Han Suyin

I note that Han Suyin, best known for her book A Many Splendoured Thing which was subsequently a big movie, passed away recently. A lot of obituaries around including this in The Guardian and others. Her book and film shocked Hong Kong at the time and, though the film starred William Holden as an American, her foreign lover had of course been Ian Morrison, the son of George “Morrison of Peking” Morrison who died covering the Korean War. Her early life was fascinating including studying at Yenching and marrying a KMT officer before the revolution. Naturally the obits talk of her difficult and problematic relationship to Mao’s China which was a problem for many readers, especially her initial defense of the Cultural Revolution, simply because it was a difficult and problematic relationship for her too.

I’ll post some classic covers of her books on my tumblr site…

When World’s Collide – A New East vs West Cabaret for London – November 8th

Some readers of Chinarhyming may remember the old Gosney & Kallman Chinatown Girl’s burlesque show a few years ago in Shanghai that used to run nightly over in Hongkou – it wa a fun show with a lot of throwbacks including Jimmy Cagney’s old “Shanghai Lil” number. Well they’re back, this time in London, and still keeping the Chinatown theme going – so if you’re in London it could be a wild night out down Brick Lane…

The French in Singapore: An Illustrated History (1819-today)

Maxine Pilon and Daniele Weiler’s (both teachers at the Lycée Français de Singapour) The French in Singapore: An Illustrated History is a lovely volume similar in style tothe Singapore: A Biography book co-published by the university presses of Singapore and Hong Kong a few years ago.

As usual cover and blurb below but there’s also a longer interview with the authors here on the French Chamber of Commerce in Singapore’s website.

In 1819, when Sir Stamford Raffles founded Singapore, he was accompanied by two French naturalists. Ever since, French missionaries, merchants, planters and other pioneers have contributed to its economic, educational and cultural development. Be inspired and entertained by the colourful stories of personalities, such as J. Casteleyns (who built the first hostelry, the Hotel de l’Europe, in 1857), Father Jean-Marie Beurel (who constructed the Cathedral of the Good Shepherd and St Joseph’s Institution) and Alfred Clou?t (who started the well-known Ayam Brand canned sardines business). Amply illustrated with photographs, paintings, sketches, old documents and maps, The French in Singapore is an invaluable resource for anyone seeking to discover the little-known history of the French in the Singapore we know today.

Midnight in Peking – the Unabridged Audio Book – Now Available

The audio book version of Midnight in Peking is now available in an unabridged form – so all you joggers, long distance truckers and long haul fliers can download it and listen in. It’s read by the excellent Crawford Logan who read the abridged version on BBC Radio 4’s Book of the Week earlier this year and me myself gets to read the final letter to readers!!

Kiukiang Land Regulations, 1902

Kiukiang (Jiujiang) was once a small and rather remote treaty port overseen by the British. The port of Kiukiang was one treaty port that, in retrospect, the British rather wished they’d never gained control of. It was never to enjoy the high level of prosperity that Amoy (Xiamen) or Foochow (Fuzhou) did nor was it to rise as a great metropolis the way that Tientsin (Tianjin), and to a far greater extent, Shanghai did. It was inevitably a back water, a somewhat forgotten treaty port even among those foreigners resident in China. The port barely warranted a mention back home in England and most people there would have been fairly hard pressed to tell you anything about or point to it on a map.

Still His Majesty’s Minister to China did introduce Land Regulations in 1902 for the municipal government of the British Concession at Kiukiang and approved by, no less, His Majesty the King.

By the way, as you can see I picked this up for four quid at a second hand book shop in Hay-on-Wye while there for the literary festival earlier this year – bargain!!

Royal Asiatic Society in collaboration with Rockbund Art Museum Time Traveler Exhibition 3/11/12 – “The RAS Legacy in Shanghai”

Royal Asiatic Society in collaboration with

Rockbund Art Museum

Time Traveler Exhibition

Saturday 3rd November 2012 at 7.00pm promptly

Registration 6.30pm – Entrance 30 rmb

Venue: 1F, Associate Mission Building, No.169 Yuan Ming Yuan Road

PETER HIBBARD

“More Than a Stuffed Bird Show

– The RAS Legacy in Shanghai”

In 1857 the founding fathers of the Royal Asiatic Society in Shanghai foretold that the city was destined to be the greatest and most influential city in the Far East. With some essential civic amenities in place – an administrative body, a church, a hospital, a racecourse and a park, they judged that the time was ripe for ‘social cultivation’ and ‘intellectual improvement’. Those pioneers embarked on their investigations into China in an age of huge profiteering when Shanghai’s unique cultural milieu was being melded as an outcome of the ravages of the Taiping Rebellion.

