tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25290635541729582002024-03-14T01:19:33.822-07:00China Rhyming'History doesn’t repeat itself, but it does rhyme' - Mark Twain.
A gallimaufry of random China history and research interestsPaul Frenchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00995852679311550817noreply@blogger.comBlogger243125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2529063554172958200.post-53155739827470890242009-05-28T01:00:00.000-07:002009-05-28T01:05:29.124-07:00We have moved: Please visit chinarhyming.com!We are pleased to announce we are moving this site to its own domain: <a href="http://www.chinarhyming.com">chinarhyming.com</a>. Please go there from now on. New posts will no longer appear on this Blogspot blog (which is currently blocked in China).<br /><br />If you follow China Rhyming via RSS, our new feed is <a href="http://www.chinarhyming.com/?feed=rss2">here</a>.<br /><br />See you at the <a href="http://www.chinarhyming.com">new site</a>.Paul Frenchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00995852679311550817noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2529063554172958200.post-62634606199755568742009-05-13T01:57:00.000-07:002009-05-13T02:02:49.198-07:00Deviation Posting: Time for a Good Left-Wing Read<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_g2ofm4KCX5k/SgqMciesmcI/AAAAAAAABVE/DBtJqfNzH-Q/s1600-h/orwell-catalonia_172653s.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5335231130493557186" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 209px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 234px" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_g2ofm4KCX5k/SgqMciesmcI/AAAAAAAABVE/DBtJqfNzH-Q/s200/orwell-catalonia_172653s.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><p><br />The other day I had a meeting here in Shanghai with a visiting private equity type from America. He was extremely young in a sort of faux-donnish style and extremely right wing which made the non-essential chit-chat rather gruesome. As we parted he gave me a gift – a copy of Ann Rand’s <em>Atlas Shrugged</em>. He assured me that this was helping him through the current hard economic times when he felt his basic values might be challenged by such outrageous hard line socialists as Obama. I was naturally graceful in acceptance though having read it many years ago knew how distasteful I personally found the book and its message. Ho, hum.<br /><br />Anyway, that got me wondering what classics we should be digging out and then by complete accident (serendipity I guess you’d call it) I came across <em>The Independent’s</em> feature - <em><a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/features/black-and-white-and-red-all-over-leftwing-reads-1682491.html">Black and white and red all over: Left-wing reads</a></em>.<br /><br />I’ll assume their first choice – Mao’s <em>Little Red Book</em> – was a joke<br /><br />Then we get:<br /><br />2) Robert Tressell’s <em>Ragged Trousered Philanthropists</em> from 1910 which I agree is a timeless classic – it’s been 20 years since I read it so that might be a good one to re-read</p><p>3) Franz Fanon’s <em>The Wretched of the Earth</em> from 1961 – ashamed to say have never read</p><p>4) Emma Goldman’s <em>Living my Life</em> from 1931 – a great read and reminds us there’s historically been more choice in American politics than the risible differences between Bush and Obama</p><p>5) Simone de Beauvoir’s <em>The Second Sex</em> from 1949 – which I personally remember as a bit of a slog</p><p>6) Steinbeck’s <em>The Grapes of Wrath</em> from 1939 – which I’m sure reads today as well as the first time I read it as a teenager</p><p>7) Gramsci‘s <em>Prison Notebooks</em> from 1929-35 – which I confess to occasionally still dipping into to keep on track</p><p>8) Walter Greenwood’s <em>Love on the Dole</em> from 1932 - which remains a classic British novel though rarely read I fear these days</p><p>9) Nikolai Chernyshevsky’s <em>What Is To Be Done?</em> From 1862 – which I did read ages ago but none has remained in my mind sadly<br /><br />10) Radclyffe Hall’s <em>The Well of Loneliness</em> from1928 – never read, sorry</p><p>11) Erich Maria Remarque’s <em>All Quiet on the Western Front</em> from 1928 – which dad made us all read as kids to learn to hate war – it worked!</p><p>12) Upton Sinclair’s <em>The Jungle</em> from 1906 – which, talking of my dad, is his favourite book and which made a huge impression on me as a kid</p><p>13) Zola’s <em>Germinal</em> from 1885 – but then anything from Zola including especially I think La Bete Humaine would do</p><p>14) Marx’s <em>Capital</em> from 1867 – still original and best</p><p>15) Engels’ <em>The Condition of the Working Class in England</em> from 1845 – which I re-read recently over a long weekend in Manchester and is still great (there’s also an apparently an excellent new biography of Engels out too)</p><p>16) Mary Wollstonecraft’s <em>A Vindication of the Rights of Women</em> from 1792 – of course</p><p>17) Sidney and Beatrice Webb’s <em>A New Civilisation</em> from 1935 – questionable this one – important at the time certainly; the social engineering and USSR admiration comes over a little trite now though</p><p>18) Orwell’s <em>Homage to Catalonia</em> from 1938 – which is of course (as is everything) great and Orwell a God but if it was my list…as a socialist classic <em>Road to Wigan Pier</em> or <em>Down and Out in London and Paris</em> would win out</p><p>19) CLR James’ <em>The Black Jacobins</em> from 1938 – a classic from a great man – a socialist who loved cricket – now that’s who should run the world!</p><p>20) Rosa Luxemburg’s <em>The Junius Pamphlet</em> from 1916 – fascinating but I’m over by teenage crush on Rosa these days</p><p>A very interesting list and only a few I’d add:</p><p>Jon Don Passos’ <em>USA</em> – which make a mark on me as a lad<br />Orwell’s <em>Keep the Aspidistra Flying</em><br />Rudolf Rocker’s <em>Anarchism and Anarcho-Syndicalism<br /></em>Anything by Tony Negri<br />And probably a few others that’ll come back to me as soon as I’ve posted this!<br /></p>Paul Frenchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00995852679311550817noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2529063554172958200.post-16342134694889768022009-05-12T01:13:00.000-07:002009-05-12T01:21:15.447-07:00Shanghai Race Club - 75th Anniversary<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_g2ofm4KCX5k/SgkxSiKXORI/AAAAAAAABU8/1eUj8suKz3I/s1600-h/race+course.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 229px; height: 153px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_g2ofm4KCX5k/SgkxSiKXORI/AAAAAAAABU8/1eUj8suKz3I/s200/race+course.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5334849428074739986" border="0" /></a>
<br /><meta equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><meta name="ProgId" content="Word.Document"><meta name="Generator" content="Microsoft Word 11"><meta name="Originator" content="Microsoft Word 11"><link rel="File-List" href="file:///C:%5CDOCUME%7E1%5Cpaul%5CLOCALS%7E1%5CTemp%5Cmsohtml1%5C01%5Cclip_filelist.xml"><o:smarttagtype namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name="place"></o:smarttagtype><o:smarttagtype namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name="City"></o:smarttagtype><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:view>Normal</w:View> <w:zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:punctuationkerning/> <w:validateagainstschemas/> <w:saveifxmlinvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:ignoremixedcontent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:alwaysshowplaceholdertext>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:compatibility> <w:breakwrappedtables/> <w:snaptogridincell/> <w:wraptextwithpunct/> <w:useasianbreakrules/> <w:dontgrowautofit/> <w:usefelayout/> </w:Compatibility> <w:browserlevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:latentstyles deflockedstate="false" latentstylecount="156"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if !mso]><object classid="clsid:38481807-CA0E-42D2-BF39-B33AF135CC4D" id="ieooui"></object> <style> st1\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) } </style> <![endif]--><style> <!-- /* Font Definitions */ @font-face {font-family:SimSun; panose-1:2 1 6 0 3 1 1 1 1 1; mso-font-alt:宋体; mso-font-charset:134; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:3 135135232 16 0 262145 0;} @font-face {font-family:"\@SimSun"; panose-1:2 1 6 0 3 1 1 1 1 1; mso-font-charset:134; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:3 135135232 16 0 262145 0;} /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:SimSun; mso-ansi-language:EN-GB;} a:link, span.MsoHyperlink {color:blue; text-decoration:underline; text-underline:single;} a:visited, span.MsoHyperlinkFollowed {color:purple; text-decoration:underline; text-underline:single;} @page Section1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} --> </style><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} </style> <![endif]--> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">The one thing most people know about old <st1:city st="on"><st1:place st="on">Shanghai</st1:place></st1:city> is that there was a race club and it was massively popular. A friend and another long-term Shanghailander Byron Constable has started to really get moving on his long awaited <a href="http://theshanghairaceclub.com/Home_Page.html">Shanghai Race Club board game</a>. It’s a game where you can bet on the races at the old <st1:city st="on"><st1:place st="on">Shanghai</st1:place></st1:city> club. I played a very early prototype version of the game and had fun as did the 7 year old with us – so ‘fun for all the family’ as they say though I’m sure there are purists who will argue with me – “you let a 7 year old gamble!!”
