All things old China - books, anecdotes, stories, podcasts, factoids & ramblings from the author Paul French
A poster for Horniman’s Tea, founded in 1826 on the Isle of Wight, the inventor of packaged tea whose wealth created the Horniman Museum in London. Showing their London warehouses & “Shanghai” plantations (probably because more warehouses, which they had in Shanghai, were boring), which were actually in Fuzhou and tea country.
Delightful cover for Austin Coates’ 1959 novel of 1950s Hong Kong, The Road (published by Hutchison – this edition in The London Library)
My latest column in Macau Closer out now – how & why Macao runs through James Clavell’s Shogun (& the new FX multi-award winning Shogun TV series) like Brighton through rock…. click here to read…
Out now from Blacksmith Books, Hong Kong Shifts: Stories from the Streets of Hong Kong, with words by Cynthia Cheng and photographs by Maxime Vanhollebeke…
From sampan ladies and bamboo scaffolders to street cleaners, fishermen, security guards and market vendors – these workers form the backbone of the fast-paced metropolis of Hong Kong, yet they are often overlooked or taken for granted. Looking beyond the glamorous harbourfront, neon-lit shopping districts and dramatic skyline, Hong Kong Shifts explores the back alleys to meet and learn from the individuals who work tirelessly to keep the city ticking. These are stories and portraits of resilience, wisdom, positivity and strength from the streets of Hong Kong.
Hong Kong Shifts is a social impact storytelling platform with a mission to promote kindness, empathy and connection in our living and working environments. At the core of our project is the belief that storytelling is a powerful tool to engage, move and inspire – and, ultimately, to build bridges between diverse communities in the city that we call home.
Algernon Bertram “Bertie” Freeman-Mitford, 1st Baron Redesdale (1837-1916), writer, diplomat in China, Russia and Japan, paternal grandfather of the Mitford sisters. Served in Shanghai & Peking late 19th century and visited Haidian in the Peking suburbs in 1866 – quite a different place then!!
Click here to read the new ChinaRhyming Substack roundup for July 15….
My author Q&A this month (July 2024) in the China-Britain Business Council’s magazine, Focus, is the author of the latest book in my Bloomsbury Asian Arguments series, Jonathan Chatwin. His new book – The Southern Tour – on Deng Xiaoping’s southern tour charts China’s transformation into a 21st-century superpower. Read the Q&A here.
Zazunoff’s Patisserie, Avenue Joffre (Huai Hai Zhong Lu), Shanghai French Concession, Bastille Day advert, 1930s….
