China Rhyming

Break in Transmission

Paul French — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 16:02:35 +0000

Apologies for lack of posting I’m in London for a bit…

The Joint Savings Society Building

Paul French — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 11:55:15 +0000

Today an ad from 1928 featuring the rather nice Joint Savings Society Building on the corner of Szechuen and Hankow Roads (now Sichuan Middle Road and Hankou Road). The Joint Savings Society was formed by the Yienyieh, Kincheng, Continental and China & South Sea Banks and also had branches in Tientsin and Hankow. After the ad, a couple of pictures of the building as it looks today.

And today -

And a little closer on the lobby which is still quite grand -

Percy Cradock

Paul French — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 07:14:25 +0000

I note that Percy Cradock died on January 22nd, age 86. Cradock is now best known for his role in the negotiations for the handover of Hong Kong and was the Foreign Office’s premier Sinologist for many years. He also famously worked in the British Embassy in Peking during the Cultural Revolution when the Embassy was attacked. He naturally later became known for his public sniping over the run up to the handover with last Governor Chris Patten.

John Gittings has written an interesting and lengthy obituary of Cradock in The Guardian that doesn’t need repeating here.

Donnelly’s ‘Sumptuous’ Chinese Junks

Paul French — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 17:03:00 +0000

As it’s been reprinted nicely recently I’d thought I’d plug the reprint with an old ad from the 1920s when Ivon A Donnelly’s Chinese Junks and Other Native Craft was first issued. Good old Kelly & Walsh, the best English language publishers in the East (who live on with a couple of chaotically organised bookshops in Hong Kong) ran the ad and everyone seemed to like Mr Donnelly’s tome. They were right and it has justly become a classic.

Taiwan 1970s Animation

Paul French — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 11:20:18 +0000

Strapped for time today so here’s an ad from the 1970s for a cartoon show that looks nice and doesn’t require me to try and say anything knowledgable about it.

Amateur Snapper? Then go to Mactavish’s

Paul French — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 16:51:55 +0000

Peking famously had Hartung’s photography studios, Shanghai had MacTavish’s. Photography caught on fast in Shanghai obviously and there were any number of foreign and Chinese run studios – Chinese studios like the well known Ah Fung’s apparently did a good job but MacTavish’s highlighted that everything in their darkrooms was done ‘under foreign supervision’. The Garden Bridge remains of course (now with a silly light show nightly), MacTavish’s has gone.

China Ethos – Winter 2009/2010

Paul French — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 12:33:01 +0000

A quick plug for the latest edition of China Ethos magazine which is a quarterly publication in the UK about all things China. Apparently you can buy it at some newsagents and it’s all over the first and business class lounges for half a dozen airlines or so for those who travel that way.

Anyway, there’s a longish piece by me about the life and (China related) work of the great Peter Fleming, as well as a kind review of my Through the Looking Glass book. It’s also a chance to stick up a picture of Zhang Ziyi – I’m aware my celebrity culture pictures usually involve Marlene Dietrich or Anna May Wong and that occasionally one must opt for something a little more current.

Texaco Roofing in Shanghai

Paul French — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 03:38:06 +0000

One of the architectural nerds of Shanghai today. An ad for Texaco Roofing materials from the 1920s. You’ll note that these were the products used on a variety of well known buildings including the Allen Memorial Church, Shanghai General Hospital, the Dah Fong Cotton Mill (gone), Chekiang Road Theatre (gone), the Wing On Textile Mill (gone) and Maclean’s Church at Sunkiang.

Murder in Peking Gets an Early Plug

Paul French — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 16:05:48 +0000

While I’m in the mood for plugging my own stuff (apologies, as ever) I’ll just link to this article that popped up in the Wall Street Journal by Didi Kirstin Tatlow – Let a Hundred Publishers Bloom. I get a nice plug for my forthcoming Pamela Werner murder in 1937 Peking book which hopefully indicates that people will swarm to the bookshops (and the e-book download sites, as I suppose we have to say now) in their millions and earn me enough money to finally that get that yacht I’ve been promising myself (which I intend to name ‘The Pamela’), though where in hell I’ll sail it in Shanghai remains a sticking point in the plan.

Anyway, the article also has some interesting information on Penguin’s innovative China publishing programme and other details on the state of publishing in China at the moment which is always a fascinating subject.

BTW: advance notice that my biography of Carl Crow – A Tough Old China Hand: The Life, Times and Adventures of an American in Shanghai is to be issued (can you say published?) as an e book apparently suitable for all these Kindle, Nook, iPad and whatevers people now use. More details when it hits the shelves (I haven’t thought of a virtual equivalent for this yet!).

Through the Looking Glass – Reviewed in the Hong Kong Economic Journal

Paul French — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 07:38:09 +0000

It is always interesting to be reviewed by someone who has a good knowledge of what you’re writing about and something to add to it. Therefore I was delighted to see a review of my history of journalists in China, Through the Looking Glass, by Frank Ching, the long time senior columnist at the South China Morning Post and formerly a foreign correspondent in China with several leading US newspapers during the early days of the opening up and reforms. Frank’s review is worth reading especially because he offers some of his own experiences on reporting in China that will be important to anyone (hopefully soon) writing the post-1949 history of foreign journalists. Click here to read.