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<br /></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">Anyway, Byron’s also organising Shanghai Race Club Champagne Brunch on Sunday the 17<sup>th</sup> May (like many modern day Shanghail</span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_g2ofm4KCX5k/SgkxDUCbN0I/AAAAAAAABU0/Hagvbwdv93E/s1600-h/Shanghai+race+day+1928.jpeg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 273px; height: 206px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_g2ofm4KCX5k/SgkxDUCbN0I/AAAAAAAABU0/Hagvbwdv93E/s200/Shanghai+race+day+1928.jpeg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5334849166585313090" border="0" /></a><span lang="EN-GB">anders the concept of the Champagne Brunch seems to have an especial appeal – can there by anywhere else where people obsess and get excited about such a thing as Shanghai – I fear not). A bit of promotion for the boa</span><span lang="EN-GB">rd game but also to celebrate the 75th Anniversary of the Shanghai Race Club (building and grandstand as seen left). It should be interesting as Peter Hibbard, author of <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Bund-Shanghai-China-Odyssey-Guides/dp/9622177727">The Bund</a> and <st1:city st="on"></st1:city></span><span style="visibility: visible;" id="main"><span style="visibility: visible;" id="search"><em>éminence grise </em></span></span><span lang="EN-GB"><st1:city st="on">of Shanghai</st1:city>’s Royal Asiatic Society will give a short talk on the history of the old race club and I’m told a few words will be said by Danny Du, great-grandson of <st1:place st="on"><st1:city st="on">Shanghai</st1:city></st1:place> gangster Du Yue Sheng. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">
<br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">Anyway – details of the brunch <a href="http://theshanghairaceclub.com/Champagne_brunch.html">here </a>– which is being held at Kathleen’s 5 which is on the roof of the old Race Club building (now the Shanghai Art Museum though those with longer memories will remember it as the library and only those with really old memories will now remember it as the Race Club!). Kathleen’s 5 is a rooftop place so you get a view over what was the Race Course, now the morass of People’s Square.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p>
<br /></o:p></span></p> <input id="gwProxy" type="hidden"><!--Session data--><input onclick="jsCall();" id="jsProxy" type="hidden"><div id="refHTML"></div>Paul Frenchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00995852679311550817noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2529063554172958200.post-21672426274047709692009-05-11T01:11:00.000-07:002009-05-11T01:14:06.358-07:00Nazis on the Huang Pu<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_g2ofm4KCX5k/SgfeOMdl98I/AAAAAAAABUs/Td-Gu8684tQ/s1600-h/nazi+cover.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5334476619088525250" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 146px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 200px" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_g2ofm4KCX5k/SgfeOMdl98I/AAAAAAAABUs/Td-Gu8684tQ/s200/nazi+cover.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><div><em>That’s Shanghai</em> magazine put together<a href="http://shanghai.urbanatomy.com/index.php/i-ahearts-shanghai/85-i-love-shanghai/1384-the-rise-a-fall-of-nazi-shanghai"> a series of features </a>on Nazis in Shanghai (back in the 1930s and 1940s that is rather than any knocking about now). Of course given Shanghai’s cosmopolitanism there were plenty of Nazis and they were pretty well organised and had, obviously, a Jewish community to hate too. </div><br /><div><br />Of course the series of articles are far from definitive on the subject and, to be fair, you wouldn’t expect that. A full book on the subject remains to be written. There’s also a piece on Dai (Tai) Li and the fascistic Blue Shirts in Shanghai, the major Nazi Party leaders in Shanghai, a tie in with the opening of the new Sino-German movie about John Rabe (who was a Nazi Party member) and (beware plug coming!) an excerpt from my imminently forthcoming book on foreign journalists in China about the Nazi and anti-Nazi press in Shanghai during the period.</div><div> </div>Paul Frenchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00995852679311550817noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2529063554172958200.post-28795706229155576972009-05-10T01:08:00.000-07:002009-05-10T01:12:08.725-07:00Old Cemeteries, Graveyards and RemainsFor some reason I’ve been thinking about old cemeteries in China recently (and did post about the<a href="http://chinarhyming.blogspot.com/2009/04/few-posts-on-keelung-ii-cimetiere.html"> <span style="font-style: italic;">Cimetière Française de Kilung</span></a>). Not sure how this started, probably a conversation with a friend about the fact that Beijing and Shanghai appear to be among some of the few major cities internationally that have no cemeteries in their inner cities left. Shanghai certainly has no equivalent of Highgate Cemetery in London or the <span style="font-style: italic;">Cimetière du Père-Lachaise</span> in Paris. Other cities of course also have their traditional cemeteries – get the bus from Hong Kong’s Central to Aberdeen and you pass the vast cemeteries somewhere up behind Happy Valley while I stayed recently in KL at a city centre hotel whose swimming pool overlooked a Chinese graveyard behind the property while in Malacca you can wander among the graves of the city’s former Dutch and English traders.<br /><br />Of course I’ve visited the vast cemeteries now on Shanghai’s fringes but the downtown cemeteries are all built on. Interestingly no one much, in what can be a very superstitious city, seems bothered by this and I have no idea whether the old graveyards were just churned up or remains taken away. Some of the city’s most notorious buildings sit above former graveyards – the Pearl Oriental Tower must, at least in part, be built over the old Pootung Point graveyard while the fascistic architectural horror that is the JW Marriot at the ridiculously named Tomorrow Square sits on land (according to my old map of Shanghai) that was also a graveyard. Much the same appears to be true of Beijing – I recently went looking for a graveyard noted in an old record but it was firmly gone under the concrete of the Second Ring Road. As far as I could ascertain there was no formal removal of remains to anywhere else.<br /><br />A few other cemetery related observations noted recently:<br /><br />I just<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_g2ofm4KCX5k/SgaMMRa80MI/AAAAAAAABUk/Twj0fo7It80/s1600-h/out+of+mao%27s+shadow.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 76px; height: 76px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_g2ofm4KCX5k/SgaMMRa80MI/AAAAAAAABUk/Twj0fo7It80/s200/out+of+mao%27s+shadow.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5334104951129690306" border="0" /></a> read Philip Pan’s excellent <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Out-Maos-Shadow-Struggle-China/dp/0330451030/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1241929427&sr=1-1"><span style="font-style: italic;">Out of Mao’s Shadow: The Struggle for the Soul of a New China</span> </a>which has a fascinating chapter on a surviving graveyard full of people who died in the Cultural Revolution- that it survived was remarkable; that people were intrigued and cataloguing the dead there a fascinating example of how not everyone accepts that all in China should just forget the CR in the rush to the glory and wonder of total KFCification.<br /><br />I also recently bumped into Dvir Bar-Gal (at an incredibly bad talk by someone on the history of Baghdadi Jews in Shanghai by the way, where the speaker would neither discuss opium, slum landlordism or anything that might have reflected badly on the likes of Sassoon, Hardoon etc – really a very bad example of history as celebrity PR) who has done so much to preserve the Jewish headstones of Shanghai when he can find them. His latest efforts are noted in an article on the <a href="http://jta.org/news/article/2009/04/13/1004154/saving-shanghais-jewish-past-headstone-by-headstone">JTA website</a>. Dvir notes that, ‘The four cemeteries that once served this city’s (Shanghai’s) small but prosperous Jewish community disappeared in the late 1960s during China’s Cultural Revolution. The sites were paved over to build a factory, park, hotel and Muslim cemetery, their history forgotten.’Paul Frenchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00995852679311550817noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2529063554172958200.post-42722679364075049772009-05-09T02:13:00.000-07:002009-05-09T02:19:59.702-07:00The Gurkhas, Justice and a National Embarrassment<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_g2ofm4KCX5k/SgVKhKELIYI/AAAAAAAABUc/Og6wGMGWIMc/s1600-h/180px-Gurkha_Soldier_Monument,_London_-_April_2008.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 87px; height: 200px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_g2ofm4KCX5k/SgVKhKELIYI/AAAAAAAABUc/Og6wGMGWIMc/s200/180px-Gurkha_Soldier_Monument,_London_-_April_2008.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5333751267188220290" border="0" /></a>
<br /><meta equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><meta name="ProgId" content="Word.Document"><meta name="Generator" content="Microsoft Word 11"><meta name="Originator" content="Microsoft Word 11"><link rel="File-List" href="file:///C:%5CDOCUME%7E1%5Cpaul%5CLOCALS%7E1%5CTemp%5Cmsohtml1%5C01%5Cclip_filelist.xml"><o:smarttagtype namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name="place"></o:smarttagtype><o:smarttagtype namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name="country-region"></o:smarttagtype><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:view>Normal</w:View> <w:zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:punctuationkerning/> <w:validateagainstschemas/> <w:saveifxmlinvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:ignoremixedcontent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:alwaysshowplaceholdertext>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:compatibility> <w:breakwrappedtables/> <w:snaptogridincell/> <w:wraptextwithpunct/> <w:useasianbreakrules/> <w:dontgrowautofit/> <w:usefelayout/> </w:Compatibility> <w:browserlevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:latentstyles deflockedstate="false" latentstylecount="156"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if !mso]><object classid="clsid:38481807-CA0E-42D2-BF39-B33AF135CC4D" id="ieooui"></object> <style> st1\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) } </style> <![endif]--><style> <!-- /* Font Definitions */ @font-face {font-family:SimSun; panose-1:2 1 6 0 3 1 1 1 1 1; mso-font-alt:宋体; mso-font-charset:134; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:3 135135232 16 0 262145 0;} @font-face {font-family:"\@SimSun"; panose-1:2 1 6 0 3 1 1 1 1 1; mso-font-charset:134; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:3 135135232 16 0 262145 0;} /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:SimSun; mso-ansi-language:EN-GB;} a:link, span.MsoHyperlink {color:blue; text-decoration:underline; text-underline:single;} a:visited, span.MsoHyperlinkFollowed {color:purple; text-decoration:underline; text-underline:single;} @page Section1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} --> </style><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} </style> <![endif]--> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">
<br /></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">It’s hard to be anything but disgusted with the British government’s attitude to the Gurkha’s and the pension row. The history of the Gurkas as fighting men in the pay of <st1:country-region st="on"><st1:place st="on">Britain</st1:place></st1:country-region> goes back a long - Gurkhas served as troops under contract to the East India Company. During the Indian Rebellion of 1857, Gurkhas fought on the British side, and became part of the British Indian Army on its formation. The 2nd Gurkha Rifles (The Sirmoo</span><span lang="EN-GB">r Rifles) made a particularly notable contribution during the conflict, and indeed twenty-five Indian Order of Merit awards were made to men from that regiment during the Siege of Delhi. Their exploits and courage are of course legendary - the Gurkha momument in London pictured left.
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<br /></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">From the end o</span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_g2ofm4KCX5k/SgVKLdzndiI/AAAAAAAABUU/HtlfxSHd-Uo/s1600-h/42nd+Gurkha+Light+Infantry+1890.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 116px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_g2ofm4KCX5k/SgVKLdzndiI/AAAAAAAABUU/HtlfxSHd-Uo/s200/42nd+Gurkha+Light+Infantry+1890.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5333750894530360866" border="0" /></a><span lang="EN-GB">f the Indian Rebellion of 1857 until the start of the First World War the Gurkha Regiments saw active service in <st1:country-region st="on">Burma</st1:country-region>, <st1:country-region st="on">Afghanistan</st1:country-region>, the North-East and the North-West Frontiers of India, <st1:country-region st="on">Malta</st1:country-region> (the Russo-Turkish War, 187</span><span lang="EN-GB">7–78), <st1:country-region st="on">Cyprus</st1:country-region> and <st1:place st="on">Malaya</st1:place>. Naturally, as I hope most people know, the Gurkha’s were of course on the front line in WW1 (200,000 served with 20,000 casualties), WW2 and the <st1:place st="on">Falklands</st1:place> among other recent conflicts. A Gurkha light infantry group pictured left about 1890.
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<br /></p><p class="MsoNormal"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_g2ofm4KCX5k/SgVKDJAo70I/AAAAAAAABUM/i0oXI2C6dQ4/s1600-h/gurkha+in+Boxer.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 165px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_g2ofm4KCX5k/SgVKDJAo70I/AAAAAAAABUM/i0oXI2C6dQ4/s200/gurkha+in+Boxer.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5333750751508885314" border="0" /></a></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">
