Ethnic Renewal in Philadelphia’s Chinatown

Kathryn Wilson’s Ethnic Renewal in Philadelphia’s Chinatown is a welcome addition to the growing literature on Chinatowns and their formation, reformation, morphing and survival or otherwise….

Philadelphia’s Chinatown, like many urban chinatowns, began in the late nineteenth century as a refuge for immigrant laborers and merchants in which to form a community to raise families and conduct business. But this enclave for expression, identity, and community is also the embodiment of historical legacies and personal and collective memories. In “Ethnic Renewal in Philadelphia’s Chinatown. “Kathryn Wilson charts the unique history of this neighborhood. After 1945, a new generation of families began to shape Chinatown’s future. As plans for urban renewal–ranging from a cross-town expressway and commuter rail in the 1960s to a downtown baseball stadium in 2000–were proposed and developed, “Save Chinatown” activists rose up and fought for social justice. Wilson chronicles the community’s efforts to save and renew itself through urban planning, territorial claims, and culturally specific rebuilding. She shows how these efforts led to Chinatown’s growth and its continued ability to serve as a living community for subsequent waves of new immigration.

Shanghai Post Office Robbed – 1935

Frustratingly this small article from September 1935 doesn’t tell us which Post Office they’re exactly referring to. It was the first time the Shanghai Post Office was robbed, but it wouldn’t be the last, post office and bank robberies started to spiral out of control after 1937 with more killings of employees and customers. It appears to have been a violent raid with the “bandits” shooting one employee dead and wounding another two. $25,000 was a mighty good haul for the time.

Early views of Asia Through Western Eyes c.1800 -1925 – Wattis Fine Art, Hong Kong

if you happen to be in Hong Kong…

Early views of Asia
Through Western Eyes c.1800 -1925
A collection of paintings and prints

Thursday 30th April 2015, 6.30 – 8.30 pm

The exhibition continues until Friday 22nd May 2015

 Thomson, John Turnbull – View of Singapore Town from  Government Hill c.1846

20 Hollywood Road, 2/F, Central, Hong Kong
Tel. 852 2524 5302 Fax. 852 2840 1723 E-mail. info@wattis.com.hk

www.wattis.com.hk

Gallery open: Monday – Saturday 11am – 6pm

How to Host a Delightful Shanghai-themed Party in 1935 – Information courtesy of Miss Bernadine Baker of Decatur

Aahh what a night it must have been….Thursday January 3rd 1935, at the home of Miss Bernadine Baker at 1026 West Macon Street…Oriental themed favors, supper on low tables, everybody in Chinese costume. Let us hope Miss Baker, Lacey, Jackson, Wite and Higgins had a lovely evening…..

The Tailor from Gary, Indiana who inherited a nightclub in 1930s Peking

A bizarre tale from the Santa Ana Register I don’t know the end of…..In January 1937 48-year-old Jacob Schwarz, a tailor living a quiet life in Gary, Indiana received notice that his aunt, the fantastically named Blimme Ginsberg, had died in Peking. In her will she had left Jacob $2,500 worth of diamond jewellery, a collection of perforated Oriental coins (apparently virtually worthless unfortunately)…and a nightclub. Jacob had not seen his aunt since he was five years old, though had kept up a regular correspondence with her. Blimme apparently ran a nightclub in Peking, though sadly the newspaper report does not reveal its name or location. Jacob opted to stay by his steam press in Gary and turned over the management of the nightclub to an attorney of his acquaintance in Tientsin (Tianjin). Jacob told the papers in Gary that he intended to go and see the club in a year or so – given that a few months later Peking was invaded by the Japanese I’m guessing he never went.

And so a little mystery – who was Blimme Ginsberg and what and where was her nightclub?

I have no idea and no trace of her can be found (by me at least)…but out there somewhere….???

The Legendary White Russian Ladies of Shanghai

The legend of the White Russian ladies of Shanghai has been an enduring one – here, from a 1936 pulp story about White Russians in China, an image that sums them all up – beautiful, tantalising and alluring with their “low husky” voices…

China’s Civil War: A Social History, 1945-1949

Diana Lary’s China’s Civil War: A Social History, 1945-49 is a compact and enjoyable read about the period concentrating on how the CCP’s rise to power affecting ordinary people as well as notables such as Lao She, JG Ballard etc….social history getting beyond the technicalities of the ‘Who Lost China?’ debate…

China’s Civil War is the first book of its kind to offer a social history in English of the Civil War in 1945–9 that brought the Chinese Communist Party to power. Integrating history and memory, it surveys a period of intense upheaval and chaos to show how the Communist Party and its armies succeeded in overthrowing the Nationalist government to bring political and social revolution to China. Drawing from a collection of biographies, memoirs, illustrations and oral histories, Diana Lary gives a voice to those who experienced the war first-hand, exemplifying the direct effects of warfare – the separations and divisions, the exiles and losses, and the social upheaval that resulted from the conflict. Lary explores the long-term impact on Chinese societies on the Mainland, Taiwan and Hong Kong, which have all diverged far from pre-war Chinese society.

How Time Changes in China – And Why There are no Time Zones

Anyone who’s ever been to the extreme north-east of China, Turkestan or stood in the dark requiring flood lights to watch the horses at Happy Valley at half past six of an evening will perhaps have asked themselves if China always had a one-nation-one-time zone policy. Of course it makes no sense whatsoever and is just a silly Maoist policy to show some sort of unified China.

It was not always so in saner times. One of the first acts of the new Republican government in 1912  was to divide China into five time zones ranging from GMT+5.5 to GMT+8.5 – Kunlun time, Sinkiang-Tibet time, Kansu-Szechuan time, Chungyuan Standard time and Changpai time. These time zones held till 1949 when Mao said there was only one leader and only one time.

Plus there was sensibly also summer time, allowing for more daylight (very nice for farmers) – but only in the treaty ports of Tientsin and Shanghai. Other parts of China, seeing the sense in it, adopted it as various stages and parts of China kept it till the early 1960s.

So now you know…