Young China Watchers London – YCW London: Turning point in China-North Korea Relations? – 22/5/17

I don’t always note North Korea-related events I’m involved with on this blog – but this should be an interesting one given the times!

with Andrea Berger, Senior Research Associate at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies, and Paul French, author of “North Korea: State of Paranoia”

RSVP here

Monday, May 22, 2017, 7:00 pm

RUSI, 61 Whitehall, London SW1A 2ET

[6:30 pm] Doors Open [7:00 pm] Event Begins

In China, ties with North Korea have traditionally been referred to as “close as lips and teeth.” But with North Korea recently dropping the word “friendly” in describing China as “neighbour”, tension between the two allies is building.   Beijing has grown increasingly frustrated at North Korea’s actions, which in recent months includes pushing ahead with a nuclear programme, stating it is “ready” to sink a US aircraft Carrier, staging a grandiose military parade in commemoration of founding father Kim Il-sung, and assassinating Kim Jong Un’s brother Kim Jong Nam. Reflecting its growing discomfort, in 2016, China agreed to sanction North Korea in the UN Security Council and also rejected its coal exports. More recently, though, China has invited North Korea to its Silk Road Summit.   For its part, South Korea could advocate a softer stance toward Pyongyang and Beijing under new President, Moon Jae In, who may also reevaluate the US THAAD missile shield program.   US President Donald Trump’s military response in Syria adds to the complexity, though as he learned fom a 10-minute crash course by Chinese President Xi Jinping, “It’s not so easy.”   What are the driving factors in the China-North Korea relationship and what is its future? About Andrea Berger Andrea Berger is a London-based Senior Research Associate at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies, where she focuses on East Asian nuclear issues, export control and sanctions, and proliferation finance. Andrea is also a contributor to the Arms Control Wonk blog and a co-host of the Arms Control Wonk podcast.   Between 2012-2015, she led Track 1.5 security talks with the North Korean People’s Army and Worker’s Party in Pyongyang and London. Prior to joining CNS, Andrea was the Deputy Director of the Proliferation and Nuclear Policy team at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI), and directed the UK’s network of next-generation nuclear professionals. She also worked for the Government of Canada in a number of analytical capacities, lastly in Global Affairs Canada.   Andrea holds a BA (Hons) in Political Science from Carleton University and an MA in International Peace and Security from King’s College London. About Paul French Paul French is an author and journalist specialising in China and North Korea. His history of the DPRK – North Korea State of Paranoia – was first published in 2004 and has been constantly updated and reissued ever since. He is also the author of the e-book Our Supreme Leader: The Making of Kim Jong-un.   French lived in China for many years and first visited the DPRK in 2002. French appears regularly to commentate on the DPRK on BBC TV and radio, Channel 4 News and via op-eds in the Washington Post and Reuters among others. Venue Details for RUSI Address: 61 Whitehall, London SW1A 2ET. Library at RUSI

The Dollar Line’s Subliminal Travel Lure, 1929

The Dollar Line offered steamships from Los Angeles around the world – but, in 1929, their biggest office outside the USA was on the Shanghai Bund – hence, I can only assume, the subliminal advertising image of a pagoda….

Royal Asiatic Society Shanghai – Whitey Smith in Shanghai’s Jazz Age: The Man Who Taught China to Dance – 18/5/17

To note the re-publication of Whitey Smith’s fantastic I Didn’t Make a Million by Earnshaw Books…

Whitey Smith in Shanghai’s Jazz Age: The Man Who Taught China to Dance

Speaker: Andrew Field and Graham Earnshaw

JOINT EVENT The Hopkins China Forum and RAS

Shanghai 1929 – Shortage of Yanks but Plenty of Portuguese

I’m no demographer but I’m betting Yanks outnumber Portuguese and Swiss in Shanghai these days….

Royal Asiatic Society Beijing – Saturday, May 20: “The Wild Ming Tombs, a guided tour”.

Saturday, May 20: “The Wild Ming Tombs, a guided tour”

You’re invited to view with fresh eyes the imperial necropolis north of Beijing –- which even today inspires tomb robbers and tales of imperial excess –- featuring sites rarely seen on the usual tours. We’ll trace the footsteps of emperors travelling to the Ming Tombs, stopping at the partially restored ruins of Gong Hua Cheng, a garrison town where imperial entourages rested, before passing by the Spirit Way and visiting the imperial tomb Zhaoling. We’ll see the lonely grave of the last Ming Emperor’s loyal eunuch, who stayed by his master in death as in life, as well as burial sites of concubines and an empress. The tour includes a 15-dish village lunch, and a stop at one of Beijing’s last imperial tile factories, which produces the colorful roof tiles and animal-shaped ornaments seen on tomb structures and other imperial architecture. Commentary will be provided in English by Ming and Qing history specialist Zhu Wei of the Chinese Academy of Cultural Heritage, part of the Chinese World Heritage Center, with additional comments (and translation if needed) by RASBJ officers.