<br /></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">For the purposes of this blog it’s worth remembering that the Gurka’s also saw active service in China during the Boxer Rebellion in 1900 (Gurkhas in China are pictured left) and Tibet during Younghusband's bloody Expedition of 1905. I’m not goi</span><span lang="EN-GB">ng to argue whether or not any of the wars above were politically acceptable – the Gurkha’s were a key part of the military arm</span><span lang="EN-GB"> of the <st1:place st="on">British Empire</st1:place> obviously. S</span><span lang="EN-GB">till, the current (and long running – all my life as far as I can remember) row about why Gurkhas receive smaller pensions than their British equivalents sticks in the throat as fundamentally unfair, racist and a prime example of petty government penny saving.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">
<br /></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">There is a campaign currently running to support Gurkhas and pressure the <st1:country-region st="on"><st1:place st="on">UK</st1:place></st1:country-region> government into giving more help and equal treatment to Gurkhas, called Gurkha Justice that has caught the public’s imagination and widespread support. A motion was voted on in the House of Commons on the 29th April 2009 by the Liberal Democrats that all Gurkhas be offered an equal right of residence in the <st1:country-region st="on"><st1:place st="on">UK</st1:place></st1:country-region>. This resulted in a defeat for the Government by 267 votes to 246, the first, first day motion defeat for a government since 1978. The Commons vote is not binding, but it represents an embarrassment for the government. Yet Phil Woolas, the immigration minister (and, as I well remember a </span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_g2ofm4KCX5k/SgVJqTYG5_I/AAAAAAAABT8/dCcodZvNgAc/s1600-h/joanna_lumley_with_ex_gurkha_tul_bahadar_pun.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 159px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_g2ofm4KCX5k/SgVJqTYG5_I/AAAAAAAABT8/dCcodZvNgAc/s200/joanna_lumley_with_ex_gurkha_tul_bahadar_pun.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5333750324794943474" border="0" /></a><span lang="EN-GB">nasty little self-centred careerist when he was head of the National Union Students in my college days - a real horrible little greasy pole climber who obviously hasn't changed one jot) continues to prevaricate and pettifog.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">
<br /></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">If you want to support <a href="http://www.gurkhajustice.org.uk/">the campaign for full Gurkha Justice</a> – on their site you can sign the petition calling calling on the UK Government to act immediately to change the law to allow all retired Gurkhas the right to stay in the <st1:place st="on"><st1:country-region st="on"><acronym>UK</acronym></st1:country-region></st1:place>, without reservation. (By the way if you sign the online petition you subsequently get a thank you email from none other than Joanna Lumley, which for all Englishmen of a certain age is rather thrilling!)</span></p> <input id="gwProxy" type="hidden"><!--Session data--><input onclick="jsCall();" id="jsProxy" type="hidden"><div id="refHTML"></div>Paul Frenchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00995852679311550817noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2529063554172958200.post-6169550185986414672009-05-08T09:27:00.000-07:002009-05-08T09:34:21.554-07:00Nanjing Massacre Films<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_g2ofm4KCX5k/SgRe56Hx9fI/AAAAAAAABT0/Y2Iu6WQa1cM/s1600-h/nanjing+nanjing.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 142px; height: 200px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_g2ofm4KCX5k/SgRe56Hx9fI/AAAAAAAABT0/Y2Iu6WQa1cM/s200/nanjing+nanjing.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5333492207660955122" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Two films are doing the rounds at the moment concerned with the Nanjing Masscare of 1937 - Lu Chuan's <i>City of Life and Death,</i> from the point of view of the city's military defense, civilian refugees, and Japanese invaders, and <i>John Rabe</i>, a Sino-German production, looking at the Massacre through the experiences of the title character, a German businessman with Siemens and Nazi Party member in China who helped set up a refugee zone in the city.<br /><br />I haven't <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_g2ofm4KCX5k/SgRe1ndI8II/AAAAAAAABTs/wIcKEaB00c4/s1600-h/john+rabe.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 52px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_g2ofm4KCX5k/SgRe1ndI8II/AAAAAAAABTs/wIcKEaB00c4/s200/john+rabe.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5333492133930791042" border="0" /></a>had a chance to see either film - and may well never see either as I don't watch TV much and never go to the cinema. Still they're hard to ignore and should be interesting one way or another for the reaction to them in China. <a href="http://www.danwei.org/">Danwei </a>has a post on both films and <a href="http://www.danwei.org/film/john_rabe_nanjing_city_life_death.php">some initial reactions </a>which I'll just link to for now.<br /><input id="gwProxy" type="hidden"><!--Session data--><input onclick="jsCall();" id="jsProxy" type="hidden"><div id="refHTML"></div>Paul Frenchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00995852679311550817noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2529063554172958200.post-66071006866411137212009-05-07T01:04:00.001-07:002009-05-07T01:08:52.234-07:00Images of American Colonialists in the PhilippinesA slight deviation today but I came across these photographs of American ex-pats in the Philippines in the early 1900s the other day. Of course the Philippines was really America’s major experiment with colonialism and, by their own admittance, they weren’t that great at it. It seems that American colonials basically rarely interacted on a social level with Filipinos (except in the brothels of Manila) and kept themselves to themselves pretty much.<br /><br />Anyway here they are – Americans trying to be colonials circa 1905: <div><div><div><br /><div></div>An American picnic party<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_g2ofm4KCX5k/SgKWmG0c21I/AAAAAAAABTk/FPhHmThd0gc/s1600-h/Americans+picnic+in+mountains+of+Philippines.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5332990490169891666" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 200px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 122px" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_g2ofm4KCX5k/SgKWmG0c21I/AAAAAAAABTk/FPhHmThd0gc/s200/Americans+picnic+in+mountains+of+Philippines.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><div></div><br /><br /><div></div><br /><br /><div></div><br /><br /><div></div><br /><br /><div></div>Americans at Baguio, the hill resort they built for themselves<br /><div></div><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_g2ofm4KCX5k/SgKWf_18-iI/AAAAAAAABTc/1m3dkb_fwM4/s1600-h/Americans+at+Baguio.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5332990385217927714" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 200px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 126px" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_g2ofm4KCX5k/SgKWf_18-iI/AAAAAAAABTc/1m3dkb_fwM4/s200/Americans+at+Baguio.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><div></div><br /><br /><div></div><br /><br /><div></div><br /><div></div><br /><div></div><div></div>American women strolling through a Filipino town<br /><div><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_g2ofm4KCX5k/SgKWV2RUUII/AAAAAAAABTU/GepbMHYD35U/s1600-h/American+women+in+a+Filipino+town.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5332990210849656962" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 200px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 132px" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_g2ofm4KCX5k/SgKWV2RUUII/AAAAAAAABTU/GepbMHYD35U/s200/American+women+in+a+Filipino+town.jpg" border="0" /></a></div><br /><br /><div></div><br /><br /><div></div><br /><br /><div></div><br /><br /><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div>An American woman teacher at an American-run school for Filipino children<br /><div><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_g2ofm4KCX5k/SgKWPe1I2yI/AAAAAAAABTM/f4CKKCqKcyI/s1600-h/American+School+for+Filipino+children+circa+1905.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5332990101478234914" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 200px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 154px" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_g2ofm4KCX5k/SgKWPe1I2yI/AAAAAAAABTM/f4CKKCqKcyI/s200/American+School+for+Filipino+children+circa+1905.jpg" border="0" /></a></div><br /><br /><br /><div></div><br /><br /><br /><div></div><br /><br /><br /><div></div><br /><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div> </div></div></div></div>Paul Frenchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00995852679311550817noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2529063554172958200.post-4565374624037073692009-05-06T01:55:00.000-07:002009-05-06T02:00:07.169-07:00Clarification on the Tunsin<meta equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><meta name="ProgId" content="Word.Document"><meta name="Generator" content="Microsoft Word 11"><meta name="Originator" content="Microsoft Word 11"><link rel="File-List" href="file:///C:%5CDOCUME%7E1%5Cpaul%5CLOCALS%7E1%5CTemp%5Cmsohtml1%5C01%5Cclip_filelist.xml"><o:smarttagtype namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name="Street"></o:smarttagtype><o:smarttagtype namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name="address"></o:smarttagtype><o:smarttagtype namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name="place"></o:smarttagtype><o:smarttagtype namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name="City"></o:smarttagtype><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:view>Normal</w:View> <w:zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:punctuationkerning/> <w:validateagainstschemas/> <w:saveifxmlinvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:ignoremixedcontent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:alwaysshowplaceholdertext>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:compatibility> <w:breakwrappedtables/> <w:snaptogridincell/> <w:wraptextwithpunct/> <w:useasianbreakrules/> <w:dontgrowautofit/> <w:usefelayout/> </w:Compatibility> <w:browserlevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:latentstyles deflockedstate="false" latentstylecount="156"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if !mso]><object classid="clsid:38481807-CA0E-42D2-BF39-B33AF135CC4D" id="ieooui"></object> <style> st1\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) } </style> <![endif]--><style> <!-- /* Font Definitions */ @font-face {font-family:SimSun; panose-1:2 1 6 0 3 1 1 1 1 1; mso-font-alt:宋体; mso-font-charset:134; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:3 135135232 16 0 262145 0;} @font-face {font-family:"\@SimSun"; panose-1:2 1 6 0 3 1 1 1 1 1; mso-font-charset:134; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:3 135135232 16 0 262145 0;} /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:SimSun; mso-ansi-language:EN-GB;} a:link, span.MsoHyperlink {color:blue; text-decoration:underline; text-underline:single;} a:visited, span.MsoHyperlinkFollowed {color:purple; text-decoration:underline; text-underline:single;} @page Section1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} --> </style><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} </style> <![endif]--> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">My musings on the old <st1:street st="on"><st1:address st="on"><st1:street st="on"><st1:address st="on">Tunsin Road</st1:address></st1:street></st1:address></st1:street> in <st1:place st="on"><st1:city st="on"><st1:city st="on"><st1:place st="on">Shanghai</st1:place></st1:city></st1:city></st1:place> and the origin of its name (see <a href="http://chinarhyming.blogspot.com/2009/05/why-old-shanghais-tunsin-road-was.html">previous post</a>) actually did result in some useful additional help. First a quick correction – it wasn’t John Swire who came up to <st1:city st="on"><st1:place st="on"><st1:place st="on"><st1:city st="on">Shanghai</st1:city></st1:place></st1:place></st1:city> but his son.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal">
<br /><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12pt;"><span lang="EN-GB"><u3:p></u3:p><u3:p></u3:p>Swire di</span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_g2ofm4KCX5k/SgFRWNOwT5I/AAAAAAAABTE/_K4KIIpNSVo/s1600-h/Gibb.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 137px; height: 104px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_g2ofm4KCX5k/SgFRWNOwT5I/AAAAAAAABTE/_K4KIIpNSVo/s200/Gibb.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5332632875733897106" border="0" /></a><span lang="EN-GB">d have a ship called Tunsin which was originally owned by a company called George Barnet & Co. of Shanghai </span><span lang="EN-GB">- </span><span lang="EN-GB">Tunsin was their Hong name meaning that the street may have been named after the Hong rather than the vessel – this is actually more likely as several other streets in Shanghai were named after Hong names – Jinkee Road (now Dianchi Lu) after the Hong name of Gibb, Livingstone (their building on the road is left) and Chaoufoong Road (now Gaoyang</span><span lang="EN-GB"> Lu) after the Hong name of Jenner Hogg & Co.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB"><u3:p></u3:p>I’m very grateful to Charlotte Bleasdale who works with Swire’s Group Public Affairs Department that maintains their archives for also telling me that the Tunsin was built in </span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_g2ofm4KCX5k/SgFRIsc_ImI/AAAAAAAABS8/sSCpqMge0s8/s1600-h/Swatow.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 211px; height: 134px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_g2ofm4KCX5k/SgFRIsc_ImI/AAAAAAAABS8/sSCpqMge0s8/s200/Swatow.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5332632643596919394" border="0" /></a><span lang="EN-GB">London, supposedly as a blockade runner for use in the American Civil War, but was purchased half-built by Barnets, arriving in Shanghai in May 1864 and placed in service on the Yangtze. In March 1867 the Tunsin was sold to F.A. Groom, for a Chinese syndicate, managed by Glover & Co. In July 1867 she was transferred to Union <a href="http://s.n.co/" target="_blank"><span style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">S.N.Co</span></a>. (Glovers also managers) and in 1873 sold to CNCo. In 1885, CNCo converted the ship to a hulk for use as a landing stage at Swatow (<st1:city st="on"><st1:place st="on"><st1:city st="on"><st1:place st="on">Shantou</st1:place></st1:city></st1:place></st1:city> - left).
