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

Forthcoming China Books in H1 2020….

Posted: December 19th, 2019 | No Comments »

Weekend reading sorted….well kinda….one of the nice things that happens to me is that i get sent early copies of a few China-related books for review or recommendation. So here’s three i’ve read recently that you’ll all want in 2020. Jeff Wasserstrom’s Vigil (which i’ve reviewed for the next issue of the excellent Mekong Review ) will weigh in as the first rough draft of history on the Hong Kong protests – it’s a good, succinct look at the long historical run up to the tumult of 2019.

Jonathan Kaufman’s Last Kings of Shanghai is a retelling (which has been done before of course) of the Sassoon dynasty and also the (less written about) the Kadoorie family.

China TV watchers will know Zhou Meisen from his In the Name of the People tv show in 2017 – oft called ‘China’s House of Cards’ (well, sort of, a bit) – this is the book version in translation from Alain Charles Publishing (worthy of noting as they’re quickly becoming a force in Chinese translations all gratefully received by readers i think)….all out first half of 2020….



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