Carl Crow gets a spot on the AmCham Shanghai wall….

How lovely to see that the American Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai has included Carl Crow in its timeline – apparently on the wall of their offices in Shanghai’s Portman Centre (not the city’s most wonderful piece of architecture, but never mind)…The mention notes Carl’s involvement in the negotiations in 1923 to secure the release of various foreign and Chinese hostages up in Shandong – a mission he undertook under the joint auspices of the AmCham and the Red Cross in Shanghai….of course if you want to know more my biography of Carl is still available (amazon.co.uk or amazon.com).

(photo courtesy of the extremely talented snapper John van Fleet)

Eunice Tietjens China Poems Republished

I’m very pleased to say that my little new year posting of some (now) rather obscure Eunice Tietjens poems from China, all written c.1915, has inspired Camphor Press to reissue Tietjens collected verse on China – Profiles from China: Sketches in Verse of People & Things Seen in the Interior. It’s a very nice and very cheap e-book. Tietjens’s verse is problematic in many ways in 2018 – lots of ‘othering’ and so on – but she was a genuine visitor to China – including Shanghai’s International Settlement and Hong Kong – so her work has the value of being part of the collective memory of foreigners in China in the first half of the twentieth century.

With the Nederland Line to Java

Sail from Southampton (in 1937) down to the Dutch East Indies…delightful…

The Spectator’s Editorial on Nanking – September 1937

Here’s The Spectator’s editorial from 1937 on Nanking. Though we now think of The Speccie as the house journal of the more vulgar elements of the Tory Party, in the 1930s it was, for a period, one of the most outspoken English publications on the rise of fascism and German nazi-ism, as well as Japanese militarism and the threat to China, though the publication generally supported Chamberlain’s appeasement policy. It’s an interesing read anyway i think…

China on Film – A Feast for Lovers of Old China Footage

I spent much of the summer as the Historical Consultant on a two-part documentary, China on Film. The documentary was produced by Make Production for Channel News Asia in Singapore, directed by Jeremy Bristow and narrated by the cinematographer Christopher Doyle. The documentary covers film of China from the very earliest early twentieth century footage to the Second World War – most of it is from the treasure troves of the British Film Institute Archives in London. You can imagine that a summer in a dark room watching footage of old China and trying to work out where, what, who and when was about the best summer imaginable for me!!

Anyway, you can watch the two episodes here on Channel News Asia’s website….

RAS Shanghai Chinese History Club – The Uyghurs Across China – 9/1/18

The Uyghurs across China

Speaker: Peter Hagan

During the session we will hear and discuss Peter Hagan’s presentation on “The Uyghurs across China”; Uyghur Khaganate and the Tang Dynasty relationship, how the Uyghur society changed when the Khaganate collapsed.

Chinese History Study Group meets monthly – generally the second Tuesday of each month September through June. Our members select and research topics of personal interest, make brief oral presentations, then engage in discussion with those attending the talk. Each month one or two members discuss their topics.

For a list of future topics and presenters, please contact convener Furkan Erdogan studygroup@royalasiaticsociety.org.cn

Peking – 1937 – Today – A Murder Occurred

Remebering Pamela Werner – whose murdered body was discovered today, 81 years ago, by the Fox Tower in Peking…

Royal Asiatic Society Beijing – “From Rebel to Reporter: 40 Years Working in China” By former CNN Bureau Chief Jaime FlorCruz – 23/1/18

“From Rebel to Reporter: 40 Years Working in China”

By former CNN Bureau Chief Jaime FlorCruz

In August 1971, Jaime FlorCruz was a left-leaning Filipino student, leading a study tour to China for idealistic Filipino activists. But back in Manila then-strongman Ferdinand Marcos put his name on an immigration blacklist and declared martial law. FlorCruz risked arrest — and worse — if he were to return to his homeland under Marco’s repressive rule. As a result, he and four other Filipinos from his group embarked on a new life in China, an experience he described (on hindsight) as being “stranded in the right place at the right time.” In his talk Jaime will recount his unique nearly five-decade-long journey through Chinese contemporary history. He’s worked on a state farm and a fishing boat. He entered Beida after it reopened following the Cultural Revolution, counting among his schoolmates famous names such as Li Keqiang and Bo Xilai. And, after the late Deng Xiaoping declared an era of “reform and opening up”, FlorCruz began an unexpected career in journalism. He worked first for Newsweek, then Time, and finally as CNN’s Beijing Bureau Chief before retiring in Dec. 2014 — after the longest single unbroken stay in Beijing by a foreign correspondent.

WHAT: Former CNN Bureau Chief Jaime FlorCruz on “From Rebel to Reporter: My Four Decades Working in China”
WHEN: Jan. 23, 2018, Tuesday from 8:00 – 9:30 PM
WHERE: The Bookworm, Building 4, Nan Sanlitun Road, Chaoyang District, Beijing tel: 6586 9507
HOW MUCH:
Free for RASBJ and Bookworm members but advanced registration required;
RMB 80 with advanced registration for non-members/general public (includes welcome drink);
RMB 100 at the door on a SPACE AVAILABLE BASIS
RSVP: https://yoopay.cn/event/55554187