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<br /><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB"><u3:p></u3:p>All this talk of blockade running certainly gives the ship a slightly more romantic history. Seems that mystery is now solved.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <u3:p></u3:p>Paul Frenchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00995852679311550817noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2529063554172958200.post-16250392828569930662009-05-05T01:11:00.000-07:002009-05-05T01:13:23.434-07:00Why Old Shanghai's Tunsin Road was Called Tunsin Road<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_g2ofm4KCX5k/Sf_1Eaz9BrI/AAAAAAAABSs/VOoNyQrFs08/s1600-h/Tunsin.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5332249940095469234" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 167px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 113px" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_g2ofm4KCX5k/Sf_1Eaz9BrI/AAAAAAAABSs/VOoNyQrFs08/s200/Tunsin.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><div><br /><div>For years now I’ve come across the odd reference to businesses on Tunsin Road in the old International Settlement of Shanghai – up in Hongkou. Not a very long or prestigious road but intriguing, as I was never sure why it was called Tunsin.<br /><br />I think I now know the answer. The likeliest answer seems to be that when John Swire (left), the Yorks<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_g2ofm4KCX5k/Sf_07edxI6I/AAAAAAAABSk/-5di9HRM42w/s1600-h/Swire.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5332249786457334690" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 121px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 173px" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_g2ofm4KCX5k/Sf_07edxI6I/AAAAAAAABSk/-5di9HRM42w/s200/Swire.jpg" border="0" /></a>hire-born tycoon who had founded Taikoo Sugar, came to Shanghai, he saw the potential for steam shipping on the Yangtze River - then the West's only key to trade with China's interior. With the backing of Alfred Holt, and the latter's Clyde shipbuilder back in Glasgow, Scotts’ Shipbuilding & Engineering Company, Swire formed The China Navigation Company (CNCo) - registered in London and with Butterfield & Swire appointed managers in Shanghai.<br /><br />Swire immediately ordered three Mississippi-style paddle steamers for the new company. But even before these vessels - <em>Peking</em>, <em>Shanghai</em> and <em>Ichang</em> - had arrived in China, he had snapped up the assets of a newly bankrupted line, Union Steam Navigation, which provided valuable waterfront properties along the Yangtze, as well as two steamers. USNCo’s veteran <em>Tunsin</em> (pictured above) was thus destined to become the first vessel to sail under the Swire flag in 1873.<br /><br />Seems to fit. </div><div> </div></div>Paul Frenchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00995852679311550817noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2529063554172958200.post-50293371142684947962009-05-04T02:22:00.000-07:002009-05-04T02:25:16.766-07:00Anniversaries - May Fourth 1919 – Who Covered it for the Foreign Press Then?<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_g2ofm4KCX5k/Sf60UKNGJMI/AAAAAAAABSU/Q87VQ0IqAlI/s1600-h/May_fourth_1919.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 297px; height: 198px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_g2ofm4KCX5k/Sf60UKNGJMI/AAAAAAAABSU/Q87VQ0IqAlI/s200/May_fourth_1919.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5331897267282912450" border="0" /></a><br />This incredible year of anniversaries in China rolls on today. It can be argued that modern China really began, or at least showed itself formed to a degree, on 4th May 1919 with the protests following China’s disappointment after its betrayal at the Versailles Peace Conference. Despite pledges that every country would be represented, China was not. The European Great Powers and America did not apply any more than cursory pressure on China’s behalf and Japan retained the “special rights” it had snatched from the Germans in Qingdao and Shandong.<br /><br />The seats at Versailles reserved for the Chinese delegation were never occupied and the Chinese decided not to sign in protest against the clauses in the treaty agreeing to the transfer of German leaseholds to Japan. On 4 May, angered at the betrayal and fired up with a justified nationalist fervour, radicalised students staged largescale demonstrations across China. These were the first mass protests in modern Chinese history (as in Peking left) and in many ways set the hallmark for the 1920s as a decade of domestic protest and internal unrest — what became known as the May Fourth Movement.<br /><br />Among the foreigners who actually observed the 4th May events a few stand out as interesting I think. Not least Dr. Paul Reinsch, the US minister to China. Reinsch, who was generally pro-Chinese, had been angered by Japan’s 21 Demands on China during WW1. He felt personally compromised by America’s lack of support for China in Paris despite Wilson’s pledges and resigned in 1919 to take up a post advising the Chinese government in Washington. The great Bill Donald – Donald of China - who was briefly editing the <span style="font-style: italic;">Far Eastern Review</span> penned a lengthy editorial sympathetic to the May Fourth Movement.<br /><br />Also interesting was the pioneering American missionary Frank J. Rawlinson, who developed a brand of liberal Protestantism after becoming involved in the May Fourth Movement. Rawlinson had been born into a Plymouth Brethren family but arrived in China in 1902 as a Southern Baptist missionary and remained based in Shanghai for his entire career until his death in 1937. After becoming radicalised, he split with the Southern Baptists and joined the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. In 1914 he became the editor of the interdenominational <span style="font-style: italic;">Chinese Recorder</span>, which under his tutelage reflected his liberal and often outspoken views forged in 1919.<br /><br />I think the best foreign chronicler of the May Fourth Movement at the time was Pennsylvanian native and Harvard graduate Rodney Yonkers Gilbert, who had come to China as a medicine salesman in 1912 before becoming a long-standing Beijing-based reporter for the <span style="font-style: italic;">North-China Daily News</span>. Gilbert covered the May Fourth demonstrations in the city and attended the lively and raucous meetings held at Peking University. He seemed to be broadly supportive of the student’s anti-Japanese stance, or at least applauded their decision to organize and take action, writing: “The advertisement given to this gathering inspired the local students to do something on their own account, and whatever one thinks of the action they eventually took they certainly deserve full credit for being the first in China to substitute action for talk”.<br /><br />However, Gilbert was an extremely contradictory character. His initial enthusiasm would later become tempered with cynicism. He concluded his 1926 book What’s Wrong with China, which was widely read at the time, with the passage: “We have therefore to be grateful to the firebrand element in China which is driving furiously on towards the complete ruin of China as a nation, the utter collapse of foreign trade with this bad-boy people, and very possibly the martyrdom of those of us who are foolish enough to live in China: and out of great weariness of the spirit and something like Petronian good cheer in the face of what is coming, our toast is: ‘More power to their elbows!”’<br /><br />I’d also note Joseph Washington Hall in Tianjin for May 4th. Hall worked for the American Legation’s espionage service in Shandong from 1916 to 1919. He left the service in time to observe the student protests in Tianjin, which he supported, as a journalist. He freelanced for the <span style="font-style: italic;">China Weekly Review</span> and as a Beijing correspondent for the <span style="font-style: italic;">China Press</span> using the penname Upton Close.Paul Frenchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00995852679311550817noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2529063554172958200.post-48515920387690100052009-05-03T03:38:00.001-07:002009-05-03T03:42:17.333-07:00The Industrial Penetration of China in 1925<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_g2ofm4KCX5k/Sf10Y_1MQkI/AAAAAAAABSM/9D2U0tr4lTQ/s1600-h/Industrial+penetration+of+China+map+1925.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 293px; height: 348px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_g2ofm4KCX5k/Sf10Y_1MQkI/AAAAAAAABSM/9D2U0tr4lTQ/s200/Industrial+penetration+of+China+map+1925.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5331545506676752962" border="0" /></a>
<br /><meta equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><meta name="ProgId" content="Word.Document"><meta name="Generator" content="Microsoft Word 11"><meta name="Originator" content="Microsoft Word 11"><link rel="File-List" href="file:///C:%5CDOCUME%7E1%5Cpaul%5CLOCALS%7E1%5CTemp%5Cmsohtml1%5C01%5Cclip_filelist.xml"><o:smarttagtype namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name="City"></o:smarttagtype><o:smarttagtype namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name="country-region"></o:smarttagtype><o:smarttagtype namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name="place"></o:smarttagtype><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:view>Normal</w:View> <w:zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:punctuationkerning/> <w:validateagainstschemas/> <w:saveifxmlinvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:ignoremixedcontent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:alwaysshowplaceholdertext>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:compatibility> <w:breakwrappedtables/> <w:snaptogridincell/> <w:wraptextwithpunct/> <w:useasianbreakrules/> <w:dontgrowautofit/> <w:usefelayout/> </w:Compatibility> <w:browserlevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:latentstyles deflockedstate="false" latentstylecount="156"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if !mso]><object classid="clsid:38481807-CA0E-42D2-BF39-B33AF135CC4D" id="ieooui"></object> <style> st1\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) } </style> <![endif]--><style> <!-- /* Font Definitions */ @font-face {font-family:SimSun; panose-1:2 1 6 0 3 1 1 1 1 1; mso-font-alt:宋体; mso-font-charset:134; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:3 135135232 16 0 262145 0;} @font-face {font-family:"\@SimSun"; panose-1:2 1 6 0 3 1 1 1 1 1; mso-font-charset:134; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:3 135135232 16 0 262145 0;} /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:SimSun; mso-ansi-language:EN-GB;} @page Section1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} --> </style><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} </style> <![endif]--> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">Picked up a copy of a map from 1925 the other day entitled The Industrial Penetration of China. It was produced in the <st1:country-region st="on">United States</st1:country-region> for a guide to <st1:place st="on"><st1:country-region st="on">China</st1:country-region></st1:place>’s industries and economic development.
<br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal">
<br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">By the wonders of modern science if you click on the image it becomes larger and clearer.
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<br /></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">It’s rather confusing though does indicate some interesting facets – the clearly highly important role of Hankow as a centre of ironworks, flour mills and cotton mills and the heavy concentration of electricity plants around Shanghai and eastern China gives a good indication of where people had access to electricity – no wonder the Socony men heroes of Alice Tisdale Hobart’s Oil for the Lamps of China were all sent deep into the hinterland. Wusih (<st1:city st="on">Wuxi</st1:city>) was clearly an important industrial centre as was, unsurprisingly, <st1:city st="on"><st1:place st="on">Shanghai</st1:place></st1:city>. The concentration of industry in north east <st1:country-region st="on">China</st1:country-region> was obviously something the Japanese took note of thinking, as they were at this time, of annexing <st1:place st="on">Manchuria</st1:place>. <st1:place st="on">Hong Kong</st1:place> was also a major shipbuilding centre at the time as well as port. <st1:place st="on">Peking</st1:place>? Then as now it seems they preferred scholarship and governing to manufacturing.</span></p> <input id="gwProxy" type="hidden"><!--Session data--><input onclick="jsCall();" id="jsProxy" type="hidden"><div id="refHTML"></div>Paul Frenchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00995852679311550817noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2529063554172958200.post-30495287419981498342009-05-02T01:39:00.000-07:002009-05-02T01:42:49.984-07:00Carl Crow’s Final Resting Place<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_g2ofm4KCX5k/SfwHdlMMvmI/AAAAAAAABSE/7qppo1fxdk0/s1600-h/Carl+Crow+grave+2.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 260px; height: 180px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_g2ofm4KCX5k/SfwHdlMMvmI/AAAAAAAABSE/7qppo1fxdk0/s200/Carl+Crow+grave+2.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5331144263680704098" border="0" /></a><br /><br />As my new book is out soon (look at the left hand column for details) I feel it’s time to finish of the last few bits of Carl Crow stuff I’ve got lying around. Carl pops up in the new book as it is a history of the old China press corps but not too much to avoid repetition. It’s also the case that I have edited Carl’s diaries from his Burma Road trip in 1939 from Rangoon to Chungking and they’ll hopefully be published later in the year (autumn probably).<br /><br />While I was researching the book a friend in America was good enough to track down Carl’s grave. I knew that Carl had died at his apartment on Washington Place, New York City on the 8th June 1945<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_g2ofm4KCX5k/SfwHP3GFTQI/AAAAAAAABR8/facIrEm0Pts/s1600-h/Carl+Crow+grave+1.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 134px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_g2ofm4KCX5k/SfwHP3GFTQI/AAAAAAAABR8/facIrEm0Pts/s200/Carl+Crow+grave+1.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5331144027968720130" border="0" /></a> of cancer. He was then transferred to the Walter B Cooke Funeral Home on West 72nd Street, Manhattan, for final internment at the Odd Fellows Cemetery on Main Street, Fredericktown, Missouri, where he was eventually buried next to his mother and father. His final instructions were for no flowers but all contributions to be sent to the American Society for the Control of Cancer. Carl was originally from Missouri and this was his wish.<br /><br />Unfortunately I could never quite find the time, money or a decent excuse to get to Fredericktown. Still a friend helped while passing close by. He found the Odd Fellows Cemetery and Carl’s grave as you can see in the pictures. It looks a peaceful place.Paul Frenchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00995852679311550817noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2529063554172958200.post-10677651821341048662009-05-01T04:44:00.000-07:002009-05-01T04:47:25.329-07:00May 1 - International Workers' Day<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_g2ofm4KCX5k/SfrhKYGP1lI/AAAAAAAABRs/UG6XH8LHAS0/s1600-h/haymart.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 162px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_g2ofm4KCX5k/SfrhKYGP1lI/AAAAAAAABRs/UG6XH8LHAS0/s200/haymart.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5330820677329999442" border="0" /></a>
