Posted: June 14th, 2012 | No Comments »
I have not had a chance to go through this yet but Earnshaw Books are invariably reliable so I’ll post details in the hope I can catch up at some point with Tales about China and the Chinese but many of you may be interested to get your hands on it asap…
Before there was Rudyard Kipling, there was Peter Parley, delighting his “young friends†with his fantastic fables of faraway lands and whimsical sense of humor. Published right after the first Opium War, this book reveals the chasm between the Marco Polo-inspired view of a mythically serene China and the harsh realities of the colonial era. A delightful mix of fact and fancy, Tales about China and the Chinese encapsulates the ethos of an era when the West saw China as a remote, and unspoiled empire – ripe for the picking.
Peter Parley was a pen name coined by the highly popular and influential American author Samuel Griswold Goodrich and was often used by imitators. The author of this book, whose real identity remains unknown, was one such imposter. Andrew Chubb is the editor of Earnshaw Books’ Classic series.
Posted: June 13th, 2012 | No Comments »
Spent three rainy days get soaked but educated at the Hay Festival. Lovely spot on the England/Wales border and, of course, a book town. I’d recommend The Pear Tree guesthouse to anyone visiting – lovely rooms, comfy beds, a good fry up in the morning and central location.
This was the only day I saw (and not the whole day) anyone could sit out on the deckchairs….
and, to be fair, when the sun came out it was charming up on the Welsh border…
Hay is of course a book town and so to see window displays of original Penguin covers is a bit better than your usual British High Street.
Posted: June 13th, 2012 | No Comments »
Maybe it’s just coincidence but I’m reading a lot of stuff at the moment that has seance’s in it – in the last few months I’ve read Chris Womersley’s Bereft which has a just-after-WW1 seance in Marylebone while DJ Taylor’s new novel Secondhand Daylight has a 1930s Soho seance (complete in this case with an exotic Indian man rather than a Chinese). Seance’s keep popping up in films too – the Ouija board remains a popular staple. And Chinese are, and were genuinely, often hired to appear at seances in London to add a touch of exoticism to the proceedings. This is nicely shown in the movie The Awakening with Dominic West and Rebecca Hall – where we are again in just post-WW1 England. Rebecca Hall’s character goes round unmasking the charlatans that run seances and, at the start of the film, does so successfully at a seance where a poor pigtailed Chinese man is part of the whole ambiance designed to lure in the mug punters. I can’t find a picture of the seance scene but the whole film is worth watching anyway. And of course Chinese elements to seances in fiction are nothing new – remember the great seance in Graham Greene’s The Ministry of Fear? Very chinois!
Posted: June 12th, 2012 | No Comments »
Nice to see that the Royal Asiatic Society in China, so active in Shanghai and latterly in Suzhou too is now able to start help organising great events up in Beijing in conjunction with the Beijing Bookworm…
Bookworm Beijing
Wednesday, June 13 7:30pmÂ
Escape from Hong Kong – a booktalk with Tim Luard
20/30rmbÂ
Author Tim Luard, former Beijing correspondent for the BBC World Service, discusses the amazing true life adventure tale of the dramatic escape of more than 60 Chinese, British and Danish intelligence, naval and marine personnel on December 25th, 1941, the day of Hong Kong’s surrender to the Japanese. Led by Admiral Chan Chak – the Chinese government’s chief agent in Hong Kong  – this group escaped the invading Japanese army, traveling on five small motor torpedo boats and walking for four days through enemy lines to Huizhou, before flying to Chongqing or going over land to Burma. This gripping account of the escape sheds new light on the role played by the Chinese in the defense of Hong Kong, on the diplomacy behind the escape, and on the guerillas who carried the Admiral in a sedan chair as they led his party over the rivers and mountains of enemy-occupied China.
Tim’s book Escape from Hong Kong will be available at the Bookworm (or here in hardback, or here in Kindle)
This event is brought to you by the Royal Asiatic Society.
Posted: June 12th, 2012 | No Comments »
I’ve posted a few times on interesting exhibits on Chinese overseas – WW1 Coolie Corps, Australian Chinese museums, Limehouse etc etc. Here’s an interesting exhibit and article about the Chinese who laboured on the CPR in British Columbia in Port Moody, their original point of entry to Canada. Interesting artucle from the Tri-City News. Sorry I only have an old poster with the pics – but it’s a travelling exhibit – and the picture of the workers is good…
Posted: June 11th, 2012 | 12 Comments »
Great to see Sheng Keyi’s Northern Girls out in English from Penguin…and here’s a good author interview courtesy of Danwei too
Northern Girls: Life Goes On
Author: Keyi Sheng
NORTHERN GIRLS tells a story of modern China, the China that in the late 1990s began to see cities thrown up in the blink of an eye and with them came workers who traveled across the country in search of a better life. Sheng’s central character is sixteen-year-old Qian Xiaohong who abandons her Hunan village for the bright lights of the big city, full of hope and anticipation only to be met with her own vulnerability and a seemingly endless list of dangers. Xiaohong finds comfort and consolation in the company of fellow migrant girls, the ‘northern girls’, who support each other and provide relief from the desolation of their lives, lived simply to survive.
Sheng’s characters are as bold as her subject matter and they face poverty, forced abortions, unwelcome sexual advances, redundancy and more, head on and with humour rather than despair – I suppose if they didn’t laugh they would certainly cry but they band together and do the best they can to carry on living in this fictionalized account of what is for many a very real reality. NORTHERN GIRLS brings the harsh realities of life in China into stark focus.
A poignant, beautiful novel, translated by Shelly Bryant, which draws on the real life experiences and stories of China’s female migrant population. Northern Girls is honest and daring in equal measures and we certainly hope that you will agree. Please find attached a press release with more information about the book as well as an image of the jacket.
Qian Xiaohong is born into a sleepy Hunan village, where the new China rush towards development is a mere distant rumour. A buxom, naïve sixteen-year-old, she yearns to leave behind hometown scandal, and joins the mass migration to the bustling boomtown of Shenzhen. There, she must navigate dangerous encounters with ruthless bosses, jealous wives, sympathetic hookers and corrupt policemen as she tries to find her place in the ever-evolving society.
Hardship and tragedy are in no short supply as her journey takes her through a grinding succession of dead end jobs. To help her through this confusing maze, Xiaohong finds solace in the close ties she makes with the other migrant girls – the community of her fellow ‘northern girls’ – who quickly learn to rely on each other for humour and the enjoyment of life’s simple pleasures.
A beautiful coming-of-age novel, Northern Girls explores the inner lives of a generation of young, rural Chinese women who embark on life-changing journeys in search of something better.
Posted: June 10th, 2012 | No Comments »
Building the Dragon City has just been published….
This book celebrates 60 years of the founding of the Faculty of Architecture at HKU. The development of the Faculty has paralleled the vibrant growth of Hong Kong, especially following World War II when it became clear that a new generation of first-rate architects and other building professionals were needed if Hong Kong was to adequately house its burgeoning population and develop into a world-class city. Hong Kong’s role as a global city has been fulfilled, and HKU Architecture graduates can take pride in having contributed significantly to the city’s dazzling skyline.
The history of the Faculty, Building the Dragon City, makes it clear that the basic issues surrounding the education of building professionals have been vigorously debated for the last six decades and this has been reflected in the development of the Faculty.
Posted: June 10th, 2012 | No Comments »
I’m not sure who’s behind this interesting web site, digital maps of old Beijing, but it’s good.
My particular favourite is the digital overlay of the old Qing dynasty Peking (delightful) compared to today’s sprawling Beijing (which you can keep thanks) – here
here’s a nice schematic of old Beijing to go with this post
