As part of the “Ten Slow Days” exhibition at Hong Kong’s Fringe Club, a group of writers, publishers, designers and editors will be discussing what books mean to them, and how they go about creating them.

Saturday 13th March, 2:30pm, Fringe Studio. Free admission. Enquiries: 3106 4010.

In advance of Graham Earnshaw’s talk at the Beijing Bookworm on Saturday, here’s a chapter from his brand new book, The Great Walk of China. After crossing flat country for most of the distance from Shanghai, Graham finds himself in the Dabie Mountains of rural Anhui Province.

Chapter 2: Drinking Games

The day’s walk was over and I returned to Chashui for dinner. I called Teacher Xu, who asked me to come to the school gates at 5.30pm. Arriving promptly, Teacher Xu led me inside to a conference room where I found a delegation of five men waiting for me, three of them in suits. Leading the delegation was Mr. Cheng Zhihua, secretary of the Qianshan County Communist Youth League, who looked about thirty-five years old. Accompanying him were his assistant, Mr. Huang, Teacher Xu and two vice-headmasters. Headmaster Chen, I was informed, was not available.

Mr. Cheng formally welcomed me to the mountains by saying, “This region is poor.”

“I think it is very beautiful,” I replied.

“We welcome people from all over the world,” he responded, so I asked how many other foreigners had passed this way. “There was an African man from Cameroon a few years ago, but apart from that, you’re the first foreigner to visit the region.” I said it was my honour.

“We are looking for investment – investors – and maybe you would be interested?” he asked.

“I am just walking through,” I replied. “I am not here looking for investments. But I do think the mountains are beautiful and there should be big potential for tourism in the long term.”

“We think so too,” he said. “There are several local hotel projects under construction, but not high class. There is no foreign investment in them.”

I suggested they should be cautious about developing lower level hotel projects to avoid the kind of damage to the scenery and environment inflicted on other places such as the once beautiful town of Guilin.

“Mr. Yan referred to a six-star hotel idea?” prompted Teacher Xu.

“I think such an idea would be great in theory, though in practice it would require a lot of patience and money and support from the local government. Outside investors are convinced about the future of China tourism, but the Dabie Mountains are very remote, and there would be a reluctance to invest.”

“Thank you for your frankness,” Mr. Cheng said. “Now it is time for dinner.”

“My treat,” I said. “Let us go to a local restaurant and have a simple meal.”

“I have arranged dinner at the best restaurant in town, a banquet for two hundred and fifty RMB,” Teacher Xu announced.

“Wow, two hundred and fifty RMB!” I said. “You have a Grand Hyatt here? I had dinner the other night for just forty RMB including beer.”

“Only forty RMB? Impossible,” Teacher Xu said.

“Our treat,” Mr. Cheng pushed.

“No no,” I said.

“Yes yes,” they said. (more…)

In related developments, Hong Kong residents are taking to the hills in record numbers — at least, if sales of this guidebook are anything to go by.

Other Asian cities don’t have such spectacular mountains and beaches so close at hand, so we’re lucky to have such a wonderful natural resource. Check out some of the photos in this book if you need convincing.

Michelin Guide? Pah — high peaks are in greater demand this week than haute cuisine.

With students at Chinese colleges accused this month of conducting cyber attacks on US businesses in and outside China, plus the alleged Mossad involvement in the assassination of a Hamas leader in Dubai, I’m reminded of Paul Ulrich’s spy thriller Saudi Match Point, in which Chinese and American spies compete to seize control of the Saudi oilfields. An excerpt below.

Chapter 6

“WAIT A MOMENT, MUSTAPHA. Pull over.” Nick instructed the driver to bring the consulate’s vehicle next to a beat-up car with its hood propped open and a man in Indian dress bent over the engine, peering inside. Nick had noticed the same broken-down sedan on the roadside of Dhahran twenty minutes before while en route to the commissary.

“Can we give you a lift?” Nick called out.

A bedraggled man straightened himself and wiped the sweat from his face with a dirty sleeve. “Thank you, that is most kind, good sir, but I do not wish to leave my car. I think the battery has died.”

“Hold on, we’ll help you jump start it.”

