Liang Qichao – Thoughts from the Ice-Drinker’s Studio…

Excellent to see that Liang Qichao will be joining the Penguin Classics list this October….

What Those Doing Business With China Might Take from the British Museum’s China’s Hidden Century Exhibition

A take on the British Museum’s China’s Hidden Century exhibition with some thoughts for those doing business with/in China…from the China-Britain Business Council’s Focus magazine…click here….

Some Chinoiserie in Lewes – John Vanderbank’s Chinois Tapestry

Visited Lewes in East Sussex and the Anne of Cleves house so wasn’t expecting a China connection or any Chinoiserie. Ready for an immersion into Tudor life in this wonderfully preserved fifteenth century house given to Anne after her short-lived marriage to Henry VIII (though apparently she never actually lived there). But…

The house happens to include this late seventeenth/early eighteenth century “Soho” tapestry (so called as they were made in the Soho area of London). This one was actually made by John Vanderbank, whose studio was in the Long Acre/Holborn area. He often manufactured for the “Great Wardrobe” – the department tasked with supplying items to royal households. Vanderbank was apparently known for his “Indian Manner”, more commonly known now as early Chinoiserie. You can see that the characters portrayed in this imaginary East, Cathay, China can appear Indian in Chinese garb while others sit in traditional Indian poses. In other details more obviously Chinese scenes are depicted.

Obviously Vanderbank didn’t know China personally but was working from early lithographs of Chinese and Indian scenes that made their way to England.

An Intriguing Photo from Late Imperial Hong Kong – Dick Hughes & a Mate… Help Needed

Rereading Jan Morris’s brilliant Hong Kong: Epilogue to Empire (1988) I saw this photograph included. It is simply entitled ‘Expatriates, 1980s’. Two middle aged white men, smoking and drinking with what may be a bit of rather sad and lonely Christmas bunting behind them. Only these are not two unimportant men.

The man on the left – bald and with a trademark monocle – is the veteran Australian-born foreign correspondent, FCC fixture and John le Carre’s model for Old Craw in The Honourable Schoolboy (1975), Richard “Dick” Hughes (1906-1984) and Dikko Henderson in Ian Fleming’s Bond novel You Only Live Twice (1964). The photo was, according to Morris’s credits, was Ken Hass (born 1948), an American photographer who I believe later taught at Hong Kong Polytechnic University.

Now….though Hughes was dead by the time Morris visited to research the final chapters of Hong Kong, they had met on previous visits. So she clearly knew he was in the photo she selected.

My question is, who is the other man? What I do know is that he is the man featured taking a piss in the famous view from the toilets at the former FCC building in the now demolished Sutherland House (a scene and view immortalised by le Carre in THS. I mentioned this recently in my South China Morning Post piece on le Carre’s 1970s Hong Kong visits. A photo of it by Richard Lloyd remains in the current FCC men’s toilets on Lower Albert Road. I think it’s the same man, perhaps a few years later – see picture below.

But who is he? I know I should I know, but frustratingly I don’t. But I bet I know someone who does? Help please? Not knowing is bugging me!!

Book #29 The China Project’s Ultimate China Bookshelf – Chiang Yee’s The Silent Traveller in London (1938)…

Continuing our theme of Chinese writers living outside China and comparing and contrasting their temporary homes (in this case an almost permanent exile) with their homeland, Chiang Yee’s The Silent Traveller in London (1938) – click here – Book #29 on The China Project’s Ultimate China Bookshelf…. (full archive here)

The Inevitable China Barbie pics

As it is apparently obligatory to post Barbie pics this summer, here’s a reminder from 1998 of Qipao Barbie and Chinese Empress Barbie….

My Review of the British Museum’s China’s Hidden Century Exhibition for the South China Morning Post Weekend Magazine

My long read review of the China’s Hidden Century exibition on at the British Museum until 18th October 2023 for the South China Morning Post’s weekend magazine… click here…

Xi Jinping’s economic strategies, explained

My July author Q&A colum for the China-Britain Business Council’s Focus magazine with Andrew Cainey and Christiane Prange’s on their book Xiconomics: What China’s Dual Circulation Strategy Means for Global Business (Columbia University Press)… click here…