All things old China - books, anecdotes, stories, podcasts, factoids & ramblings from the author Paul French
Probably not many expats in China under 35 got to do this before they were flooded (oh, progress!!)…but in 1930 it was a popular trip for both Shanghailanders and sojourners passing through…
In the days of still ridiculous levels of bureaucracy in Beijing, of the nasty Chengguan thugs spare a thought for the poor waitresses of Peking in 1936, forced to register…’decorum and good custom’ sounds a little like today’s cries of ‘civilised behaviour’ and the nonsensical like. Of course it all failed – just how many waitresses registered with the police is unclear and the whole system collapsed in early 1937 and, of course, was swept away the following July by the Japanese invasion. Those with a keen eye will of course notice that waiters were not required to register – seemingly, in 1936 at least, Peking waiters were above suspicion when it came to decorum!!
The 5th generation of Chinese filmmakers looms large in Chinese film history, including such luminaries as Chen Kaige and Zhang Yimou. Karen’s talk will look at how some of the key producers of culture from this generation came into film largely by chance at a very unique moment in time, and how their formative years, shared historical background and training helped shape their choice of subject matters and the artistic quality of their works. It will also look at why their films attracted so much international acclaim at a time when Chinese cinema was relatively unknown, and why their subsequent films have lost much of the vigor and edge seen in the 1980s and early 1990s.
WHAT: “The Accidental Filmmakers:†5th Generation Directors and Their Avant-garde Artistic Movement—an RASBJ talk by Karen Ma
WHEN: Oct. 25, Tuesday, 7:30-9:00 PM
WHERE: Courtyard Institute, #28 Zhonglao Hutong, Dongcheng District www.
COST: Â 30 RMB for RASBJ members, 50 for non-members
RSVP: Please email events@rasbj.org and write “Karen Ma talk” in the subject header
MORE ABOUT THE SPEAKER:
Karen Ma is a Chinese-American author and journalist who has worked for and contributed to numerous publications, including The Japan Times, NHK, NPR, The International Herald Tribute, and the South China Morning Post. A long-time film critic for the Asahi Evening News, Ma is also the author of Excess Baggage, a novel about a Chinese family’s struggle in Tokyo during the 1990s. She currently works as a lecturer of film and culture at The Beijing Center.
I wouldn’t even suggest anybody set out to look for this village now – long, long gone – but just about there in 1945 when Edward Ward passed by on the river and took this picture for his book Chinese Crackers (1949).
Gilbert Ernest Hubbard’s The Temples of the Western Hills is a lovely classic published in 1923 by La Librairie Francaise of Peking and Tientsin. Hubbard (1885-1951) was a British diplomat, mostly in the Near and Middle East. Following a spell at the Foreign Office he became Private Secretary to Sir Hamar Greenwood, Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, subsequently taking up the position of First Secretary at the British Legation in Peking. He then acted as diplomatic agent to the Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank (HSBC) before becoming Far Eastern Research Secretary at Chatham House (I bet they don’t have that job title anymore, more’s the pity), followed by a second spell at the Foreign Office during the Second World War. During his Peking time he clearly took an interest in the Temples of the Western Hills. In retirement he wrote local history of the area in Kent where he settled (hence the cover below which is the only picture I have of him, obviously some years after his Western Hills adventures). The Librairie Francaise was, I think, the imprint of Henri Vetch in Peking (who I’ve blogged about before).
Here are some pictures from the book and a useful map of the temples – some modern day Beijinger may care to tell me which, if any, have survived? You’ll note that two of the pictures below are from the famous German-run Hartung’s photographic studio, which was in the Legation Quarter and in the 1930s employed Hedda Morrison as manageress. Additionally one is by Mrs Calhoun, who is Lucy Calhoun, former wife of the American Ambassador who returned, after his death, to Peking to run a popular and charming guest house in a siheyuan courtyard house. Mr ME Weatherall who took pone of the pictures was a long term employee with the Maritime Customs in Peking.
I’ve blogged repeatedly about the ongoing destruction to the Rue du Consulat (Jinling Road) area of Shanghai’s former French Concession. In my opinion the planned tearing down of much of the street, even if some facades are kept, is especially criminal as it is the last extant colonnaded street in the former French Concession. But Shanghai’s disastrously panned gentrification by bulldozer strategy (courtesy of the alliance of Communists and property developers) respects nothing historic or beautiful.
Here though is a picture I believe to have been taken on the Rue du Consulat around 1945/46 – i.e. the Rue du Consulat survived war and the Japanese but doesn’t look likely to survive the CCP!
This picture of Anna May Wong ran in numerous US newspapers in early 1937.
If you think Anna May looks rather melancholy and a little sad in this picture you’d be right. She was fed up – with Hollywood and America. After not being cast in the Hollywood adaptation of Pearl Buck’s The Good Earth (German actress Luise Rainer got the part she wanted) she went to China for a year. But that wasn’t all great either as she met with many fans but also some protests about parts she’d played previously that some felt cast China and the Chinese in a poor light. When this photograph was released Anna May told the papers she was unhappy, thought it unlikely Hollywood would ever give her any positive or challenging roles and that she wanted to go back to China. Fortunately she didn’t, as several months later the Japanese invaded.
Women of the Chinese red Cross Medical Relief Corps (CRCMRC) pictured in World War Two…some severe bobs and rather jaunty caps in full effect….
