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…
In winter 2021, Xiaolu Guo moved into a tiny dilapidated flat on the Hastings seafront, a room of her own where she could spend time writing away from her domestic duties as a mother and wife in London. As Russia invaded Ukraine, she immersed herself in the English landscape and its past, especially the violence between Normans and Saxons.
My Battle of Hastings is a chronicle of Xiaolu’s life in Hastings and a portrait of a dislocated artist seeking to connect with her local environment in the hope of finding a deeper connection to her adoptive nation. Filled with profound, beautiful and wry reflections on war, history, migration and belonging, Xiaolu’s journey into the past completes the triptych of memoirs that began with Once Upon a Time in the East, charting her childhood in China, then continued with Radical: A Life of My Own in search of a freedom beyond her home.
