All things old China - books, anecdotes, stories, podcasts, factoids & ramblings from the author Paul French
Last call: Heads Up: evening of March 5th I’ll be at HK Central Library talking with Steven Schwankert, author of The Six, a book uncovering the untold stories of Chinese survivors from the Titanic…. all part of Hong Kong International Literary Festival 2025 (https://www.eventbrite.hk/e/talk-the-six-untold-stories-of-chinese-titanic-survivors-tickets-1220629388359
Hong Kong University Libraries have launched a Wartime Posters database comprises 12 oversize, coloured posters in Japanese and Chinese languages, promoting propaganda dated between 1942-45, with contents relating to workplace efficiency, health promotion, air raid preparedness, and nationalism, etc. click here to see….
The Untold British Chinese History: Agency, Grassroots Activism, and State Intervention in the 20th Century – Wed 5 Mar 2025 1:00 PM – 3:00 PM GMT
The event is free to attend and open to all. A Zoom link will be provided to all those who register before 5 March 2025.
Speakers: Dr Willem Pauw, Dr Dalton Rawcliffe, Dr Sha Zhou
Discussant: Dr Anne Witchard
Chair: Dr Xiao Ma
Event Description:
The Chinese diaspora in Britain is one of the longest-standing and fastest-growing racially minoritised groups. Over the past few decades, there has been a growing body of literature on these diverse individuals and communities, challenging essentialised and homogenised portrayals of them. This panel continues the “Contemporary China Centre Conference Deconstructed” format, bringing together three early career researchers to share their latest work exploring underrepresented aspects of 20th-century British Chinese history. The three papers will examine this multifaceted history, focusing on agency, grassroots activism, and state intervention.
More details and to RSVP click here
Over her lotus year Wallis became a fairly regular user of the coastal steamer network despite them being prone to strikes and pirate attacks. With China in warlord chaos and the train system in disarray coastal steamers were essential of basic. Wallis took steamers from Hong Kong to Shanghai and then Shanghai to Tientsin in 1924 and then back to Shanghai in 1925.
Her Lotus Year: China, the Roaring Twenties and the Making of Wallis Simpson is available everywhere in hardback, e-book and audiobook now…
My new ChinaRhyming Substack – It’s Hong Kong International Literary Festival week….here’s what I’m up to plus DPRK Defectors for the BBC, Gilbert & George for the Mekong Review & the down low on Shijia Hutong for the RAS Beijing… click here to read
Heads Up: On March 5th I’ll be at Hong Kong Central Library talking with Steven Schwankert, author of The Six (The History Press), a book uncovering the untold stories of Chinese survivors from the Titanic…. all part of Hong Kong International Literary Festival 2025…. tickets here….
A trio of albums purchased in Shanghai sometime around c.1900-1912….(see here and here, here and here). And a Japanese made album (date unknown) that features a Chinese junk-like craft on the cover.
And, at bottom, an album acquired in Shanghai in 1932…
A new ChinaRhyming Substack this week with everything I’m up to at the HKILF (March 1-8) & in HK… & then mid-month up in Beijing including events at the old Grand Hotel de Pekin & on the legendary Shijia Hutong. Sign up – it’s free (& some links to articles too) – click here to sign up