All things old China - books, anecdotes, stories, podcasts, factoids & ramblings from the author Paul French
A little known danger – hair curling – according to a campaign launched in Southern China in 1936. Yes hair curling is “immodest” and hair curlers are a “device of the devil”. Sadly no more details on the Shanghai cabaret dancer who burned to death while having her hair curled.
Andrew Francis’s study of interactions and networks concerning the Far East trade in Conrad’s work looks interesting….
Andrew Francis’ Culture and Commerce in Conrad’s Asian Fiction is the first book-length critical study of commerce in Conrad’s work. It reveals not only the complex connections between culture and commerce in Conrad’s Asian fiction, but also how he employed commerce in characterization, moral contexts, and his depiction of relations at a point of advanced European imperialism. Conrad’s treatment of commerce – Arab, Chinese and Malay, as well as European – is explored within a historically specific context as intricate and resistant to traditional readings of commerce as simple and homogeneous. Through the analysis of both literary and non-literary sources, this book examines capitalism, colonialism and globalization within the commercial, political and social contexts of colonial Southeast Asia.
John Nance Gardner was the rather overlooked Vice President during FDR’s three terms – with FDR such a commanding personality perhaps that’s no surprise and he argued with FDR a lot and so got rather sidelined though was often referred to as “Mr Common Sense”. In 1935 FDR sent Garner on an extended tour of the Far East with stops in the Philippines, Japan and China where he stayed in Shanghai for a time. Apparently after meeting Chinese senior officials in Shanghai he declared “Now, these are our kind of people.”
Which brings us to the dinner he had attended clearly by a senior Chinese diplomat and his wife. The diplomat’s wife admired Garner’s watch and he magnanimously gave it to her. However, so the Charleston Daily Mail reports, it only cost 98-cents. And so the question – was Garner a tight-wad who refused to pay more than a dollar for a watch or just an abstemious public official. We might also ask whether the current VeeP wears a dollar watch? I doubt it…and also perhaps what the reaction of a senior Chinese official to be presented by Joe Biden with a 98-cent watch in these days of craven grabbing of Rolexes etc would signal ?
VP Garner
May already, and it’s the annual Asia House Literary Festival in London from the 7th to the 18th…For ChinaRhymers there’s some good events including Alex Monro on his book The Paper Trail, Amitav Ghosh launching the third and final installment in his Ibis trilogy, Flood of Fire, writers on the Silk Road and my good self talking Chinese thrillers with Adam Brookes and A Yi….full details here and more on my event below….
Is Asia the perfect setting for the modern day thriller? To mark the launch of the second instalment of Adam Brookes’ Asian spy series (out in June 2015), the Washington-based journalist will offer a persuasive argument that it indeed is. Brookes will be joined on stage by acclaimed Chinese writer A Yi, whose thriller A Perfect Crime has recently been translated, and Paul French, author of the bestselling page-turner Midnight in Peking. A highly entertaining and adrenalin filled night, where the lines between fact and fiction will blur. A Yi’s appearance has been supported by a PEN Promotes! Award from English PEN. More details and tix here
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.
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.
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
Gallery open: Monday – Saturday 11am – 6pm
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…..
