My latest long read for the South China Morning Post weekend magazine is on Maria Wendt, the Shanghai nurse turned drugs mule who smuggled a huge amount of dope into LA, was busted, escaped, recaptured, imprisoned and came to a very sad end while the narcotics ring that lured her in met far more mysterious fates in New York, Mexico City and Shanghai….click here to read
Happy also to blurb this tale – The Phoenix and the Firebird (Earnshaw Books) – that mashes up fantasy (not normally my genre at all) with old China – A bullet-riddled train staggers into a Chinese station in 1920, and Lucy discovers that her father, a Russian officer, has been kidnapped. A mysterious feather guides her into a dangerous realm of magic and monsters to rescue him. But she knows she can’t take on the quest alone. With her friend Su, a girl as quick with words as with her fists, the two uncover the terrifying truth: a notorious warlord has seized Lucy’s father. Worse, he is about to invade their city. The friends brave the criminal underworld, cross a haunted forest, and outsmart creatures they thought lived only in fairytales. But will their wits and bravery be enough to beat the warlord’s army of human soldiers and magical beasts?
“A Peking caught between an imperial city and a new republic; a world where harsh reality mingles with myth and magic. Warlords, exiled Russians, gangsters, a child in search of her father. There are worlds within worlds in old Peking – real and imagined. Kossiakoff and Crawford bring them all together and to life.” – Paul French, New York Times bestselling author of Midnight in Peking and City of Devils
A nice little detail here from a postcard of old Shanghai’s Hongkew Park (now Lu Xun Park) – the specially designed and numbered (on the bottom of the posts) lampposts – very nice…
The relationship between Britain and China has shaped the modern world. Chinese art, philosophy and science have had a profound effect upon British culture, while the long history of British exploitation is still bitterly remembered in China today. But how has their interaction changed over time?
From the early days of the East India Company through the violence of the Opium Wars to present-day disputes over Hong Kong, Kerry Brown charts this turbulent and intriguing relationship in full. Britain has always sought to dominate China economically and politically, while China’s ideas and exports—from tea and Chinoiserie to porcelain and silk—have continued to fascinate in the west. But by the later twentieth century, the balance of power began to shift in China’s favour, with global consequences. Brown shows how these interactions changed the world order—and argues that an understanding of Britain’s relationship with China is now more vital than ever.
Weekend reading – Advance copy of William Dalrymple’s new The Golden Road (Bloomsbury) – prep for moderating When India Led the World at the Edinburgh International Book Festival on 24/8 – Sold Out in-person, but you can join by Zoom from anywhere….click here
A late nineteenth century Chinese made silver cigarette case presented to Lance Corporal Whelen, from the Officers of No.1 Commando Hong Kong, April 1946.
From Wikipedia: “No.1 Commando was raised in 1940 from the ranks of the existing independent companies. Operationally they carried out a series of small scale cross channel raids and spearheaded the Operation Torch landings in North Africa. They were then sent to the India as part of the 3rd Commando Brigade and took part in operations in the Burma Campaign. After the war they were sent to reoccupy Hong Kong before being amalgamated with No. 5 Commando to form No. 1/5 Commando. The amalgamated No. 1/5 Commando was disbanded in 1947.”
A bookshop window display in Shanghai, August 1937, depicts the events of Bloody Saturday (14/8/37) as the Chinese air force attempt to sink the Japanese battle cruiser Idzumo on the Huangpu (events recreated in my Penguin China Special, Bloody Saturday: Shanghai’s Darkest Day – click to buy here….
Here we are once again on the anniversary of Shanghai’s Bloody Saturday – August 14 1937 – then the worst civilian aerial bombing to date. It was a confusing time – my Penguin China ebook Special “Bloody Saturday: Shanghai’s Darkest Day” recreating that day from a Shanghailander perspective is still available for just US$2.99/UK£2.99 – amazon.com, amazon.co.uk – and here’s the Shanghai based White Russian artist Sapajou on that fateful August…