First, at Mustapha’s suggestion, they tried the easy way, seating the man behind the wheel, shifting the car to neutral, and pushing. But the engine still failed to turn over and catch. They then opened the back of the consulate’s vehicle to fish out some cables for a jump start. As Mustapha and the stranded driver began attaching them, with Nick looking on, a second SUV pulled up.

“Nick, what are you doing in this heat?” It was Ma Ling, unveiled, in the front passenger seat. “Get in. We’ll give you a ride.”

“I’m trying to help out this fellow. . . .”

“Your driver seems able to handle it. You haven’t forgotten our game, have you?”

“No, Mustapha was going to drop me at the club. I suppose your taking me will save time and leave him with one less thing to worry about.”

Nick grabbed his bag, climbed into the back seat behind Ma Ling, and gave his driver some final instructions. “If the cables don’t do the trick, please stop at the nearest service station and have them send a tow truck for this guy.” Mustapha did not reply but cast a bemused look at Ma Ling and back at Nick.

As they pulled away, Nick asked, “Ma Ling, don’t you think this might seem improper?”

Ma Ling turned with her elbow propped on the front seat. “Oh, you are an old ninny, Mr. Hansen. I always sit up front. We Chinese are egalitarians.”

“Not just that. I mean, driving with an unrelated man…”

“Who? You or Mr. Huang?” she said, looking at her driver who was decked out in a tan cap, matching gloves, and loose-fitting Mao-style jacket. “That is one of the local inconsistencies, isn’t it? If the religious police found me alone with you—a non-related man—they could take me away to be whipped as a prostitute. But I’m not allowed to drive, so must have this unrelated man take me all over town. Of course, with Huang Lei, no one would dare insult me in such a fashion. Please introduce yourself. He’ll be amazed to hear you speak Chinese.”

Nick greeted the silent driver, whose broad bulk and close-cropped, gray hair reminded him of a calmer Ambassador Gewalt. Huang’s face lit up in a big smile. He looked at Nick in the mirror and replied in a deep voice that Nick couldn’t understand. Ma Ling translated. “His accent is very strong, so you won’t catch much of what he says, but he follows you perfectly.”

Nick said, “If it weren’t for that driving outfit, I’d think he might be a bodyguard.”

“And you’d be right! Oh, you are clever!” Ma Ling laughed. “I tell Huang the gloves are a bit much, but he is too vain about the scars on his hands.” (more…)

The Beijing Bookworm — the city’s best known bookshop — holds its Literary Festival again from the 5th-19th of March 2010, and two Blacksmith authors are among the 70 writers taking part.

First, on Saturday 6th March, Graham Earnshaw will be talking about how many pairs of shoes he has worn out during his epic westward trek across the People’s Republic. His new book, The Great Walk of China, will be launched at the festival.

Then, on Monday 8th, Jack Leblanc — author of Business Republic of China — will be sharing his insights on how to square the differences between Chinese and Western business thinking. He’ll be in conversation with James Chau, newsreader from CCTV in Beijing.

Both Graham and Jack are Chinese-speakers with many years of residence in China, and plenty of stories to tell. Book your tickets — 50 RMB each, including a free drink — directly at the Bookworm.

How long would it take to walk from Shanghai to the edges of Tibet? Long-time China resident Graham Earnshaw is in the process of finding out. His westward trek is described in his new book, The Great Walk of China, out at the end of this month.

Through his conversations with the people he meets along the way, Earnshaw paints a portrait of a nation struggling to come to terms with its newfound identity and its place in the world. Our wandering guide never backs away from sensitive and sometimes uncomfortable topics, and captures the essential kindness and generosity of the Chinese people with brilliant clarity.

We have three copies to give away to readers who can answer this question: Which city beginning with W is the capital of Hubei province?

Send us your answers, but Asian mailing addresses only. Good luck!

High ridges, sparkling waterfalls, lush feng shui woods and ancient fishing communities nestled in rocky harbours. Your mind refreshed, your limbs exercised, and your senses intoxicated, you wonder at the fact that only a few miles separate all this from one of the world’s most crowded cities.

