Hong Kong, 1941. Following the Japanese occupation of Shanghai, the wealthy Tang family flee to Hong Kong.
As the First Wife of the family, Mingzhu leads a sheltered – if lonely – existence overseeing her daughter Qiang and managing the household alongside her devoted maid, Biyu.
But when the Japanese army invade, the three women are scattered. Mingzhu is coerced into working for a Japanese captain. Qiang and Biyu escape the island, only to be forced into factory work then separated after an encounter with the East River Column Resistance fighters.
The longer the brutal occupation lasts, the more determined the women are to resist. And as war rages around the world, each is holding onto the hope that the other is alive.
How great to see the latest issue of The Foreign Correspondents’ Club, Hong Kong magazine feature Mel Jacoby on the front (courtesy of Bill Lascher I assume) reflecting the origins of the FCC in wartime Chungking (Chongqing). The Press Hostel was an early precursor to the FCC (before it moved to Shanghai’s Broadway Mansions and then Hong Kong), was home to foreign correspondents covering WWII who later joined together to issue a memorandum that became the foundation upon which our Club was born.
I’ll be talking Wallis Simpson in China at The Meridian Society, SOAS, London – July 19, 3.30pm (and with slides, and books for sale – what more could you want!)
Date: Saturday July 19th 2025
Time: 3:30 pm
Venue: the Djam Lecture Theatre (DLT) at SOAS University of London, 10 Thornhaugh St, London WC1H 0XG
Please RSVP by the 1st of July by emailing themeridiansociety@gmail.com.
My latest column for Macau Closermagazine is a look back at Ernest K Gann’s 1954 novel Soldier of Fortune that takes place between Hong Kong and Macau and later became a Hollywood movie with Clark Gable and Susan Haywood. How does Macau come out of the novel…and the movie? Click here to read….