The Society opened its first building on the site where RAM sits today in 1874 and in the latter part of the 19th century today’s Rockbund district was a thriving centre for British social and civic life. Shanghailanders and visitors could delight over Gilbert & Sullivan opera’s at the Lyceum Theatre, be put on trial at the British Court for their foibles, attend services and fêtes at the Union Church and take to the waters from the Rowing Club. They could also freely engage in learned activities at the RAS North China Branch, browse the magnificent library where its renowned journal had pride of place, or explore the mammoth collection of stuffed birds and animals in its museum. In the early 20th century Shanghai could fairly claim to be the greatest city in the Far East and the new RAS building, opened in 1933, embraced a vision of the future in the mesh of the past. The building and all that it embodied was in many ways a projection of one man’s dreams and determination. That man was Arthur de Carle Sowerby, renowned naturalist, explorer, author, activist, curator of the museum and later RAS President, whose prime ambition was only realised with the opening of RAM in the building in 2010 – a fin de siècle of contemporariness and history.

Peter Hibbard will examine and illustrate the history, the vicissitudes and the revival of the RAS in Shanghai in its pursuit of promoting cultural life in the city and beyond, and explore the fate of its historical collections.

Peter Hibbard MBE, an urban planner and sociologist, turned his attentions to the development of the Chinese tourism industry in 1983. He was a Visiting Scholar at Hong Kong University’s Centre of Asian Studies in 1985/86 and lectured in tourism studies at the Beijing Institute of Tourism thereafter, before moving to Shanghai in 1991. He has devoted much of his life to researching the historical development of Shanghai and of tourism in China. Peter is very much concerned with promoting links with the past and with fostering awareness, understanding and appreciation of Shanghai’s unique historical inheritance. He was President of the re-convened Royal Asiatic Society China in Shanghai from to 2007 to 2011 and is the author of “The Bund Shanghai: China Faces West“, “Beyond Hospitality: The History of the Hongkong and Shanghai Hotels, Ltd.” among other works.

Registration 6.30pm – Entrance 30 RMB

RSVP: to RAS Bookings at: bookings@royalasiaticsociety.org.cn

MEMBERSHIP applications and membership renewals will be available at this event.

RAS MONOGRAPHS – Series 1 & 2 will be available for sale at this event. 100 rmb each

 VIEWING THE EXHIBITION: those attending the lecture will have the opportunity of viewing the Time Traveler Exhibition before the talk.

Please meet at The Rockbund Art Museum 5.30pm-6.00pm free admission.

ROCKBUND ART MUSEUM (RAM) – Time Traveler Exhibition:

29th September – 9th December 2012

RAM Address, 20 Huqiu Road, Huangpu District, Shanghai

Website: http://www.rockbundartmuseum.org

Three Tough Chinamen – The Moy Brothers

An interesting addition to overseas Chinese studies – Scott Seligman’s Three Tough Chinamen….

THE MOY BROTHERS, late 19th century Chinese immigrants to America, crossed lines and broke barriers. Tough men whose lives were hemmed in by prejudice and restrictive laws, they were scrappy and ambitious, and they were in the U.S. to stay. In an era when Chinese were excluded from America’s shores and most already here kept their heads down, they stood up and spoke out against injustices. They fought for their countrymen and used all means available to get ahead, up to and including committing petty crimes and, in the case of one brother, heinous ones.

THE MOY BROTHERS did what they had to do to succeed and prosper, and their tales offer a window into the lives of America’s Chinese at the turn of the 20th century. They tell of navigating obstacles and of culture clash, and of how Western ethics and laws fared among Asian immigrants when they went head to head, as they inevitably had to, against ancient values like clan loyalty, and against personal interests and greed.

Lost Colony: The Untold Story of China’s First Great Victory over the West

Somehow I missed this book that came out last year, for which much apologies. Lost Colony by Tonio Andrade is the fascinating story of the Dutch-Chinese-Koxinga battles around Taiwan – a story much told over in old Formosa but not so much anywhere else I’m afraid….

During the seventeenth century, Holland created the world’s most dynamic colonial empire, outcompeting the British and capturing Spanish and Portuguese colonies. Yet, in the Sino-Dutch War–Europe’s first war with China–the Dutch met their match in a colorful Chinese warlord named Koxinga. Part samurai, part pirate, he led his generals to victory over the Dutch and captured one of their largest and richest colonies–Taiwan. How did he do it? Examining the strengths and weaknesses of European and Chinese military techniques during the period, Lost Colony provides a balanced new perspective on long-held assumptions about Western power, Chinese might, and the nature of war.

It has traditionally been asserted that Europeans of the era possessed more advanced science, technology, and political structures than their Eastern counterparts, but historians have recently contested this view, arguing that many parts of Asia developed on pace with Europe until 1800. While Lost Colony shows that the Dutch did indeed possess a technological edge thanks to the Renaissance fort and the broadside sailing ship, that edge was neutralized by the formidable Chinese military leadership. Thanks to a rich heritage of ancient war wisdom, Koxinga and his generals outfoxed the Dutch at every turn.

Exploring a period when the military balance between Europe and China was closer than at any other point in modern history, Lost Colony reassesses an important chapter in world history and offers valuable and surprising lessons for contemporary times.