident, whether arising from lack of information or failure of perception. Gittings looks critically at his own output as well as that of others and concludes that the insights gained then can still add to our understanding

More details here

Artificially Manufactured Shanghai and Natural Fun in Peking

I spoke last week at the Royal Asiatic Society’s debate on the relative merits of Shanghai vs Beijing at the Beijing Bookworm as part of the 2018 Beijing International Literary Festival…I mentioned a couple of quotes from Harold Acton’s fantastic 1941 novel (but about 1930s Peking) Peonies and Ponies. A couple of people asked me for the quotes but I never got their cards contacts, so here they are….

And, by the way, if you haven’t read the novel you really should….

First the ever entrepreneurial booster of old Peking to visiting tourists, writers and wealthy sojourners, Mrs. Mascot…

“Peking’s such loads of fun. Jugglers, fortune-tellers, acrobats, puppet-shows, temple tiffins, treasure hunts and Paomachang picnics – not to speak of costume jamborees, galas and fancy dress affairs – always something original! Home-made natural fun, not imported or artificially manufactured as in Shanghai. And there’s always a delicious spice of the unexpected.”

and now the more dour but traditional China-loving Philip Flower:

“Sufficient to know and be profoundly grateful, to realise that he was as far as it was possible to be from post-war politics and the general jumpiness of Europe while comfortably within the orbit of its dubious civilisation, imbibing serenity from the geometrical quietude of China’s ancient capital. And everything about him still remained supernatural, brought grist for pantheistic reverie and wonder.”

I’m sure you all know the types….!!

City of Devils Reviewed in the South China Morning Post – Sin city: book exposes gritty underbelly of 1930s Shanghai

So, one of the first reviews in is from the South China Morning Post in Hong Kong and they were, God love ’em, kind….click here to read…

Asian Books Blog – The Evolution of City of Devils

Many thanks to Rosie Milne who runs the excellent Asian Books Blog for inviting me to contribute a guest blog post about City of Devils: A Shanghai Noir (timely obviously as the book was released in Asia late last week)…as always seems to happen I started out trying to explain how a book intended to be solely about the city itself evolved into a character-driven literary non-fiction narrative, but ended up just listing books I love…..

click here for the whole blog post…