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<br /><meta equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><meta name="ProgId" content="Word.Document"><meta name="Generator" content="Microsoft Word 11"><meta name="Originator" content="Microsoft Word 11"><link rel="File-List" href="file:///C:%5CDOCUME%7E1%5Cpaul%5CLOCALS%7E1%5CTemp%5Cmsohtml1%5C01%5Cclip_filelist.xml"><o:smarttagtype namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name="place"></o:smarttagtype><o:smarttagtype namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name="City"></o:smarttagtype><o:smarttagtype namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name="country-region"></o:smarttagtype><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:view>Normal</w:View> <w:zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:punctuationkerning/> <w:validateagainstschemas/> <w:saveifxmlinvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:ignoremixedcontent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:alwaysshowplaceholdertext>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:compatibility> <w:breakwrappedtables/> <w:snaptogridincell/> <w:wraptextwithpunct/> <w:useasianbreakrules/> <w:dontgrowautofit/> <w:usefelayout/> </w:Compatibility> <w:browserlevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:latentstyles deflockedstate="false" latentstylecount="156"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if !mso]><object classid="clsid:38481807-CA0E-42D2-BF39-B33AF135CC4D" id="ieooui"></object> <style> st1\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) } </style> <![endif]--><style> <!-- /* Font Definitions */ @font-face {font-family:SimSun; panose-1:2 1 6 0 3 1 1 1 1 1; mso-font-alt:宋体; mso-font-charset:134; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:3 135135232 16 0 262145 0;} @font-face {font-family:"\@SimSun"; panose-1:2 1 6 0 3 1 1 1 1 1; mso-font-charset:134; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:3 135135232 16 0 262145 0;} /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:SimSun; mso-ansi-language:EN-GB;} @page Section1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} --> </style><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} </style> <![endif]--> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">For those, like me, who grew up on the Left – today is the big one – May 1 - International Workers' Day. Of course the holiday in its leftist incarnation arose after the first nationwide <a href="http://recollectionbooks.com/bleed/gallery/galleryindex.htm#GeneralStrike"><span style="text-decoration: none;color:#000000;" >General Strike</span></a> in <st1:country-region st="on"><st1:place st="on">America</st1:place></st1:country-region> in 1886 for the 8-hour day, which was then officially commemorated in 1889 as the first International Labor Day. 340,000 workers in <st1:city st="on">Chicago</st1:city>, <st1:city st="on">Milwaukee</st1:city> & other cities struck and the state fought back - four demonstrators were killed & over 200 wounded when police attack the <st1:city st="on"><st1:place st="on">Chicago</st1:place></st1:city> rally in what became known as the Haymarket Riot. <st1:place st="on"><st1:country-region st="on">America</st1:country-region></st1:place>, fearing world solidarity, moved its Labor Day holiday to the first Monday in September.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">
<br /></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_g2ofm4KCX5k/SfrhBjeToYI/AAAAAAAABRk/9P-3-9g7Apw/s1600-h/WAlter+Crane.gif"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 175px; height: 238px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_g2ofm4KCX5k/SfrhBjeToYI/AAAAAAAABRk/9P-3-9g7Apw/s200/WAlter+Crane.gif" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5330820525764878722" border="0" /></a><span lang="EN-GB">As far as I’m concerned the best known image for May Day is Walter Crane’s poster – left. Born in <st1:place st="on">Liverpool</st1:place>, Crane was part of the socialist inclined Arts and Crafts movement led by William Morris. He produced paintings, illustrations, children's books, ceramic tiles and other decorative arts.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">
<br /></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">I’m glad to</span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_g2ofm4KCX5k/Sfrg44Sd6_I/AAAAAAAABRc/ymI0s5nDplQ/s1600-h/mw_chinascoal.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 168px; height: 247px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_g2ofm4KCX5k/Sfrg44Sd6_I/AAAAAAAABRc/ymI0s5nDplQ/s200/mw_chinascoal.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5330820376733543410" border="0" /></a><span lang="EN-GB"> see that other authors and artists keep the tradition of political posters alive still. I particularly like (and it’s relevan</span><span lang="EN-GB">t to</span><span lang="EN-GB"> this blog I guess) the poster by <a href="http://www.micahwright.com/">Micah Wright</a> – left - a clever parody of an old WW2 propaganda poster.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">
<br /></span></p> <input id="gwProxy" type="hidden"><!--Session data--><input onclick="jsCall();" id="jsProxy" type="hidden"><div id="refHTML"></div>Paul Frenchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00995852679311550817noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2529063554172958200.post-11320126282376230842009-05-01T02:46:00.001-07:002009-05-01T02:48:51.131-07:00German Tsingtao Flag<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_g2ofm4KCX5k/SfrFM3LY_KI/AAAAAAAABRU/4wmWlunOoEA/s1600-h/Battle_of_Tsingtao_Germans.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 273px; height: 163px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_g2ofm4KCX5k/SfrFM3LY_KI/AAAAAAAABRU/4wmWlunOoEA/s200/Battle_of_Tsingtao_Germans.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5330789933707230370" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Coming across the <a href="http://chinarhyming.blogspot.com/2009/04/flags-of-british-weihaiwei.html">old flags of Weihaiwei </a>yesterday I also came across the flag that used fly over Tsingtao (Qingdao). A bit of a different story here. The Kiautschou territorywas leader in 1898 to Germany for 99 years – Tsingtao being the main town (left: German troops on parade in Tsingtao). It was popular with the Germans, nice climate, popular holiday destination for foreigners in the China treaty ports and also a base for the German fleet that looked after the Kaiser’s rather disparate and cobbled together Pacific empire that they kept until World War One – people forget now German New Guinea, the German Solomon Islands, Nauru, the Marshall Islands, the Caroline Islands and German Samoa). Anyway, in 1918 Tsingtao was transferred to Japan.<br /><br />The Germ<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_g2ofm4KCX5k/SfrFDntdpSI/AAAAAAAABRM/fWqZOPr6VKM/s1600-h/tsingtao+flag.gif"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 133px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_g2ofm4KCX5k/SfrFDntdpSI/AAAAAAAABRM/fWqZOPr6VKM/s200/tsingtao+flag.gif" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5330789774936352034" border="0" /></a>ans never actually designed a specific flag for Tsingtao but they did use the so-called flag of the German colonies - horizontal black-white-red with the Imperial eagle without crown in the middle of the white stripe.<input id="gwProxy" type="hidden"><!--Session data--><input onclick="jsCall();" id="jsProxy" type="hidden"><div id="refHTML"></div>Paul Frenchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00995852679311550817noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2529063554172958200.post-42417111249388823412009-04-30T02:51:00.000-07:002009-04-30T20:23:34.348-07:00Flags of British Weihaiwei<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_g2ofm4KCX5k/Sfl1XneFuFI/AAAAAAAABQ0/GDOd1zfq7QQ/s1600-h/Weihaiwei+flag+2.gif"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 100px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_g2ofm4KCX5k/Sfl1XneFuFI/AAAAAAAABQ0/GDOd1zfq7QQ/s200/Weihaiwei+flag+2.gif" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5330420682562320466" border="0" /></a>
<br />Posting about <a href="http://chinarhyming.blogspot.com/2009/04/weihaiwei-british-kangaroo-courts-and.html">British rule in Weihaiwei yesterday</a> led me to come across the old flags of Weihaiwei during the British years. I’d never thought about Weihaiwei having a flag before, but they did.
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<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_g2ofm4KCX5k/Sfl1r05L4MI/AAAAAAAABQ8/TMsP2quAFBE/s1600-h/Weihaiwei+blue+ensign.gif"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 100px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_g2ofm4KCX5k/Sfl1r05L4MI/AAAAAAAABQ8/TMsP2quAFBE/s200/Weihaiwei+blue+ensign.gif" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5330421029763014850" border="0" /></a>
<br />From 1899 to 1902 they used the so-called flag of the Commissioner of Liu Kung Tau/Weihaiwei (above) and blue ensign version (left) for shipping.
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<br />Then in 1902 a purely Civil Commissioner, J.H. Stewart Lockhart, was appointed who wrote to London declaring, “The design of the flag hitherto used by the Commissioner of this Dependency is a dragon on the Union Jack and is in my opinion quite unsuitable. I have therefore to request that the Crown Agents may be instructed to have made for the use of the Commissioner two new flags, the device of the Mandarin Duck being substituted for the Dragon, which is as you are aware the national emblem of China and not appropriate in the case of a British Dependency.”
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<br />The Mandarin Duck design (they are both ducks), which was part of the Seal, was approved by King Edward VII<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_g2ofm4KCX5k/Sfl1GWO4yeI/AAAAAAAABQs/_05F7iyAHMw/s1600-h/weihaiwei+ducks.gif"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 100px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_g2ofm4KCX5k/Sfl1GWO4yeI/AAAAAAAABQs/_05F7iyAHMw/s200/weihaiwei+ducks.gif" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5330420385877379554" border="0" /></a> at some time in 1903. Apparently reflecting native wildlife to that area.
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<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_g2ofm4KCX5k/Sfl05PjtaPI/AAAAAAAABQk/APLXknbKznM/s1600-h/Weihaiwei+flag.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 192px; height: 96px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_g2ofm4KCX5k/Sfl05PjtaPI/AAAAAAAABQk/APLXknbKznM/s200/Weihaiwei+flag.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5330420160747366642" border="0" /></a>So then they appear to have used the flag left and the blue ensign version for shipping.
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<br />All quite confusing so I might have got this a bit wrong. If anyone knows better do let me know.
<br /><a href="http://chinarhyming.blogspot.com/2009/04/flags-of-british-weihaiwei.html">
<br /></a><meta equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><meta name="ProgId" content="Word.Document"><meta name="Generator" content="Microsoft Word 11"><meta name="Originator" content="Microsoft Word 11"><link rel="File-List" href="file:///C:%5CDOCUME%7E1%5Cpaul%5CLOCALS%7E1%5CTemp%5Cmsohtml1%5C01%5Cclip_filelist.xml"><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:view>Normal</w:View> <w:zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:punctuationkerning/> <w:validateagainstschemas/> <w:saveifxmlinvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:ignoremixedcontent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:alwaysshowplaceholdertext>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:compatibility> <w:breakwrappedtables/> <w:snaptogridincell/> <w:wraptextwithpunct/> <w:useasianbreakrules/> <w:dontgrowautofit/> <w:usefelayout/> </w:Compatibility> <w:browserlevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:latentstyles deflockedstate="false" latentstylecount="156"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--><style> <!-- /* Font Definitions */ @font-face {font-family:SimSun; panose-1:2 1 6 0 3 1 1 1 1 1; mso-font-alt:宋体; mso-font-charset:134; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:3 135135232 16 0 262145 0;} @font-face {font-family:"\@SimSun"; panose-1:2 1 6 0 3 1 1 1 1 1; mso-font-charset:134; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:3 135135232 16 0 262145 0;} /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:SimSun; mso-ansi-language:EN-GB;} @page Section1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} --> </style><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} </style> <![endif]--><!--Session data--><input onclick="jsCall();" id="jsProxy" type="hidden"><div id="refHTML"></div><input id="gwProxy" type="hidden"><!--Session data--><input onclick="jsCall();" id="jsProxy" type="hidden"><div id="refHTML"></div>Paul Frenchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00995852679311550817noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2529063554172958200.post-80518398883468035662009-04-29T09:27:00.000-07:002009-04-30T20:24:11.790-07:00Weihaiwei – The British, Kangaroo Courts and the Llandudno of China!<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_g2ofm4KCX5k/SfpqlCVLsmI/AAAAAAAABRE/rsFIdYFg_A8/s1600-h/weihaiwei+map.gif"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 168px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_g2ofm4KCX5k/SfpqlCVLsmI/AAAAAAAABRE/rsFIdYFg_A8/s200/weihaiwei+map.gif" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5330690293459825250" border="0" /></a>
<br /><meta equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><meta name="ProgId" content="Word.Document"><meta name="Generator" content="Microsoft Word 11"><meta name="Originator" content="Microsoft Word 11"><link rel="File-List" href="file:///C:%5CDOCUME%7E1%5Cpaul%5CLOCALS%7E1%5CTemp%5Cmsohtml1%5C01%5Cclip_filelist.xml"><o:smarttagtype namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name="place"></o:smarttagtype><o:smarttagtype namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name="City"></o:smarttagtype><o:smarttagtype namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name="country-region"></o:smarttagtype><o:smarttagtype namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name="PlaceName"></o:smarttagtype><o:smarttagtype namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name="PlaceType"></o:smarttagtype><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:view>Normal</w:View> <w:zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:punctuationkerning/> <w:validateagainstschemas/> <w:saveifxmlinvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:ignoremixedcontent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:alwaysshowplaceholdertext>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:compatibility> <w:breakwrappedtables/> <w:snaptogridincell/> <w:wraptextwithpunct/> <w:useasianbreakrules/> <w:dontgrowautofit/> <w:usefelayout/> </w:Compatibility> <w:browserlevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:latentstyles deflockedstate="false" latentstylecount="156"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if !mso]><object classid="clsid:38481807-CA0E-42D2-BF39-B33AF135CC4D" id="ieooui"></object> <style> st1\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) } </style> <![endif]--><style> <!-- /* Font Definitions */ @font-face {font-family:SimSun; panose-1:2 1 6 0 3 1 1 1 1 1; mso-font-alt:宋体; mso-font-charset:134; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:3 135135232 16 0 262145 0;} @font-face {font-family:"\@SimSun"; panose-1:2 1 6 0 3 1 1 1 1 1; mso-font-charset:134; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:3 135135232 16 0 262145 0;} /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:SimSun; mso-ansi-language:EN-GB;} h1 {mso-margin-top-alt:auto; margin-right:0in; mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto; margin-left:0in; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; mso-outline-level:1; font-size:24.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman";} @page Section1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} --> </style><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} </style> <![endif]--><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p> </o:p></span> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">Weihaiwei, now more simply Weihai, seems to be very popular at the moment with any number of books and papers appearing on the place. Fair enough as it is an interesting place given that it was neither a full colony or a treaty port but rather a leased piece of land – the lease lasted as long as the Russians were in Port Arthur to maintain the balance of Great Power influence (the Americans were very keen for the British to be stationed at Weihaiwei) though China never surrendered sovereignty on the land. <st1:country-region st="on">Britain</st1:country-region> then left and returned control in 1930 as part of the deal to extend the lease on the <st1:place st="on"><st1:placename st="on">Hong Kong</st1:placename> <st1:placename st="on">New</st1:placename> <st1:placetype st="on">Territories</st1:placetype></st1:place>. The map below shows how the British were able to balance Russian naval power around the <st1:place st="on"><st1:placetype st="on">Gulf</st1:placetype> of <st1:placename st="on">Chihli</st1:placename></st1:place>.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">
<br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_g2ofm4KCX5k/SfiAoHMyT2I/AAAAAAAABQc/trMOgcB7n4k/s1600-h/british+rule+in+weihaiwei.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 187px; height: 187px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_g2ofm4KCX5k/SfiAoHMyT2I/AAAAAAAABQc/trMOgcB7n4k/s200/british+rule+in+weihaiwei.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5330151585608781666" border="0" /></a></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">The administration of Weihaiwei involved several interesting characters including Reginald Johnston (Pu Yi’sold tutor) and JH Stewart Lockhart. Weihaiwei’s legal system including some interesting murder cases is the subject of a new book by Carol Tan of SOAS called <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/British-Rule-China-Weihaiwei-1898-1930/dp/0854900268/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1240965174&sr=1-2"><span style="font-style: italic;">British Rule in China: Law and Justice in Weihaiwei: Law and Justice in Weihaiwei 1898 – 1930</span></a>. Sadly it’s a bit expensive and in hardback only so hopefully you’ve got a decent library near you. Carol also gave an interesting talk to the Royal Asiatic Society in <st1:city st="on"><st1:place st="on">Shanghai</st1:place></st1:city> recently.
