All things old China - books, anecdotes, stories, podcasts, factoids & ramblings from the author Paul French

This Sunday – Mark Kitto on China Cuckoo in Suzhou

Posted: October 9th, 2010 | No Comments »

Mark Kitto is talking about his enjoyable book China Cuckoo, and hopefully the history of Moganshan, this Sunday at the Suzhou Bookworm, a suitable charming little venue.

Book Talk with Mark Kitto- China Cuckoo – Sunday 10th October – 4pm – RMB 30/20 including a free drink

Mark always knew he was operating in dangerous territory from the onset of his media network’s meteoric rise in the late 90s’…Come hear him this Sunday for a breathtaking account of his most unlikely trajectory losing a fortune, and finding a life right here in China.

In booming Shanghai, Mark Kitto hit the big time. The Financial Times called him a ‘mini media mogul’. One weekend, Mark escapes to Moganshan, a dilapidated mountaintop village built by foreigners in the early 1900s as a summer retreat. It’s a familiar story: Mark falls in love with the place and decides to restore one of the villas, as if he were in Tuscany or Provence. But here the familiarity ends. The process is full of the usual pitfalls – but multiplied to the nth degree, Chinese-style. And then, when he dramatically loses his business empire to the Communist Party, what began as a weekend getaway becomes much more: Mark moves his family up the mountain and makes Moganshan his home. The ex-tycoon has gone ‘China CuckooÂ’. Funny, touching and inspiring, Mark’s story gives a very different view of China today.

About the Author

Mark Kitto was a Captain in the Welsh Guards before he became a metals trader in London and then China. His series of That’s listings magazines became the most successful English language publications in China. On the verge of signing the groundbreaking deal that would make him the first authorised foreign publisher, the Communist Party took over his business. He is still in a legal wrangle over copyright. Variously accused of being a spy, pornographer and terrorist, he retreated to Moganshan where he now lives with his wife and two children. The family runs a successful coffee shop that is bringing foreigners back to the mountain for the first time since the Communists came in 1949.

Leave a Reply