The Serious Hiker’s Guide to Hong Kong — the bestselling guidebook to the SAR’s four long-distance hiking trails — is back in the shops in its sixth edition, with a new cover. Describing the Lantau Trail, Wilson Trail, MacLehose Trail and Hong Kong Trail, it’s been updated for 2010 and is profusely illustrated with maps and photographs. Available in all local bookshops or directly from the FormAsia website.

We’re now on Facebook, so you can find us there and sign up for our regular updates. It’s also your chance to write “i luv bookz lol” FB-style on our fan page. Thx!

Can common ground be found on the divisive issue of Tibet? First, it’s necessary to find out what the people involved think, and why.

Chinese-speaking journalist Annelie Rozeboom worked as a foreign correspondent in China for ten years. During that time she was able to interview numerous Tibetan people inside and outside Tibet, as well as Chinese and Western observers and the Dalai Lama himself. The focus of the interviews, which became a book, was on the life stories of these individuals. As they tell their stories, it becomes clear to the reader why they think the way they do. The book also shows how history washed over this remote kingdom and how the Tibetans and the Chinese came to take such opposing positions.

Waiting for the Dalai Lama: Stories from all sides of the Tibetan debate is available from February. Here we print an excerpt.

Introduction: Pictures of the Dalai Lama

The old woman in front of the Jokhang temple shows two brown teeth. She mutters incomprehensibly and holds out her hand. Another beggar, I think. In Lhasa they follow you around; kids with home-made wooden musical instruments which they play for two seconds before asking for money; monks with a plastic bag full of change who want a contribution for their monastery, and now this old woman in front of the temple. Behind us, pilgrims throw themselves to the ground. First, they stand upright, hands crossed on their chests, and muttering prayers. Then they let themselves drop like planks. Their hands land on small rectangular pieces of cardboard, which slide forward producing scraping noises as their bodies fall.

I sigh and find an old five-mao note in my bag. According to the Lonely Planet, this is the acceptable amount. “Give just as much as the locals,” was the stern warning. “You don’t want beggars to think that Westerners give more.” But when I stuff the dirty note in her hand, the woman gives me a bewildered look. What am I doing wrong, I ask myself. Not enough? Has there been inflation? Then a man next to me starts laughing. “She asked you for a picture of the Dalai Lama and you gave her money,” he chuckles.

(more…)

Singapore’s beautiful Raffles Hotel hosted the launch of Lorette Roberts’ latest book: Sketches of Singapore. (Thanks to the hotel for the complimentary Singapore Slings!) Razor TV filmed a three-part interview with Lorette, which includes lots of illustrations from the book. Watch below or directly at the Razor TV site.

The book has been reviewed by Time Out Singapore and Expat Living, who say:  “Aside from the quality of the art – shophouses, hawker food and gardens are all delightfully rendered – there’s a wealth of quirky history and trivia in the accompanying handwritten notes, which wrap like tendrils in and around her pictures. This is more than just a visual feast.”

For Hong Kong residents, don’t forget that Lorette’s 2010 desk calendar, Sketches of Hong Kong 2010, is still in the shops. Happy new year!

Feng Chi-shun’s Kowloon memoir Diamond Hill has been in the shops for a few weeks and has gained good reviews in the South China Morning Post, Time Out Hong Kong, Cairns Media Magazine and now The Correspondent, whose reviewer writes “The book finishes only to leave the reader wanting more — it’s a good read.”

Click on the following link to read a free chapter — Thugs and gangsters — from Diamond Hill.

With Bare Hands: back cover

I’m delighted to say that our titles will be available through bookshops in the United States and Canada as of June 2010. Our books will be handled on the other side of the Pacific by National Book Network.

First up for the American market is With Bare Hands, since daredevil author Alain Robert has made a point of annoying the US authorities by climbing skyscrapers from San Francisco to Philadelphia. Now, when Alain gets arrested climbing his next New York building, at least he can sign copies of his book for the cops.

Liza Chu

You may enjoy a few helpings of siu mai, char siu bau and har gau at your local dim sum restaurant. But did you know some places have up to 60 dim sum dishes on the menu? If you don’t read or speak Chinese, you’re sometimes stuck with ordering from the tourist menu, and this is far more limited.

