Cold Head in Shanghai? – Come on Get a Hat

If you’ve got a cold head then you need a hat – obvious. But please none of those slightly too small cheap trilby hats that are so beloved of wanna-be hipsters these days everywhere from Shoreditch to Melbourne I’ve noted and definitely no baseball caps…anywhere, anytime. No chavvy baseball caps I’m sure at the La Union Hat Company on the Nanking Road, just proper men’s headwear and charming ladies wear. This ad of course actually from the summer months of 1940 when Panama’s and Borsalino’s were the thing.

Still some things never change – those fake Manila Panama’s were on the market back then just as muppets today buy fake New York Yankees caps to look retarded.

Fall Fashion Trend: Chinoiserie and Art Deco

It’s Christmas and the booze is free flowing to celebrate a great year – we toast the loss of a great one in Christopher Hitchens and we toast twice the loss of a bad one – Kim Jong-il (which still doesn’t balance the loss of Hitch). And it means that I do my one post of the year (I have to be a bit drunk to do it – I must have been well pissed when I felt confident enough to comment on Gok Wan) on fashion!!

According to Gotham there’s a Chinoiserie revival in New York fashion and they’re citing everything from Dietrich in Shanghai Express to David Bowie’s China Girl cover (uhhmm, I’ll take the former as one of von Sternberg’s best but I think Bowie’s China Girl period is best forgotten).

Anyway, more details and pics of Chinois-inspired clothing and accessories here) And of course this all allows me to post a Dietrich shot, one of my favourite acts on this blog!

Pre-Order Midnight in Peking in the UK for a Ridiculously Low Price!

Not sure how this discounting thing works but pre-order Midnight in Peking on Amazon.co.uk and you get a  discount – best seller futures I guess!!

Or pre-order itunes too apparently – here

A Blatant Exploitative Plug – But It’s Not Like he was a Nice Guy or Anything

Excuse me while I remind you that I did write a book back in 2005 (second edition 2008) with the recently departed KJI on the cover. Copies here, for a while at least. The Dear Leader is gone and perhaps someone, somewhere is genuinely sad about that, but hey, every cloud…..

For those in Asia and Australia – Where to Score Midnight in Peking This Holiday Season?

A few things that may interest, but are really just self-promotion!

A Q&A on Midnight in Peking that ran in Time Out Hong Kong – apologies for the slightly odd nautically-themed picture!

A longish piece in the Asia Times here

Travelling around a bit lately I’ve seen piles of Midnight in the following shops in case you’re looking for one for Christmas!!

In Asia

In China of course there’s the Bookworm (see their annual top reads below) and Page One in Beijing, Garden Books in Shanghai and online with Amazon.cn (bargain price of RMB149 but they’ll only deliver if you live in the PRC I’m afraid)

Kinokuniya in the KLCC in KL has plenty and, if you’re in Malaysia you can buy it online here and read a review of the book in the Malaysian Sun

Prologue Books on Orchard Road in Singapore and Kinokuniya in Singapore too who also have it available online here. There;s also a nice feature on the book in Ex-Pat Living Magazine in Singapore (here)

Relay and Page One at Hong Kong Airport as well as Dymocks, Bookazine and Swindon throughout the SAR

If you’re heading down under:

Watermark stores in Sydney (look under ‘True crime’) and Melbourne (look under ‘history’) airports as well as Readings on Melbourne’s Lygon Street and other outlets and Dymocks throughout town

I haven’t checked but all good bookshops across Australia and New Zealand should have the book but you can also buy online direct from Penguin in Oz or Dymocks (postage only A$5!!)

And those crappy bookshops at Pudong Airport where three, yes three, Jobs titles are available for the techie morons!!

Sorry rest of the world but it’ll be everywhere come April 2012!

And from the Bookworm in Beijing:

This Sunday – Forgotten Shanghai – ancient streets of the walled city

Forgotten Shanghai – ancient streets of the walled city

Shanghai is older than the foreign concessions. For 700 years it was a merchant city, a colony of leisure gardens and a multicultural hub. And today, inside the old walled city, one can still find living remnants of Shanghai’s history, including Ming Dynasty ruins and thousand-year-old streets. Our tour will start with a cup of coffee and a talk, then we’ll set off on our journey. Guided by Katya, who lives and breathes the old town, we’ll explore twisty lanes and vibrant markets, discover hidden temples and unlock Shanghai’s oldest courtyards.

Expert: Katya Knyazeva is a journalist and photographer born in Siberia. She has lived in East Asia for 7 years, producing illustrated books and animated features. Presently, Katya publishes articles on cuisine, culture and urban form and is completing a photographic atlas of Shanghai’s old town (to be published soon).

Time and meeting point: 10:00 – 13:00 at Old Westgate Hostel, 115 Penglai Lu (near Henan Nan Lu) (Subway station Lao Xi Men, Line 8 & 10, Exit 7)

Costs: RMB 300 p.p.

Number of Participants: max 16

Registration: at publicwalks(at)shanghai-flaneur.com or call 1381 8922 040

Escape from Hong Kong

Vare’s The Maker of Heavenly Trousers as a Penguin Modern Classic – Sneak Preview

It’s not out till February 2012 in China and globally in July but it is great to see that Penguin are issuing the old Italian diplomat Daniel Vare’s The Maker of Heavenly Trousers as a Modern Classic. It’s one of the best and most charming accounts of old Peking by a man of class, culture and erudition and I hope people do read it if they never have, and if you have then it’s well worth a return journey.