A rare and rather obscure self-published book by Thomas Cotton called Oriental Roundabout and published in a limited edition of a few hundred copies in 1957. It appears to be reminiscences of Cotton’s cruise around Asia some time post-war. “Oriental Roundabout” was a popular name for post-war cruises to Asia offered by travel agents in Britain…. If anyone has a copy I’d be interested to know if there’s anything of particular in it worth knowing about?
Many of us know Liang Sicheng as a famous architect of China’s Republican era. Now join author Mark O’Neill as he discusses online his new book on Liang’s remarkable intellect, humanity, and commitment to his principles. Don’t miss it!
Feb. 19, 7:00-8:00 PM Beijing Time
MORE ABOUT THE EVENT: Liang Sicheng led an extraordinary life. He was the son of Liang Qi-chao (梁啓超), one of China’s most famous intellectuals, and grew up in Japan. Educated at the University of Pennsylvania, Liang also studied at Harvard and was greatly influenced by American architects and architecture. One of the few Chinese of his time with a detailed understanding of modern architecture, he returned to China in 1928 and spent more than 12 years researching the architecture of ancient China, continuing his work even through the chaotic years of the Anti-Japanese War. He published his findings in journals in Chinese and English, revealing to the world for the first time the history, skills and beauty of Chinese architecture. After World War Two, he taught at Yale University and served as China’s representative for the design of the United Nations’ new headquarters in New York. After 1949, he remained in Beijing as head of the architectural department of Tsinghua University (清華大學). He designed major buildings in the new state but failed to persuade Chairman Mao Zedong to preserve the ancient city of Beijing, to Liang’s great sorrow. In the 1950s and during the Cultural Revolution, he was severely criticized; he died in Beijing in January 1972. After the Cultural Revolution, he was fully rehabilitated; his works were published, including 梁思成全集 and 中國建築歷史, and Tsinghua University celebrated his achievements. In 1984, his “Pictorial History of Chinese Architecture” was published in English by Wilma Fairbank; she and her husband Sinologist John Fairbank were close friends of Liang and his wife Lin Huiyin (林徽因), herself a remarkable personality.
Liang Sicheng: Guardian of China’s Architectural History,” published by Joint publishing, can be ordered at www.mybookone.com.hk
The northern China Wallis ventured into in late 1924 was chaotic. Warlord troops of Wu Peifu and Zhang Zuolin battling across the region, an attempted peace conference with a sick Sun Yat-sen attempting to hold the country together failing and on top of all the messy politics the worst flooding in decades that destroyed crops and brought famine, cholera, typhoid and banditry in its wake. Yet Wallis arrived in Tianjin en route to Peking in the midst of it all – why the hell did she leave the relative safety and comfort of the Shanghai International Settlement for the turmoil of the north?
Her Lotus Year: China, the Roaring Twenties and the Making of Wallis Simpson is available everywhere in hardback, e-book and audiobook now…
For many writing and reading Chinese history, and particularly Shanghai history, Lynn Pan (1946-2024) was a major inspiration. Her books showed how history and memoir could be beautifully written and well researched, how style and aesthetic sensibilities could be interwoven with narrative and anecdote.
I was lucky enough in Shanghai to see Lynn often, share panels with her occasionally, run ideas past her. She was always unfailingly generous with her knowledge, contacts and time.
This year, at the Hong Kong International Literary Festival, we will be remembering Lynn’s work and inspiration. I’ll be joining her great friends Michelle Garnaut and Karolina Paulik on March 2 at the Fringe Club for a tribute. It’s a free event (but please do register) and any anecdotes or remembrances from the floor will be welcomed.
AJ Arberry’s British Orientalists (1943) was published as part of the very collectible Britain in Pictures series, a series of 126 books published between 1941 and 1945 as an important component of Britain‘s wartime propaganda to try and show their was a British civilization (and in this case very much an empire!) worth fighting to defend. The book focuses on South Asia but does include some discussion of China and Macao. It was written by Arthur John Arberry (1905-1969), an Arabic scholar who had worked at Cairo University before the war. During the Second World War he was a Postal Censor in Liverpool before being moved to the Ministry of Information where, among his task presumably, was writing British Orientalists. He later held the Chair of Persian Studies at SOAS in London.
My interview with James Birch, author of Gilbert & George and the Communists (Cheerio Publishing) & how he managed to arrange their incredible 1993 exhibitions in Beijing & Shanghai – for the China-Britain Business Council magazine Focus… Click here to read…