Liza Chu teaches Cantonese and local culture to newly arrived expats at the American Women’s Association. She’s now distilled her knowledge of Chinese cuisine and dining etiquette into a little photo guidebook to dim sum. Each dish is identified with Chinese characters and a pronunciation guide, and icons alert those with allergies or special diets. There’s a special listing of dim sum dishes most popular with children. Dim sum chefs explain their cooking methods, and even the art of tea drinking is covered in detail.

The book — Dim Sum: a survival guide — appears later this month, but in the meantime, here are some shots from the photo shoot.

If you were unable to attend the FCC launch of Mike Rowse’s tell-all book No Minister, have no fear — the former civil servant will be signing copies at two Hong Kong bookstores in early December.

Mike will first be at Dymocks in Prince’s Building, Central, at 1:00 pm on Thursday 3rd; and he follows this up with an appearance at Kelly & Walsh in Pacific Place at 5:30 pm on Wednesday the 9th. Drop by to meet Mike and hear “the true story of HarbourFest”!

Veteran Hong Kong and China journalist Graham Earnshaw — who is currently engaged on a series of walks from Shanghai to Tibet, picking up each time from the place he left off — was interviewed this week for Shanghai Urbanatomy’s Why I Write column. His latest book, The Great Walk of China, will appear in early 2010.

Graham will also be speaking about his China writing and publishing career at the Royal Asiatic Society in Shanghai on December 8th. All details at the RAS China website.

If you’re in Central on Monday lunchtime, you could spend half an hour queueing up with the office drones for a bowl of instant noodles. Alternatively you could drop into Bookazine on the third floor of Prince’s Building, where prize-winning Irish author Colm Tóibín will be signing books including his latest novel Brooklyn. Tóibín has been short-listed for the Man Booker Prize and is winner of the Los Angeles Times Novel of the Year, so he is likely to be far more stimulating than even the most MSG-laden noodle dish. The time: Monday 16th November, from 12:30 to 2:00pm.

Three copies of Bernd Hagemann’s Sleeping Chinese are on their way to readers who can stay awake long enough to answer this question:

There are sixty minutes in an hour. But how many winks are there in a nap?

Answers to pete at blacksmithbooks dot com, Asian postal addresses only. (Does not include the Land of Nod).

Judge for yourself via my six-feet-of-seaview-cam. Beautiful, yes. Good for our health, probably not.

Further to last month’s post about the Danxiashan national park in Guangdong, it’s worth mentioning that many of the rock formations bear uncanny resemblances to human sexual organs. (I have no photos of those, but Wikipedia does). Ancient Confucians probably avoided the area for these reasons, and it’s still very much off the beaten track, but modern China has few sex taboos and the local authorities have now erected — ahem — noticeboards explaining these interpretations of the sandstone monoliths.

“From a distance, it looks very much like a male genital!” exclaims a sign near the 28-metre Yangyuan Stone, abandoning the euphemistic language we have come to expect from Chinese literature. But it does, and there’s a complementary Yinyuan Cave nearby which does a good impression of the female anatomy. Outside the park’s main entrance, then, there’s some logic to the existence of the China Sex Museum, which displays a collection of Chinese kama sutra texts, herbal aphrodisiacs, erotic jade carvings, Qing dynasty sex toys and so on. The tittering girls at reception wouldn’t let me take photos of their explicit exhibits, but here are some pictures of the sculpture outside the museum. You get the idea.

Chongqing’s “Love Land” sex theme park was demolished earlier this year, so if you want to learn more about Chinese attitudes to sex throughout the ages, just take the train up to Shaoguan.

A new book out next week lifts the lid on a still-simmering political hot potato:

In the depths of the 2003 SARS crisis, Mike Rowse (盧維思), a career Hong Kong civil servant, was handed the poisoned chalice of HarbourFest – intended to be (and which in many ways was) a psychological and commercial shot in the arm. Politics, as it often does, took precedence over sense, and Rowse was scapegoated for the perceived failings of this attempt to pull off a world-class entertainment festival in only three months. Rowse endured disciplinary hearings and ended up taking the Hong Kong Government to court. He won.

