A nice 1960 Penguin Special edition of Kuo Ping-chia’s China: New Age and New Outlook (originally published 1956). You can read Kuo’s interesting bio, his move from the Nastionalists (he advised Chiang at Cairo) to broadly supportive of 1949 from his home in America. Kuo (1908-2004) believed that the Nationalists ultimately failed to provide the revolutionary and economic leadership demanded by the masses. And that by neglecting agrarian needs, the KMT lost its vital foundation, including the traditional support of city merchants and rural gentry. Meanwhile the Communists successfully synchronised popular aspirations for peace, order, and national unification with structural reform.
My most recent column in Macau Closer magazine (#183) is on Charles A Gunnison’s rather forgotten short story In Macao. Published in 1892 it partly dramatises and recalls the mercurial American writer and publisher Gunnison’s visit to the Portuguese colony in the 1880s…. Macau Closer is available at various outlets in Macau and Hong Kong including Bookazine and Livraria Portuguesa….
BTW: you can read Gunnison’s In Macaohere on Project Gutenberg….
A two-episode special on the inside scoop on Ricki Tarr, rogue agent of John le Cartre’s Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy – Australian of Penang, Changi inmate, Indonesian gunrunner, Mau Mau hunter, and “scalphunter” for the Circus….
Episode One – We explore how Tarr’s backstory reflects the declining British Empire as much as the Cold War, how his past explains his the character we see in the novel and unwrap Tarr’s past as a ruthless killer. Plus, Japanese prisoner of war camps, gun running and spies in Southeast Asia. Click here
Episode Two – Tarr’s secret family, whether he’s the dark side of Bond and how Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy is wrapped up in the end of empire. Plus, what might have Tarr gotten up to after the end of Tinker Tailor? Click here
The Bookazine Hong Kong Christmas catalogue is available now. And wonderful they’ve included The Last Emperor of China as a great gift idea (only 46 days to Christmas!!)…. click here to read
The two-volumes of Chinese Art by Dr SW Bushell (Stephen Wootton Bushell), published as part of the Victoria and Albert Museum Art Handbooks (South Kensington Museum Handbooks, His Majesty’s Stationery Office), c. early 1900s. Vol I covers sculpture, architecture, bronze, wood carving, ivory, rhinoceros’ horn, lacquer, and jade carving. Vol II covers pottery and porcelain, glass, enamels, jewellery, textiles, and pictorial art. Bushell was the doctor at the British Legation, Peking, between 1868-1900 who, in his spare time, specialised in Chinese art, numismatics and porcelain. He also translated ancient scripts (Tangu, Khitan, Jurchen and Pgags-p) and was, in 1872, was one of the first Europeans to visit Shangdu since the time of Marco Polo (if indeed he ever did!). His collection were all left to the British Museum.
Portrait of S.W. Bushell, 1844-1908 Credit: Wellcome Library, London.
“A remarkable family memoir that brings to life the great upheavals of twentieth-century China–from the Russian and Chinese Revolutions to the Second World War and Mao’s extraordinary political campaigns. To have experienced such chaos and upheaval at close quarters, as eyewitnesses, is both extraordinary and deeply illuminating.”
In 1917, Zvia Bowman’s paternal grandparents fled the Bolshevik Revolution, escaping from Odessa on the Black Sea to Harbin in Manchuria. Their son, Isaac, grew up between Jewish and Catholic traditions before establishing a successful business in Beijing. During the Japanese occupation of China, he met Dr. Bowman’s Chinese mother, from a westernized Christian family from Hong Kong. In 1945, both were imprisoned by the Japanese and released only days before Japan’s surrender.
After the Communist victory in 1949, the family faced renewed persecution and uncertainty. Zvia Bowman recounts her childhood in Beijing as China was transformed by revolution, culminating in their dangerous escape during the Cultural Revolution in 1967. Set against the backdrop of revolution, war, occupation, and political upheaval, In the Shadow of Revolutions is a rich, deeply personal story of love, loss, identity, and the resilience of a family that refused to be broken by the forces of history.
Kelly and Walsh famously printed, published and sold books in Hong Kong (as they still do), Shanghai, Yokohama and Singapore. But book retailing has always been tough and you need to diversify. I’ve seen K&W Christmas cards and seasonal wrapping paper, maps and guidebooks. But here’s a rather rare leather wallet and copper plate (for engraving signatures etc). It includes a handy ruler, space for cards, writing paper and envelopes/stamps. I had not realised K&W offered engraving services before.
A letter sent on Grand Hotel des Wagons-Lits stationery, Legation Quarter, Peking, to Henry Woodhouse (editor and publisher of Aerial Age) at 280 Madison Avenue, New York City. I think the date stamp is 1920.
