All things old China - books, anecdotes, stories, podcasts, factoids & ramblings from the author Paul French
An event on my new essay collection Destination Macao (Blacksmith Books) at the University of Macau this Friday evening….Ranging from the epic poet Luis de Camões in the 1550s to Ian Fleming in the 1950s….
The Royal Asiatic Society hosted a dinner in the ballroom of the old Grand Hotel de Pekin (now the Hotel Nuo) – where Wallis checked in when she first arrived in Peking just before Christmas 1924. It was an amazing evening – the brave went for 1920s costume, the British Ambassador came, and we all took a photo on the lobby staircase Wallis must have gone up and down a dozen times or more. You can imagine how mind blowing for me this all was!
Her Lotus Year: China, the Roaring Twenties and the Making of Wallis Simpson is available everywhere in hardback, e-book and audiobook now…
A kind review in The HongKonger online here…
What am I up to in Macao? Well, talking to some schools, the University of Macao and, next weekend, the wonderful Macao Literary Festival.
Wallis in China of course is in demand, but it also happens that the third in my “Destination…” series of collected essays and articles has just been published by Hong Kong’s Blacksmith Books. Following “Destination Shanghai” and “Destination Peking”, “Destination Macao” is 15 tales of pirates, traders, smugglers, sojourners, rebels, moviemakers, writers, poets and many more who lived, visited or somehow interacted with the Portuguese colony.
Ranging from the epic poet Luis de Camões in the 1550s to Ian Fleming in the 1950s by way of, among others, Camilo Pessanha, George Chinnery, Fernando Pessoa, Josef von Sternberg, Maurice Dekobra, WH Auden, the Macanese writer Deolinda da Conceição, the Russian emigre painter George Smirnoff and Stanley Ho.
All three “Destination…” collections are available now from Blacksmith Books, Bookazine branches in Hong Kong, Livraria Portuguesa in Macao and soon everywhere online and bookshops worldwide (ships are sailing!)….
Enid Tsui has been a journalist in arts since the late 2000s. Currently based in Hong Kong, she is the Arts Editor of the South China Morning Post, where she writes and commissions stories about the art market, events and cultural policies. She has an MA in art history. Her book Art in Hong Kong: Portrait of a City in Flux was published in January 2025 by Lund Humphries. As part of the “Hot Topics in the Art World” series, it provides historical context for Hong Kong’s contemporary art scene and a comprehensive look at the city’s evolving art scene and offers a nuanced perspective on Hong Kong’s future as a global art centre.
The talk will begin at 11am with Enid’s examination of how recent political changes, the COVID-19 pandemic, and a wave of talent loss have impacted Hong Kong’s artistic identity. The talk will be followed by a book-buying and signing opportunity.
Guests are encouraged to arrive on the 6th floor between 10:30am and 11am for the opportunity to preview Christie’s Art Month Opening Preview Sale as an exclusive perk of purchasing a ticket.
Date: 24 March (Monday) / Time: 10:30am-12noon / Venue: Christie’s Address: 6/F, The Henderson, 2 Murray Road, Central
Get tickets here
Art in Hong Kong is a fascinating analysis of the history, current status and possible future of Hong Kong as an international art hub, written by a local journalist who has reported on the city’s cultural landscape for many years. Enid Tsui presents a balanced and insightful picture of recent changes in the city which was once the poster-child of artistic freedom in Asia as well as the undisputed leader of the region’s booming contemporary-art market. Some of Hong Kong’s traditional advantages now look precarious following new laws imposed by China curbing freedom of expression and the city’s long period of isolation during the Covid-19 pandemic. Yet despite the exodus of talent from Hong Kong and growing uncertainties over the ‘red lines’ of censorship, there are more world-class art institutions in the city than ever before and the market has proved resilient, with international auction houses and galleries continuing to expand their presence there.
This book lifts the lid on a diverse art scene in a city of fascinating contradictions: a former British colony where artists have long been inspired by the interplay between east and west, and where the new M+ museum and other venues have to tread a tightrope between celebrating a distinct and vibrant culture based on different influences and abiding by the new national security regime.
Henry Steiner’s Hong Kong from Zolima….. When Henry Steiner moved to Hong Kong in 1961, it was only meant to be for nine months. More than 60 years later, he is the most important graphic designer in the city’s history. Join us as we explore Hong Kong through the lens of Steiner’s work, from the idea of East meets West, to the graphic identity of world-leading companies like HSBC, to Hong Kong icons like the Jockey Club, Hong Kong Land, Peak Tower, Ocean Terminal, Wellcome, Lane Crawford and more.
A brilliant first volume from Hong Kong’s Zolima Culture Guide… click here to buy…
This coming Saturday i’ll be speaking to the Royal Asiatic Society Beijing’s annual post-AGM dinner at the old Grand Hotel de Pekin (now Hotel Nuo on Chang’an Jie) on those old denizens of the bars, restaurants and rooftop dancefloor of the GHP from Wallis Simpson to Harold Acton, the American jazz bands and the likes of Nelson Rockefeller Jr and the author JP Marquand…. https://rasbj.org/membership/
History Club Mar 22: David Atwill on Lin Zexu after the Opium War
Beyond the Opium War: Rethinking the Contributions of Commissioner Lin Zexu to 19th century Imperial China
Garden Books
长乐路325号，近陕西南路
325 Changle Rd, Near Shaanxi South Rd
Shanghai, China
Mar 22, 2025
(4:00 PM - 6:00 PM) (GMT+8)
The Opium War (1839-42) appears in virtually every telling of nineteenth-century world history. No individual, Chinese or British, looms larger in that event than Imperial Commissioner Lin Zexu. In 1838, Lin was hand-picked by the emperor from among the empire’s best and brightest officials to combat the opium trade at Guangzhou. Only eighteen months later, the emperor just as quickly dismissed Lin from the post and soon thereafter banished him to northwestern China. In most tellings, this is the last one hears of Lin. And yet, in the last decade of his life, Lin remained highly respected among his peers, immensely popular across the empire, and continued to serve as one of the emperor’s top imperial troubleshooters.
In this talk, Professor Atwill (NYU Shanghai) focuses on Lin’s post-Opium War career to upend traditional accounts of mid-nineteenth century China and to allow us to see with new eyes how Qing China faced global challenges in a rapidly changing world.
David G. Atwill is Dean of Arts and Sciences and Professor of History at New York University Shanghai.
More Details and to register here