This True Story of HarbourFest is not just an insider’s account of the workings of the Hong Kong Government; it is also a thoughtful treatise on the drawbacks of the Ministerial Accountability System, a system which failed HarbourFest and Rowse, there being No Minister who ever took responsibility.

Mike Rowse will launch his book at a luncheon speech at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club in Central on November 3rd, and the book will go on sale in bookshops on the same day.

The first time I visited Macau was to find a smuggler. Nothing as exciting as opium, gold or indentured coolies, three Macau exports before it became a gambling emporium, of course. No, my flat mate in Hong Kong wanted to bring his treasured Burmese cats into Hong Kong and he could not abide being separated from them for the six-month quarantine then in effect in the British colony.

With the help of some of his friends in the then Portuguese enclave (not a “colony”, Chinese territory under Portuguese administration) we found the animal smuggler in a shop off of the main street, Avenida de Almeida Ribeira. For a sum he was quite willing to accept the cats and smuggle them into Hong Kong on a junk.

That was the beginning of a 20-year fascination with Hong Kong’s smaller neighbor across the Pearl River Delta. Looking back I am amazed at how much Macau has changed in that time. When I first went to Macau to look for an animal smuggler, the Senate Square, the heart of old Macau, looked decidedly run down. Not today. Cars have been banned and the square has been lovingly restored. Portuguese craftsmen were brought in to make a wavy white pavement out of limestone and basalt that gives it a definite Mediterranean look.

Todd Crowell finds some changes in Macau after an absence of six years. Read on at his blog, Asia Cable. Todd’s guidebook Explore Macau will appear at the end of the year.

Katie Lau of the SCMP interviewed Feng Chi-shun last week about his new book, Diamond Hill: Memories of growing up in a Hong Kong squatter village. Click on the image below to open the story in full size.

CRI reporter Dominic Swire talks to Belgian entrepreneur Jack Leblanc about his 20 years in China, and how he turned from a physics teacher into a successful businessman.

Listen to the radio interview online.

Leblanc recalls several anecdotes from his recent book Business Republic of China, along with explaining the importance of guanxi, and how the shortest route between A and B is not necessarily a straight line. Indeed, in terms of China business, when travelling from A to B, B may not even be stationary…

Hiking recently in Shaoguan, in northern Guangdong, I was grateful for the handy suggestions offered by the local authorities, and I fell down the hillside paying the proper attention to health and safety.

The Danxiashan region of the province is a weird landscape of forest punctuated by dramatic red sandstone formations and divided by meandering rivers. Some of the hilltops are dotted with shrines, fountains and old Zen Buddhist temples. It’s been declared a national nature reserve but has not received the fame accorded to Guilin — a good thing probably, since you can enjoy the peace and natural beauty without the nuisance of tour groups.

There is a cable car up to the peak with the best view, but it’s relatively expensive and all the locals choose to take the steps. And why not? As long as they all slip with care, of course.

Our newest book — Diamond Hill, Feng Chi-shun’s tale of growing up in a Kowloon-side squatter village in the 1950s — is launched at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club at 5pm on Monday 12th October. All welcome! But if you can’t make it to the FCC, three copies of the book are on offer to those who can answer this question:

What famous ‘city’ might you find near Diamond Hill?

Answers to pete at blacksmithbooks dot com, Asian postal addresses only. Good luck!

Lama of the Gobi

The 19th century was a low point for Mongolia; the once-proud empire reduced to a backward vassal state of the Manchus. Danzan Ravjaa was a progressive monk of the period. He founded monasteries, wrote poetry, and promoted education and social reform. But his unconventional life of women, theatre and alcohol was cut short by a cup of poisoned vodka.

In 1937, the  treasures of Ravjaa — Buddhist art, statues and manuscripts among them — were buried in the desert by the caretaker of his legacy to protect it from destruction by the new communist authorities. The caretaker’s grandson Altangerel faithfully kept the secret of their location until this year, when he judged it finally safe to reveal their existence. Some of the relics were excavated by a group of Austrian Buddhist adventurers in August 2009 in a fundraising exercise for Altangerel’s Danzan Ravjaa Museum in the Gobi.

Michael Kohn’s new book Lama of the Gobi tells the story of this important historical figure who is still venerated by the people of Mongolia. It is now available from Amazon.