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<br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">However, I personally wasn’t convinced that anything like an even negligibly acceptable level of justice was available in British Weihaiwei – the jury pool was tiny and meant both the same people constantly being on juries and, inevitably, defendants being known to jurors while lawyers were sparse. Even worse we are presented with the joke of the horrendously self-important Reginald Johnston believing none of this was a problem as he had some sort of Confucian ability to adjudicate without legal training, being a local or any decent juries. Academics are nice people who don’t like to judge – even when looking at history – but of course there is no other conclusion than that the legal system and the British courts in Weihaiwei were nothing more than kangaroo courts and merely devices for maintaining British rule.
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<br /></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">One interesting thing I didn’t know was the silly comparisons people made with Weihaiwei. I’ve noted daft foreigners comparing places in <st1:country-region st="on"><st1:place st="on">China</st1:place></st1:country-region> to European locations before in a <a href="http://chinarhyming.blogspot.com/2009/01/comparing-china.html">post </a>and Weihaiwei’s a good addition. Apparently some touted Weihaiwei as <st1:country-region st="on">China</st1:country-region>’s <st1:city st="on">Biarritz</st1:city> or <st1:city st="on"><st1:place st="on">Naples</st1:place></st1:city> –which isn’t too bad. But then others, apparently with straight faces and thinking it might attract people, compared Weihaiwei to Llandudno and <st1:place st="on"><st1:city st="on">Ostend</st1:city></st1:place>!! Great – not sure the current tourism authorities in Weihai will be keen to make the claim to rival either of those places!</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><a href="http://chinarhyming.blogspot.com/2009/04/flags-of-british-weihaiwei.html">
<br /></a></p><p class="MsoNormal"><meta equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><meta name="ProgId" content="Word.Document"><meta name="Generator" content="Microsoft Word 11"><meta name="Originator" content="Microsoft Word 11"><link rel="File-List" href="file:///C:%5CDOCUME%7E1%5Cpaul%5CLOCALS%7E1%5CTemp%5Cmsohtml1%5C01%5Cclip_filelist.xml"><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:view>Normal</w:View> <w:zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:punctuationkerning/> <w:validateagainstschemas/> <w:saveifxmlinvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:ignoremixedcontent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:alwaysshowplaceholdertext>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:compatibility> <w:breakwrappedtables/> <w:snaptogridincell/> <w:wraptextwithpunct/> <w:useasianbreakrules/> <w:dontgrowautofit/> <w:usefelayout/> </w:Compatibility> <w:browserlevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:latentstyles deflockedstate="false" latentstylecount="156"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--><style> <!-- /* Font Definitions */ @font-face {font-family:SimSun; panose-1:2 1 6 0 3 1 1 1 1 1; mso-font-alt:宋体; mso-font-charset:134; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:3 135135232 16 0 262145 0;} @font-face {font-family:"\@SimSun"; panose-1:2 1 6 0 3 1 1 1 1 1; mso-font-charset:134; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:3 135135232 16 0 262145 0;} /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:SimSun; mso-ansi-language:EN-GB;} @page Section1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} --> </style><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} </style> <![endif]--> </p><p class="MsoNormal"><a href="http://chinarhyming.blogspot.com/2009/04/flags-of-british-weihaiwei.html"><span lang="EN-GB">Flags of British Weihaiwei</span></a></p> <p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p>
<br /></o:p></span><span style="font-weight: normal;font-size:12;" lang="EN-GB" ><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=""><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <input id="gwProxy" type="hidden"><!--Session data--><input onclick="jsCall();" id="jsProxy" type="hidden"><div id="refHTML"></div><input id="gwProxy" type="hidden"><!--Session data--><input onclick="jsCall();" id="jsProxy" type="hidden"><div id="refHTML"></div>Paul Frenchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00995852679311550817noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2529063554172958200.post-6801380883780366142009-04-28T22:58:00.000-07:002009-04-28T23:01:39.688-07:00Junk Sunk<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_g2ofm4KCX5k/SfftE_a7xuI/AAAAAAAABQU/Kb_9hA9LLf4/s1600-h/Princess+Taiping.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5329989354015934178" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 200px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 150px" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_g2ofm4KCX5k/SfftE_a7xuI/AAAAAAAABQU/Kb_9hA9LLf4/s200/Princess+Taiping.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><div>A shame to see that the replica 16th Century Chinese junk, the <em>Princess Taiping</em>, has sunk off Taiwan, one day short of completing its epic voyage to America and back. The Ming dynasty-style <em>Princess Taiping</em> was trying to prove that China's admiral, Zheng He, could have reached North America 600 years ago a la the claims in Gavin Menzies's much talked about <em>1421</em>. While the claims in <em>1421</em> may or may not be accurate (and most people I talk to think it not likely except the Chinese government who love the idea) the <em>Princess Taiping</em> would have been an interesting experiment. </div><div> </div><div></div><div>Indeed it still is as it did survive several storms during its 10-month voyage and was only sunk after being broken in two after it was rammed by a freighter just off Taiwan's coast. Given that there weren’t any large metal freighters around during the Ming Dynasty we can assume Zheng He didn’t worry about them too much or collide with too many. Of course the Princess Taiping has slightly better maps, technology etc. </div>Paul Frenchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00995852679311550817noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2529063554172958200.post-77324259491208022832009-04-28T01:38:00.000-07:002009-04-28T01:45:05.747-07:00Deviation Posting – Recession and 1945<div><div><div>Apolo<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_g2ofm4KCX5k/SfbB5vyZaaI/AAAAAAAABQM/YzSp6YQm57Y/s1600-h/The+Gorbals.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5329660406864112034" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 142px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 109px" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_g2ofm4KCX5k/SfbB5vyZaaI/AAAAAAAABQM/YzSp6YQm57Y/s200/The+Gorbals.jpg" border="0" /></a>gies for quick deviation into British history and politics today but I got a bit narked listening to the radio. The newspapers, radio and TV have quickly latched on to this idea that the recession is now the worst since World War Two in Britain. Maybe, maybe not. Politicians in the UK have decided that this means they can say that the economy (and by extension they claim life in general) is as bad as it was in 1945. This is of course nonsense and one of those arguments only possible in a world where people don’t read enough history.<br /><br />Indeed to argue that anything now is like 1945 is so daft that any politician you hear mentioning this comparison should immediately have ensured you’ll never vote for them again. Just consider the picture of the Gorbals in Glasgow (which appears in David Kynaston’s excellent book noted below) above – now while the Gorbals is still far from paradise, whatever it is it isn’t anything like this anymore, the people who live there are different, the jobs they do (or don’t do) completely changed etc. In 1945 Britain was victorious but bombed out and knackered, rationing was in place, shortage widespread, the Treasury bust in a way it isn't now – to compare 2009 to 1945 is bizarre – sound bite politics I guess. Below I’ve noted a couple of books that describe that time excellently from David Kynaston and Maureen Waller that are well worth a read.<br /><br />However, one thing about 1945 is instructive and we could learn from it. Right now it seems that we’re just going to let the same politicians and bankers that broke their own system put it back together way they like and that suits them best. This would be a tragedy. In 1945 Britain rejected the Tories as a party of the past (they were then, they are now) and elected a government that launched a programme of broadly socialist egalitarian ideas – the NHS, extensive nationalisation, education and housing. Politicians can try and score points by evoking images of 1945 and ruin; they might want to remember what arose from those ruins based on the idea of taking control of an economic system for the good of the many rather than just a financial elite. And, oh yeah, while I'm on a rant, bring back imperial measurements.<br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_g2ofm4KCX5k/SfbBxjWrpiI/AAAAAAAABQE/MkhYpqnF2_c/s1600-h/Austerity+Britain.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5329660266087687714" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 115px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 115px" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_g2ofm4KCX5k/SfbBxjWrpiI/AAAAAAAABQE/MkhYpqnF2_c/s200/Austerity+Britain.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Austerity-Britain-1945-1951-Tales-Jerusalem/dp/0747599238/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1240884654&sr=1-1">Austerity Britain, 1945-1951 - David Kynaston </a><br /><br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_g2ofm4KCX5k/SfbBrIW_gTI/AAAAAAAABP8/KkuwQlNxvOs/s1600-h/London+1945.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5329660155762016562" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 115px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 115px" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_g2ofm4KCX5k/SfbBrIW_gTI/AAAAAAAABP8/KkuwQlNxvOs/s200/London+1945.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/London-1945-Maureen-Waller/dp/0719566029/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1240900205&sr=1-1">Londo</a><a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/London-1945-Maureen-Waller/dp/0719566029/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1240900205&sr=1-1">n</a><a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/London-1945-Maureen-Waller/dp/0719566029/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1240900205&sr=1-1"> 1945 – Maureen Waller </a></div></div></div>Paul Frenchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00995852679311550817noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2529063554172958200.post-65797040700405403082009-04-27T01:43:00.000-07:002009-04-27T02:23:34.558-07:00A Few Posts on Keelung VI - Ershawan Fort<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_g2ofm4KCX5k/SfV3i2HNuNI/AAAAAAAABP0/5B0PJ7rYNZ0/s1600-h/Ershawan+fort+2.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5329297174587881682" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 200px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 150px" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_g2ofm4KCX5k/SfV3i2HNuNI/AAAAAAAABP0/5B0PJ7rYNZ0/s200/Ershawan+fort+2.JPG" border="0" /></a><br /><div><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_g2ofm4KCX5k/SfV3PseVezI/AAAAAAAABPs/jcYVPLLXVB4/s1600-h/fort.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5329296845582990130" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 145px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 113px" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_g2ofm4KCX5k/SfV3PseVezI/AAAAAAAABPs/jcYVPLLXVB4/s200/fort.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><div><div>Just to quickly finish of my few posts on Keelung that kept getting interrupted I want to speedily note the remains of the Ershawan Fort (also known as the Haimen Tiansian) on the top of Ershawan Mountain (now a big park) overlooking the harbour of Keelung. There’s a few cannons and some remnant including a entry gate and steep steps to prevent attack (but my camera battery ran out at that point!).<br /><br />The fort was s<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_g2ofm4KCX5k/SfV2wQrMI9I/AAAAAAAABPk/vyLQHLSW2KI/s1600-h/entry+to+Keelung+Harbour+1.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5329296305544766418" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 200px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 150px" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_g2ofm4KCX5k/SfV2wQrMI9I/AAAAAAAABPk/vyLQHLSW2KI/s200/entry+to+Keelung+Harbour+1.JPG" border="0" /></a>pecifically meant to repel any British invasion of the port around the time of the First Opium War which largely worked though the French took it in 1884.<br /><br />As you can see it did offer a rather good view of the entrance of the harbour. </div><div> </div><div> </div><div> </div><div> </div><div> </div><div><a href="http://chinarhyming.blogspot.com/2009/04/few-posts-on-keelung-keelung-harbour.html">A Few Posts on Keelung I - The Keelung Harbour Integrated Administration Building</a></div><div><a href="http://chinarhyming.blogspot.com/2009/04/few-posts-on-keelung-ii-cimetiere.html">A Few Posts on Keelung II – The Cimetière Française de Kilung</a></div><div><a href="http://chinarhyming.blogspot.com/2009/04/few-posts-on-keelung-iii-monument-to.html">A Few Posts on Keelung III – The Monument to Prince Kitashirakawa</a></div><div> </div></div></div>Paul Frenchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00995852679311550817noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2529063554172958200.post-32655953807315632682009-04-26T02:51:00.000-07:002009-04-26T05:00:55.094-07:00Why Empire of the Sun was Important<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_g2ofm4KCX5k/SfQzY1UkAXI/AAAAAAAABPc/ov2GfUKmac8/s1600-h/200px-EmpireOfTheSun%281stEd%29.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 128px; height: 200px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_g2ofm4KCX5k/SfQzY1UkAXI/AAAAAAAABPc/ov2GfUKmac8/s200/200px-EmpireOfTheSun%281stEd%29.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5328940760809341298" border="0" /></a>
