Comments for China Rhyming

Comment on ChinaRhyming, meet Edgar – Edgar, meet Chinarhyming by Tom Cohen

Tom Cohen — Thu, 09 May 2013 14:21:27 +0000

Paul – Well done, many congratulations! Now Edgar needs a chum. Oscar perhaps….?

Comment on ChinaRhyming, meet Edgar – Edgar, meet Chinarhyming by Elaine

Elaine — Thu, 09 May 2013 14:09:46 +0000

Congratulations! You deserved it and – bang! – you got it! Enjoy…

Comment on ChinaRhyming, meet Edgar – Edgar, meet Chinarhyming by Sue Anne

Sue Anne — Wed, 08 May 2013 12:42:49 +0000

Congratulations!! Just fantastic news! Looking forward to your next award winning book!

Comment on Pamela Werner, The Peking American School and their 1927 Production of The Forest Ring by Steve Upton

Steve Upton — Tue, 07 May 2013 18:22:52 +0000

Dear Paul: I’ve never said that you were unaware that Pamela Werner briefly attended the Peking American School (PAS). While I wish that you had mentioned her brief attendance at PAS in your book Midnight in Peking, I do think highly of that book and doubt that anyone who buys it will feel disappointed. It’s a very worthwhile contribution which highlights interesting aspects of the history of the foreign communities of Beijing and Tianjin in the 1930s. I’m pleased that I was able to put you in contact with Diana Dennis (daughter-in-law of Detective Chief Inspector Richard Dennis of Tianjin’s British Concession), who turned out to be a helpful source of photos and information for the book.

I think you’ll be interested in another minor detail that I didn’t see in Midnight in Peking: Wentworth Prentice, the American dentist at the heart of the murder mystery which is the subject of that book, often advertised his dental services in the yearbooks of the Peking American School.

I see that some of the visitors to your China Rhyming site are interested in the Peking Pavilion cinema. At the Upton Sino-Foreign Archive (USFA), in Concord, NH, USA, there’s some information regarding that cinema. A description of USFA can be found in an April 29, 2013 entry (in the Fresh From the Archives section) on http://www.dissertationreviews. org
With best regards, Steve Upton

Comment on More London Chinese Restaurant Stories: Indian Goings-on at the Nanking Restaurant by Andrew

Andrew — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 13:42:55 +0000

Sajjad Zaheer, one of the founders of the Progressive Writers’ Association, wrote a novella in Urdu, recently translated and published as ‘A Night in London’. (There’s a write-up of it on the ‘London Fictions’ website).

The new edition, brought out by HarperCollins India, includes the founding statement of the PWA, adopted at that meeting at the Nanking Restaurant.

Does anybody have a directory which identifies which building houses the Nanking? There is still one restaurant on Denmark Street – the Giaconda Dining Rooms. Is that the direct successor to the Nanking restaurant of the 1930s?

Comment on Nancy Mitford’s China Moment by David Ronnburgh

David Ronnburgh — Thu, 25 Apr 2013 16:12:37 +0000

I’d guess it’s one of the items which were acquired by Nancy’s grandfather who, during his service in the Foreign Office, had travelled Asia and had taken some nice pieces of art and furniture back to England. When Asthall Manor was sold most of the furniture was sold, too. However, Nancy somehow kept the Chinese/Japanese (?) screen – I don’t recall the exact circumstances, but it’s mentioned in at least one of the various biographies on the Mitford sisters. Nancy’s grandfather Algernon Bertram Mitford also wrote books on his Asian experience – his most popular one being “Tales of Old Japan.”

Comment on Fleming’s Thrilling Cities Reissued by M.Lane

M.Lane — Mon, 15 Apr 2013 22:59:09 +0000

One of my favorite books! Glad to see the re-issue.

Comment on Lin Yu-tang and his Chinese Typewriter by Paul French

Paul French — Mon, 15 Apr 2013 15:58:37 +0000

sorry – I don’t know your email address?

Comment on Lin Yu-tang and his Chinese Typewriter by Roslyn Joy Ricci

Roslyn Joy Ricci — Mon, 15 Apr 2013 08:39:49 +0000

Dear Paul,
So sorry but I had not been back until today when I was checking this URL.
I have searched through my photos from The House of Lin Yutang on Yangmingshan but remember that the curator would not allow photos in the room where LYT’s machines are kept. I did manage to photograph his toothbrush that dispenses paste as one brushes in the Memorial Library of Lin Yutang in Zhangzhou, China. If you email me at Adelaide University I shall send that photo to you. Cheers, Roslyn Joy

Comment on Goodrich’s The Peking Temple of the Eastern Peak – Peking in 1927 by Peter Michael Nyman

Peter Michael Nyman — Tue, 09 Apr 2013 11:58:11 +0000

Thanks (again) for an interesting blog.

I would be curious about your opinion on one thing.

Everyone can agree that a lot of the historical legacy of China is being, and has been, destroyed. Without dwelling into 19th Century rebellions, it appears, that the process started after Xinhai revolution and when China became republic (?) Temples were destroyed then too, years before the cultural revolution. The process continued during republican years, through Mao’s years and is sort of, finalized now, with the modernizing revolution.

The question would be:

A thought play. Would the Qing dynasty had taken better care of China’s historical legacy? Did the Qing administration persuade to keep the historical anchor, and would they have continued with this in 20th century.

Do you know if e.g. Beijings historical legacy was being destroyed already by Qing government in name of “modernization” or similar?