“A readable and intriguing introduction to the fascinating life and times of Danzan Ravjaa, Mongolia’s wildly unconventional poet-mystic, packed with legends and anecdotes… Should find a place on the bookshelf of world spirituality between Milarepa and Rumi.” – Christopher Atwood, Assistant Professor of Mongolian Studies, Indiana University

Two Blacksmith Books authors were featured in the South China Morning Post this week, and as the newspaper’s website is behind a paywall, we reproduce their interviews here for overseas readers.

Xujun Eberlein spoke about her book Apologies Forthcoming in the Asia Specific column, while Bernd Hagemann revealed how he collected the photographs for Sleeping Chinese in the Life section.

This month’s prize giveaway is the Chinese edition of Ken Ing’s Wing Chun Warrior. It’s in Hong Kong shops retailing at HK$78. For Chinese readers, here’s the blurb:

梁紹鴻，Duncan Leung，詠春善戰者。由兒時好友、已故電影巨星李小龍介紹去學詠春功夫。1955年，年僅十三歲的他以「三跪九叩」之禮，拜詠春第六代葉問為師，成為葉問的「第一私家門徒」。

1955至59這四年間，葉問親自上門，悉心教導梁紹鴻，傾囊相授，跟他練習，還傳授「實踐」詠春的秘訣。梁紹鴻天天練武、練功六小時；要學以致用，他就上街打架、上武館「講手」，實踐所學。他對中國武術各門各派的打鬥經驗可謂獨一無二。1964年，一次行俠仗義令梁紹鴻有緣遇上一位老人。那老人教他「空手入白刃」、「貼身搏擊」、「無聲殺敵」等技巧。1974至76年，梁紹鴻在美國紐約設館授徒。中、外習武者上館挑戰可謂無日無之，他未嘗敗北，因此應付外國武藝的經驗也相當豐富，可謂世上絕無僅有。

1976至2002年間，梁紹鴻在美國弗吉利亞灘 （Virginia Beach）定居，受聘於美國海軍海豹隊（U.S. Navy Seals）、美國聯邦調查局（ FBI ）及美國特警部隊 （SWAT）。2002年8月，梁紹鴻接受可能是他有生以來最大的挑戰：要在兩年內，培養六名中國少年成為世界級職業「散打」拳手。於是，他到了中國去完成這能人所不能的使命。

The first three readers (with Asian mailing addresses) who tell us this — Where did martial arts master Duncan Leung open a school in 1974? — will receive a free copy of the book! Deadline: 31st August.

This memoir of a native son of a Kowloon-side squatter village – the first book ever on Diamond Hill, in either Chinese or English – is a revelation. Shocking in places, wistful in others, it presents the early days of a life shaped by a now-extinct community. Penned by a high-achieving Hong Kong professional, Feng Chi-shun’s sharp recollections of his humble upbringing make for marvellous reading.

In these fascinating, historically faithful pages, there’s warmth, humour, and an abundance of insights into a low-income Hong Kong neighbourhood that no longer exists – but remains close to the hearts of many who lived there. But this is not just Feng’s story. It’s also the story of a place once viewed with considerable trepidation by non-Chinese outsiders.

Diamond Hill will invite comparisons with Martin Booth’s 2004 hit Gweilo. If you enjoyed the latter, you will likely find the former similarly absorbing, because the young Feng was, for many a “gweilo”, the inaccessible yet intriguing face of an altogether edgier Hong Kong.

For news of the Hong Kong book launch, stay tuned to this blog.

Read on for a rare Indiana Jones style story which has been picked up by the BBC…

Danzan Ravjaa (1803-1856), the Fifth Noyon Incarnate Lama of the Gobi Desert, is perhaps Mongolia’s most beloved saint. The Fourth had caused so many scandals that the Manchu Emperor of the day banned his reincarnation. Consequently, when the young child was enthroned as the Fifth, the Emperor issued an edict of execution on the boy and all associated with the event. The child was only saved by the personal intervention of the Panchen Lama and a letter of appeal from the young Ninth Dalai Lama. Their efforts proved well worthwhile, for the boy went on to become one of the greatest mystics and creative geniuses of 19th-century Mongolia.