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<br /><meta equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><meta name="ProgId" content="Word.Document"><meta name="Generator" content="Microsoft Word 11"><meta name="Originator" content="Microsoft Word 11"><link rel="File-List" href="file:///C:%5CDOCUME%7E1%5Cpaul%5CLOCALS%7E1%5CTemp%5Cmsohtml1%5C01%5Cclip_filelist.xml"><o:smarttagtype namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name="place"></o:smarttagtype><o:smarttagtype namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name="City"></o:smarttagtype><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:view>Normal</w:View> <w:zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:punctuationkerning/> <w:validateagainstschemas/> <w:saveifxmlinvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:ignoremixedcontent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:alwaysshowplaceholdertext>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:compatibility> <w:breakwrappedtables/> <w:snaptogridincell/> <w:wraptextwithpunct/> <w:useasianbreakrules/> <w:dontgrowautofit/> <w:usefelayout/> </w:Compatibility> <w:browserlevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:latentstyles deflockedstate="false" latentstylecount="156"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if !mso]><object classid="clsid:38481807-CA0E-42D2-BF39-B33AF135CC4D" id="ieooui"></object> <style> st1\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) } </style> <![endif]--><style> <!-- /* Font Definitions */ @font-face {font-family:SimSun; panose-1:2 1 6 0 3 1 1 1 1 1; mso-font-alt:宋体; mso-font-charset:134; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:3 135135232 16 0 262145 0;} @font-face {font-family:"\@SimSun"; panose-1:2 1 6 0 3 1 1 1 1 1; mso-font-charset:134; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:3 135135232 16 0 262145 0;} /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:SimSun; mso-ansi-language:EN-GB;} @page Section1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} --> </style><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} </style> <![endif]--><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p></o:p></span> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">Since JG Ballard’s death recently I’ve heard a lot of people on the radio, in print and in casual conversations praise Ballard’s <span style="font-style: italic;">Empire of the Sun</span>. Perhaps the conversations are not that surprising as I’m in <st1:city st="on"><st1:place st="on">Shanghai</st1:place></st1:city> so obviously the novel has a certain resonance for people here interested in the history of the pre-revolutionary Shanghailanders. So I’ll throw in my twopenny worth for what’s its worth.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">
<br /></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">Personally I’ve</span><span lang="EN-GB"> never actually thought <span style="font-style: italic;">Empire of the Sun</span> was a great book – at least not within Ballard’s overall cannon which contains several more important and greater works notably <span style="font-style: italic;">Crash </span>(1973) and his other dystopian novels of the B</span><span lang="EN-GB">ritish new wave (a wave he largely created).
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<br /></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">In this sense <span style="font-style: italic;">Empire </span>is an aberration rather than the norm in terms of Ballard’s work. A "novel",</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB"> though obviously based on Ballard’s own experiences, rather than an autobiography and not intended as a a reliable historical text. Indeed Ballard never claimed it should be used as such (when other internees disputed his book he had to point this out repeatedly to peopel who refused to see the word "novel" on the cover) and insisted the words ‘A Novel’ appeared on the cover. Of course Spielberg’s film (and it’s hard to imagine</span><span lang="EN-GB"> the Hollywood engendered Spielberg liking anything else of Ballard’s – surely he would have been put off by the "adultness" and remorseless downbeat nature of his fiction) further remove</span><span lang="EN-GB">d the book from any reality with the rather annoying insertion of several scenes </span><span lang="EN-GB">not in the book that seem to add nothing except a certain late twentieth century political correctness Spielberg is of course noted for.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">
<br /></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">So if it’s no</span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_g2ofm4KCX5k/SfQw7uON8YI/AAAAAAAABO0/cXcXaUBbNzY/s1600-h/200px-TheKindnessOfWomen%281stEd%29.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 129px; height: 200px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_g2ofm4KCX5k/SfQw7uON8YI/AAAAAAAABO0/cXcXaUBbNzY/s200/200px-TheKindnessOfWomen%281stEd%29.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5328938061664219522" border="0" /></a><span lang="EN-GB">t exactly a great book why is it important? It seems to me that Ballard’s stark dystopian literature, his nervousness</span><span lang="EN-GB"> o</span><span lang="EN-GB">f the culture of consumption and general social vacuity are best understood </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">through the prism of his wartime experie</span><span lang="EN-GB">nces. That’s why reading <span style="font-style: italic;">Empire </span>(and his decidedly less commonly read, but arguably more revealing, follow up <span style="font-style: italic;">The Kindness of Women</span>, published in 1991) is important – not to learn anything about Shanghai (which you won’t unless you know absolutely nothing about the place and time, in which case sue your history teachers) or particularly Ballard’s experiences or feelings at the time (Jim is not him he was always keen to point out and says little about the situation either personally </span><span lang="EN-GB">or political</span><span lang="EN-GB">ly) but to better understand the roots of Ballard</span><span lang="EN-GB">’s incredibly important fiction that he wrote after he returned to England.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">
<br /></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">I think Ballard himself saw <span style="font-style: italic;">Empire </span>this way. In one of his last interviews with the BBC he discussed his youthful experiences. Ballard accepted that of course his fiction would have been totally different if he had not undergone the unpleasantness of inte rnment in <st1:city st="on"><st1:place st="on">Shanghai</st1:place></st1:city> and of course it had changed and shaped him to a great extent. Ballard’s fiction often challenges the assumptions of the security of daily life we generally have and, of course, at a young age Ballard saw those illusions shattered completely.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">
<br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_g2ofm4KCX5k/SfQyl62Mr9I/AAAAAAAABPM/JdAb8lhmJNQ/s1600-h/shanghai+bomb.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 188px; height: 146px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_g2ofm4KCX5k/SfQyl62Mr9I/AAAAAAAABPM/JdAb8lhmJNQ/s200/shanghai+bomb.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5328939886119268306" border="0" /></a></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">In Shanghai Ballard learnt the essential surrealism of life – he remembers walking the prev</span><span lang="EN-GB">iously neat and prosperous streets and seeing cars on their roofs (the bomb that fell outside the Cathay Hotel left), apartment buildings shattered to reveal their innards of 20 living rooms and 20 private lives that weren't meant to be on public display and of course dead bodies littering the pavement (both the starved and the bombed). Ballard believed that the war had made him nervous of bland reassurances that everything was all right and that when anyone told him everything was “all right”, it was invariably anything but. As he said, ‘reality is a stage set that can be swept aside, as I saw as a boy in <st1:place st="on"><st1:city st="on">Shanghai</st1:city></st1:place>.’</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">
<br /></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">Clearly that loss of one privileg</span><span lang="EN-GB">ed life for another dystopian one is key as was (and noted in <span style="font-style: italic;">The Kindness of Women</span>) the unexpected death of Ballard’s wife at a young age that left him a widower with three children to care for) proved to him the transient and temporary nature of everyday seemingly constant reality.
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<br /></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">What else d</span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_g2ofm4KCX5k/SfQy7oOllgI/AAAAAAAABPU/gjERc1IhQ1M/s1600-h/baby.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 169px; height: 122px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_g2ofm4KCX5k/SfQy7oOllgI/AAAAAAAABPU/gjERc1IhQ1M/s200/baby.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5328940259078411778" border="0" /></a><span lang="EN-GB">id he take from his <st1:city st="on"><st1:place st="on">Shanghai</st1:place></st1:city> days? I think an instinctive distrust of uncircumscribed and rampant capitalism (though he was far from a revolutionary socialist) and a certain sense that anarchy can break out in a moment and </span><span lang="EN-GB">things, however seemingly permanent, can be smashed to s</span><span lang="EN-GB">mithereens in the blink of eye (or the fall of a Japanese bomb on Shanghai Railway Station 1937 as left). I think he also learnt to appreciate the ridiculous lengths people go to protect themselves from perceived threats real and false,to insulate themselves. This comes out in numerous Ballard novels where people retreat behind walls they think can protect them - think of the horrendous gated communities of his 2000 novel <span style="font-style: italic;">Super-Cannes</span>. Of course Ballard saw walls around everyone's properties in Shanghai in the 1930s - another tradition that continues today as everyone puts up walls, hires guards and puts bars on their windows to protect them from...what? Ultimately Ballard knew that once inside such supposedly secure and isolated places you then went basically nuts, became paranoid and broke down.
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<br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">Interestingly I think one of the most important things he took from Shanghai that became a recurrent theme for him - the human struggle within a consumerist landscape – ended in 1937 but has come back to haunt the city as the post-1949 powers that be encourage consumption over spirituality and shopping as the great ideology-religion-culture to end all others and to negate opposition or disgruntlement with one's lot in life.
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<br /></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">It was these experiences that shaped Ballard’s incredible fiction and therefore why reading <span style="font-style: italic;">Empire of the Sun</span> and <span style="font-style: italic;">The Kindness of Women</span> remains important. The interesting thing to ponder is quite how Ballard partly predicted the descent of <st1:city st="on"><st1:place st="on">Shanghai</st1:place></st1:city> into a consumerist driven dystopia where briefs fads for fusion cuisine and competitive shopping replace thought and experience? There can be few more “Ballardian” spots on earth than the vacuous self styled “elite” crowds gathering on the balcony of 3 on the Bund, the oddly philistine speculators of Shanghai’s art scene or the injunction of the local government that to shop is patriotic; to question dissent – in this sense Ballard did come full circle whether he thought about modern Shanghai or not.
