Mass Marriages in China – Nothing New

Every so often the Chinese press likes to print pictures of mass marriage ceremonies in one famous spot or another. Usually it’s due to an auspicious day. The tradition was of course popular in the Cultural Revolution and the Maoist period but predates that. Here, in 1936, a mass marriage ceremony of over 100 couples in Shanghai – apologies but I can’t verify the location. Note that the grooms are all in traditional dress while the brides are almost all in European style wedding gowns. It was a civil ceremony presided over the Mayor of Shanghai, General Wu Te-chen.

International Competition in China, 1899-1991: The Rise, Fall, and Restoration of the Open Door Policy

A much needed and fascinating reappraisal and consideration of the Open Door Policy from Bruce Elleman….

China’s recent economic reforms have opened its economy to the world. This policy, however, is not new: in the late nineteenth century, the United States put forward the Open Door Policy as a counter to European exclusive ‘spheres of influence’ in China. This book, based on extensive original archival research, examines and re-evaluates China’s Open Door Policy. It considers the policy from its inception in 1899 right through to the post-1978 reforms. It relates these changes to the various shifts in China’s international relations, discusses how decades of foreign invasion, civil war and revolution followed the destruction of the policy in the 1920s, and considers how the policy, when applied in Taiwan after 1949, and by Deng Xiaoping in mainland China after 1978, was instrumental in bringing about, respectively, Taiwan’s ‘economic miracle’ and mainland China’s recent economic boom. The book argues that, although the policy was characterised as United States ‘economic imperialism’ during the Cold War, in reality it helped China retain its sovereignty and territorial integrity.

Jungle Jim Meets Shanghai Lil

Alexa Raymond’s Jungle Jim cartoon strip was popular in the 1930s, starting in 1934, chronicling the adventures of Far East-based hunter Jim Bradley. Not long after launching the strip Raymond introduced Lilli de Vrille, better known as Shanghai Lil…..bet you’d like to see her – here in 1935??

The Only Day the Party Stopped in Shanghai

Shanghai before the war was of course a city famed for 24/7, 365 partying and nightlife. Nothing interrupted it – not war, civil strife, plague outbreaks, freezing cold or stinking humidity – except, it seems, the death of King George V in January 1936. So significant was this that the papers at the time felt it important to record that the city’s nightlife halted for a moment. Of course, as a footnote, George V’s death meant the accession to the throne of Edward VIII who had to abdicate after a short stint due to a certain American lady with a rather shady Shanghai past!!

Dr Tompkins Thinks Democracy Unlikely in China

In 1930 senior American missionary Dr Tompkins told his local newspaper in Benton Harbor, Michigan of his long years in China and the conclusions he had reached after all that time….

Flood of Fire – to Canton on the eve of the Opium Wars with Amitav Ghosh

Flood of Fire, the final book Amitav Ghosh’s Ibis trilogy which has so wonderfully evoked the old Canton Factories takes us to the eve of the Opium Wars….

Royal Asiatic Society Beijing – SECRETS OF THE BOXER REBELLION – 23/5/15

MAY 23, SATURDAY:
“SECRETS OF THE BOXER REBELLION: MYTHS, MEDIA AND MADAMES“,
AN RASBJ PANEL

“Secrets of the Boxer Rebellion: Myths, Media and Madames,” a panel discussion about little-known aspects of the anti-imperialist uprising  and seige of foreign legations in Beijing.  Their 1900 struggle thrust the “Militia United in Righteousness” or Yihetuan — known in English as the “Boxers” — into worldwide headlines, inspiring commentary, books and films.
But the movement remains greatly misunderstood. Did you know the Boxers would never have considered themselves “Boxers” at all? That foreign media propagated some surprisingly “noble” images of the rebels? That daily life in the beleaguered legations included morale-lifting performances and stage plays? That women on all sides — including Boxers and foreigners — played significant roles during the uprising and its aftermath?
On the eve of the 115th anniversary of the seige, these revelations will be discussed by our panelists: Lars Ulrik-Thom and Rosie Levine of Beijing Postcards — which collects archival photos, prints and maps and conducts research on old Beijing — and Dr. Ines von Racknitz who teaches Chinese history at Nanjing University, focusing on the late Qing era.

WHEN: May 23, Saturday 3:30-5:30 pm
WHERE: Capital M http://www.m-restaurantgroup.com/capitalm/home.html北京市前门步行街2号3层 map here http://www.m-restaurantgroup.com/capitalm/map.html
3/F, No.2 Qianmen Pedestrian Street (just south of Tiananmen Square)
Tel: 6702-2727
HOW MUCH: 75 RMB per person. This includes the cost of one drink.

RSVP:  please email membership@rasbj.org indicating your name, how many seats you wish to reserve and a phone number.

This event is jointly organized by the Royal Asiatic Society in Beijing and Capital M.  We hope to see you there!

Aleister Crowley and Madame Wellington Koo

I’ve blogged previously a couple of times about the English occultist Aleister Crowley and his interests in China (his perception of himself as Master Kwaw etc). Crowley did visit Shanghai briefly in 1906 for most of the month of April. Interestingly I recently came across a reference to him contacting the wife of the Chinese diplomat Wellington Koo soliciting funds and sending a copy of his book. Madame Koo, the stylish and beautiful Perakanese sugar fortune heiress Oei Hui-lan, sent a rather charming reply, returning the copy of Crowley’s Book of the Law with a note reading:

‘Instead of destroying your Book of the Law, I venture to return it to you in case you might be short of copies.’

No new recruits to the Beast there then!…

FYI: for more on Crowley’s time in Shanghai read Ned Kelly’s tale of the Beast’s brief sojourn on the Whangpoo here…

by Bassano, vintage print, December 1943