WHAT: A “Wild Ming Tombs” tour with commentary by Zhu Wei
WHEN: Saturday, May 20, 09:00 AM – 18:30 PM
HOW MUCH: Members RMB 250, non-members RMB 300, which includes the cost of the bus and audiophones, Zhaoling entry tickets, lunch and an honorarium to Zhu Wei. Please pay no later than May 18 via yoopay at https://yoopay.cn/event/38347308 or via wechat to  johnobeijing (he’ll have to friend you first) and please write “RASBJ Wild Tombs” plus names of attendees being paid for.
TRANSPORT: The bus leaves from outside the Hilton Hotel, east 3^rd Ring Road, near Liangmaqiao subway stop, at 09:00 AM and returns there around 18:30 PM, depending on traffic.
RSVP: email communications.ras.bj@gmail.com and write “Wild Tombs” in the subject header, with attendees’ names and cell numbers

IMPORTANT:

• Attendees will be limited to 12; RASBJ members have priority until Wednesday, May 17.
• Members will be accepted on a first-come-first-served basis until May 17; payment is due May 18. Each can ask to reserve one seat (for himself or herself) plus up to three others. Due to limited seating, it may not be possible to guarantee that non-members -– even relatives or friends of members –- can be accommodated.
• Non-Members may apply no later than May 17, and will be informed ASAP if seats are/become available.
• Between May 15-19 RASBJ will email those with confirmed seats.
• Payment is required by noon May 18. Seats requested but not paid for by May 18 will be given to others.

Please dress appropriately, with footwear suitable for walking on uneven ground

On China’s Great Books: An Interview with Frances Wood

My latest for the Los Angeles Review of Books China blog – the arduous task of having lunch with Frances Wood and talking about books from China and her own new Great Books of China….honestly, how we suffered….click here to read

Fleischmann’s Yeast, Shanghai and Mrs Julia Stafford (and her son Billy), 1923

Fleischmann’s Yeast was once a very well known and heavily advertised American brand of yeast. Since its heyday in before the war it’s gone through many changes of ownership though still exists. The company was founded and originally based in Cincinnati. Interestingly it used Shanghai in its advertising in the 1920s….This ad from 1923…..

and here’s our lovely yeast-enhanced Shanghailander couple….

Here is the testimonial from Mrs  Julia W. Stafford of Shanghai regarding her eight-year-old son Billy – have to say the picture looks a little flapper-age photo-shopped (which was possible – just flick through Cecil Beaton’s work). The picture may be a bit doctored but Julia is real enough…Julia (nee Wright) Stafford was the wife of the Treasurer for the East China Mission (American Baptist missionaries) based in Shanghai, Roy Davis Stafford. He had met Julia, a Vasser graduate, when she was editor of the Helping Hand magazine (a Baptist missionary publication). They apparently had a large centrally located house in the Settlement and had arrived in the city since in 1909.

However, Julia’s testimonial has been around for some time – this ad/endorsement appeared in the American newspapers in 1923 claiming Billy as eight – meaning he was born in 1915. However, there are references in Shanghai to Billy Stafford back in 1912 as a baby – he was actually born in 1911 in Shanghai. Seems Fleischmann’s had been ‘recycling’ Julia’s testimonial for some time. Incidentally Billy had a brother, Mial Davis Stafford, born in Shanghai in December 1918 and a sister. At the end of the 1920s the family left Shanghai to live in Berea, Kentucky, where Julia’s husband was the Treasurer of Berea College. Billy died in New York in 1983 at 72 years of age: Mial died in Georgia in 2008 at 90.

The use of Mrs Stafford is not accidental – In the 1920s Shanghai, and all China potentially, was becoming a major new market for yeast and for Fleischmann’s brand. This news hot off the press in 1924 (and with more than China Rhyming moment for this old China retail market analyst!) – growth in popularity in fresh bread, yeast plants near Shanghai, the move from rice to flour….remember this was 1924 – as they say ‘don’t hold your breath’!!

China’s Asian Dream: Empire Building Along the New Silk Road – Tom Miller – SOAS – 15/5/17

A public talk in London that might interest China Rhyming readers…

China’s Asian Dream: Empire Building Along the New Silk Road

Tom Miller

In this talk, Tom Miller talks about his new book, China’s Asian Dream: Empire Building Along the New Silk Road.

“China”, Napoleon once remarked, “is a sleeping lion. Let her sleep, for when she wakes she will shake the world.” In 2014, President Xi Jinping triumphantly declared the lion had awakened. Under his leadership, China is pursuing a dream to restore its historical position as the dominant power in Asia.

Combining a geopolitical overview with on-the-ground reportage from a dozen countries, China’s Asian Dream offers a fresh perspective on the rise of China’ and what it means for the future of Asia?