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<br /></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <input id="gwProxy" type="hidden"><!--Session data--><input onclick="jsCall();" id="jsProxy" type="hidden"><div id="refHTML"></div><input id="gwProxy" type="hidden"><!--Session data--><input onclick="jsCall();" id="jsProxy" type="hidden"><div id="refHTML"></div>Paul Frenchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00995852679311550817noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2529063554172958200.post-80177014188222926512009-04-25T02:45:00.000-07:002009-04-26T04:56:19.204-07:00Remembering JG Ballard - Lunghua Airfield<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_g2ofm4KCX5k/SfLc-rn-JqI/AAAAAAAABOs/geod6rloClM/s1600-h/Road+to+Lunghua+Airport+-+April+09.jpg.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 254px; height: 191px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_g2ofm4KCX5k/SfLc-rn-JqI/AAAAAAAABOs/geod6rloClM/s200/Road+to+Lunghua+Airport+-+April+09.jpg.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5328564278553093794" border="0" /></a><br /><br />As someone who hates gyms in all their incarnations and all forms of organised “games” I do still accept that I need some exercise. Walking, or occasionally a swim, suffices. Walking is also educational and instructive unlike time spent in a gym as well as having the added bonuses of seeing things (other than CCTV9 or CNN, neither of which interest me in the slightest) and of being able to wear normal clothes rather than the ridiculous outfits I see people “heading for the gym” wearing. Therefore an interest in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychogeography">psychogeography</a>, I think, is the answer.<br /><br />For those not <span style="font-style: italic;">au fait </span>with psychogeography it’s basically a strategy for exploring cities in such a way that takes pedestrians off their predictable paths and jolts them into a new awareness of the urban landscape. Perhaps Will Self is the most famous practitioner of the discipline at the moment – wal<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_g2ofm4KCX5k/SfLc1ARE7tI/AAAAAAAABOk/wl3idft5TT8/s1600-h/Lunghua+airport+terminal+building+1-+April09.jpg.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_g2ofm4KCX5k/SfLc1ARE7tI/AAAAAAAABOk/wl3idft5TT8/s200/Lunghua+airport+terminal+building+1-+April09.jpg.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5328564112295522002" border="0" /></a>king to Heathrow while of course the novelist Ian Sinclair experienced the outer rim of London anew by walking the M25. I’ve decided to coin the term psychohistoricalgeography and so my Saturday…<br /><br />This weekend I was struck with the idea of two things – the need for fresh air and wanting to commemorate the sad passing of JG Ballard in some way. Actually I live just round the corner from Ballard’s old family home on Shanghai’s former Amherst Avenue and do occasionally eat in the restaurant that now inhabits the former Ballard residence – not much good but a nice house. Architecture trumps cuisine anyday, and anyway James Fallows’ on his excellent blog has already <a href="http://jamesfallows.theatlantic.com/archives/2009/04/jg_ballard_in_shanghai.php">posted </a>photos of the interior and exterior of the former residence.<br /><br />So here was my solution – Ballard, as everyone knows from <span style="font-style: italic;">Empire of the Sun</span>, was interned in the Lunghua<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_g2ofm4KCX5k/SfLcpU3QZHI/AAAAAAAABOc/Rkbf6ECTI1k/s1600-h/Lunghua+airport+terminal+building+4-+April09.jpg.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 150px; height: 200px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_g2ofm4KCX5k/SfLcpU3QZHI/AAAAAAAABOc/Rkbf6ECTI1k/s200/Lunghua+airport+terminal+building+4-+April09.jpg.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5328563911665935474" border="0" /></a> (Loonghwa) Civilian Assembly Centre on the outskirts of Shanghai and which abutted the Lunghua Airfield and was close to the Lunghua Pagoda – all are shown in the film and described in the book. He was interned in 1943 with his parents and younger sister, spending over two years, the remainder of World War Two, in the camp. His family lived in a small area in G block, a two-story residence for 40 families. He attended school in the camp, the teachers being inmates from a number of professions. I’m not sure if JG himself had to walk to the Camp but many internees did – I did the walk on a breezy, sunny Saturday morning without a suitcase containing my most precious belongings and without any Japanese guards shouting at me to hurry up. I’m also a reasonably fit 42. Many of the internees were much older, unwell and had to make the walk in either far colder or far hotter weather depending on when they were interned.<br /><br />So I walked from Ballard’s childhood home on Amherst Avenue to Lunghua Airfield, or what’s left of it. This is n<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_g2ofm4KCX5k/SfLcam8Fy3I/AAAAAAAABOU/Xs3rivmwp-I/s1600-h/Lunghua+airport+terminal+building+2-+April09.jpg.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_g2ofm4KCX5k/SfLcam8Fy3I/AAAAAAAABOU/Xs3rivmwp-I/s200/Lunghua+airport+terminal+building+2-+April09.jpg.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5328563658820012914" border="0" /></a>ot an overly long walk – tales about 90 minutes at most out from the former Western Roads Settlement (where Ballard’s family house was and not the French Concession as so often written) along the old Siccawei Road (now Huashan Road) through Siccawei itself (now the Xujiahui shopping district) out past the sports stadium, past the Lunghua Revolutionary Martyrs memorial and to the Lunghua Pagoda (which is these days adjacent to a Tesco supermarket for those that like to make points about that sort of contrast). Continue slightly further along and you’ll reach the rather grand edifice of the old modernist-style air terminal, with its sweeping observation deck and control tower still reasonably intact. Inside are a reasonable Shanghainese restaurant where I lunched and a KTV joint.<br /><br />In the film, if I <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_g2ofm4KCX5k/SfLcOO8Y4AI/AAAAAAAABOM/QjX49w5rNmg/s1600-h/Lunghua+pagoda+2.jpg.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 150px; height: 200px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_g2ofm4KCX5k/SfLcOO8Y4AI/AAAAAAAABOM/QjX49w5rNmg/s200/Lunghua+pagoda+2.jpg.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5328563446220382210" border="0" /></a>remember correctly, you see the Japanese planes fly over the terminal building with the Pagoda (which is obviously still a major tourist attraction) in the background sans Tesco. There is still some original tiling left in the building and it does rather have the aura of old time air travel. The area is a striking image in the book and also in the film – and if you get into the right psychohistoricalgeographist mindset still quite atmospheric.<br /><br />Here’s remembering the great JG once againPaul Frenchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00995852679311550817noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2529063554172958200.post-65085369095735184892009-04-24T01:37:00.000-07:002009-04-27T02:25:45.754-07:00A Few Posts on Keelung III – The Monument to Prince Kitashirakawa<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_g2ofm4KCX5k/SfF7Xi-WHnI/AAAAAAAABOE/RL2LppTrOE4/s1600-h/Jap+monument+Keelung+3.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5328175478611517042" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; WIDTH: 150px; CURSOR: pointer; HEIGHT: 200px" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_g2ofm4KCX5k/SfF7Xi-WHnI/AAAAAAAABOE/RL2LppTrOE4/s200/Jap+monument+Keelung+3.JPG" border="0" /></a>
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<br /><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">Before moving on to other things a couple of posts about a recent trip to <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 /><st1:city st="on">Keelung</st1:city> in <st1:country-region st="on"><st1:place st="on">Taiwan</st1:place></st1:country-region> to get out of the way. Today the small monument to the Japanese Prince Kitashirakawa. It’s hidden just slightly back from the road that runs around the base of the old Ershawan Fort.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">
<br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB"><?xml:namespace prefix = o /><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">Kitshirakawa (</span><span class="mw-formatted-date"><span lang="EN">1847-1895</span></span><span lang="EN">) was the 2nd head of a collateral branch of the Japanese imperial family and a professional soldier who had been trained in <st1:country-region st="on"><st1:place st="on">Germany</st1:place></st1:country-region>. After the outbreak of the First Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895, he was transferred to the elite IJA 1st Division and participated in the Taiwan Expedition of 1874. During the invasion, he contracted malaria and died outside of <st1:city st="on"><st1:place st="on">Tainan</st1:place></st1:city>. This meant that Prince Kitashirakawa was the first mem</span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_g2ofm4KCX5k/SfF6idhq8AI/AAAAAAAABN8/FwJ3SnekM7c/s1600-h/Kitasirakawanomiya.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5328174566616002562" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; WIDTH: 146px; CURSOR: pointer; HEIGHT: 200px" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_g2ofm4KCX5k/SfF6idhq8AI/AAAAAAAABN8/FwJ3SnekM7c/s200/Kitasirakawanomiya.jpg" border="0" /></a><span lang="EN">ber of the Japanese imperial family known to have died outside of Japan, and the first (in modern times) to have died in war.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN">
<br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">The monument</span><span lang="EN-GB"> itself was erected in 1933 by the Japanese to commemorate their “conquest of <st1:country-region st="on"><st1:place st="on">Taiwan</st1:place></st1:country-region>”. It has been restored no</span><span lang="EN-GB">w and has some pretty complete guides placed alongside to explain its history. It seems (understandably perhaps being in an obscure location and being Japanese) rarely visited now but remains in a small garden. To be honest I stumbled across it walking from the <a href="http://chinarhyming.blogspot.com/2009/04/few-posts-on-keelung-ii-cimetiere.html"><st1:place st="on"><st1:placename st="on">French</st1:placename> <st1:placetype st="on">Cemetery</st1:placetype></st1:place></a> mentioned the other day back into town.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal">
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<br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color:black;"><a href="http://chinarhyming.blogspot.com/2009/04/few-posts-on-keelung-keelung-harbour.html">A Few Posts on <st1:city st="on">Keelung</st1:city> I - The <st1:placename st="on">Keelung</st1:placename> <st1:placetype st="on">Harbour</st1:placetype> Integrated <st1:place st="on"><st1:placename st="on">Administration</st1:placename> <st1:placetype st="on">Building</st1:placetype></st1:place></a><o:p></o:p></span></p><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p></o:p></span><a href="http://chinarhyming.blogspot.com/2009/04/few-posts-on-keelung-ii-cimetiere.html"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color:black;">A Few Posts on Keelung II – The Cimetière Française de Kilung</span></a>
<br /><a href="http://chinarhyming.blogspot.com/2009/04/few-posts-on-keelung-vi-ershawan-fort.html">A Few Posts on Keelung VI - Ershawan Fort</a>
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<br /><div id="refHTML"></div>Paul Frenchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00995852679311550817noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2529063554172958200.post-52220096190402830962009-04-23T03:22:00.000-07:002009-04-23T03:25:07.705-07:00Today is World Book Day<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_g2ofm4KCX5k/SfBB6_TVgFI/AAAAAAAABN0/3GLXkJRJr4g/s1600-h/Bookday.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 238px; height: 173px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_g2ofm4KCX5k/SfBB6_TVgFI/AAAAAAAABN0/3GLXkJRJr4g/s200/Bookday.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5327830840860049490" border="0" /></a><br />In most of the world today is World Book Day. The date of April 23rd is apparently the selected date due to the (contested) fact that Shakespeare died on on April 23, 1616. Or if you like his birth which is widely assumed to have been on April 23, 1564 (and also happens to Nabokov’s birthday too). Interestingly Miguel de Cervantes also died on April 23rd. (actually their deaths were ten days apart as Spain had already switched to the Gregorian calendar in 1582, while England, ever the contrarian nation, didn’t switch to the Julian calendar until 1752.<br /><br />And talking of British contrarianism - in the UK, birthplace obviously of Shakespeare, World Book Day is held on March 5th! I love being a Brit sometimes. You see there’s a clash as April 23 is already taken by England’s patron saint, St. George.<br /><br />Anyway – World Book Day seems like a good idea to me whether in March or April or any month – so go buy a book. If you can’t think of one to buy look down the left hand column of this blog for possible inspiration!. In Taiwan the Japanese book chain Kinokuniya issued this rather nice card to celebrate the event.Paul Frenchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00995852679311550817noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2529063554172958200.post-86323952984965567182009-04-22T09:08:00.000-07:002009-04-28T01:47:58.316-07:00Deviation Posting – Probably the Best Cast Ever – Probably the Worst Film Ever<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_g2ofm4KCX5k/Se9ByuY_AmI/AAAAAAAABNs/YsMFXreSXEY/s1600-h/valkyrie.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5327549223904674402" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; WIDTH: 156px; CURSOR: pointer; HEIGHT: 244px" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_g2ofm4KCX5k/Se9ByuY_AmI/AAAAAAAABNs/YsMFXreSXEY/s200/valkyrie.jpg" border="0" /></a>
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<br /><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">Imagine this – a film with the following cast of amazing actors:</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB"><?xml:namespace prefix = o /><o:p>
<br /></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">Kenneth Branagh</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">Bill Nighy</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">Tom Wilkinson</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">Terence Stamp</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">Eddie Izzard</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">Kevin McNally</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">Tom Hollander</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">Kenneth Cranham</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">David Bamber</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">Bernard Hill</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">
<br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-size:0;"></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">And not forgetting the fantastic Dutch actress from <i>Black Book</i> - Carice van Houten</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"> </p><p class="MsoNormal">That is one of the best cast lists any film could have</p><p class="MsoNormal">But then they got Tom Cruise and make Valkyrie</p><p class="MsoNormal"> </p><div id="refHTML"></div>
<br />Paul Frenchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00995852679311550817noreply@blogger.com2