Danzan Ravjaa founded monasteries, wrote poetry, and promoted education and social reform. His unconventional life of women, theatre and alcohol was cut short by a cup of poisoned vodka.

In 1937, the Buddhist treasures of the lama — art, statues and manuscripts among them — were buried in the desert by the caretaker of his legacy, to protect it from destruction by the new communist authorities. The caretaker’s grandson Altangerel is the only person alive today who knows the precise location of the crates. Some have already been recovered, and the artefacts found within them are on display at the Danzan Ravjaa Museum in Sainshand, 400km from Ulaanbaatar. But another 15 remain where they were buried over 70 years ago.

Today, two of the last treasure crates will be unearthed, and the event is to be televised live to raise funds for Altangerel’s museum. Tune in to this event over the internet at Gobi Treasure Hunt 2009, and learn more about Ravjaa’s legacy from Michael Kohn’s new book: Lama of the Gobi.

The Hong Kong Book Fair — the week-long book sales event that drew 800,000 people last year — is on again as of today in Wan Chai’s Convention Centre. We’re taking a break this year and not manning a stand, but some of our titles can be found at Booth 1A01-26, in Hall 1.

This includes the new Chinese edition of Wing Chun Warrior (詠春善戰者–葉問的私徒) which tells the story of Duncan Leung, Bruce Lee and Yip Man in their native language. Get it at a discount only at the fair!

It’s hot and sticky but we’re going through a period of unusually clear skies in Hong Kong, so the heat doesn’t deter us from hiking. This week we followed a trail from Tseng Lan Shue on Clearwater Bay Road south across Black Hill and Devil’s Peak to Lei Yue Mun.

Standing on the high points of this ridge, you can look westwards directly down the length of Victoria Harbour. Click on the photo to view it at full size. Kowloon is on the right, and Hong Kong Island on the left. You may be able to pick out IFC Two, the Peak Tower, the Wanchai Convention Centre, Green Island, and the North Point ferry pier. Behind Kowloon, the twin summits of Lantau Island are just hidden in cloud. There are some days when you cannot even see Lantau from Kowloon, so this is exceptional.

We started walking through a lush green valley crossed by farmers’ aqueducts and full of dragonflies. Then, in the forest above Ma Yau Tong, we passed a tiny temple to Kwun Yam which is guarded by an army of garish cement statues — Chinese gods, Japanese soldiers, dancing girls, monkeys and tigers. I learnt from Phil at Oriental Sweetlips (a blog, not a Wanchai curtain bar) that these were made by an 84-year-old local gent a decade ago in his spare time. The Trumpton-like statues are crumbling now but the shrine is still tended. (more…)

John Miers

A crippling fear of public speaking has probably shorted out more promising careers than any other single factor. In today’s high-stress environment, top performers are expected to be able to address shareholder meetings, do real-time podcasts and live TV, take part in panel discussions and speak to groups of all sizes, whether in key pitches or at large industry functions.

A lot of executives have paid a lot of money to try to shake off the discomfort. Most public speaking coaches advise them to be formulaic, to plan the speech, carefully pacing the delivery and taking calculated pauses while methodically sweeping their gaze from one side of the audience to the other. We’ve all sat through speeches like that. Guess what? It doesn’t work. The best-case scenario is the speaker gets through the event without bolting. But chances are they were somewhat short of dynamic, leaving most listeners glazed over and surreptitiously checking their watches.

John Miers, a former nuclear submarine commander and frequent media spokesman for Britain’s Royal Navy, has developed a radically different approach to public speaking. It involves teaching people how to use emotional intelligence to engage a crowd, ensuring the message gets across and their words actually have an impact.

In his new book Hit Me Again!… I Can Still Hear Him!, John explains his singular approach — helping speakers discover how to be less conscious and more natural while communicating.

Join us for wine and canapes at Bookazine (3/F, Prince’s Building, Central) at 6:30-8:30pm on Thursday July 16th as John launches his book and shares some tips on how you can become a better public speaker. Enquiries: (+852) 2525 0218.

Has it ever occurred to you that at practically every conference you attend almost all of the speakers are terribly boring?

When you yourself made your last presentation did people come up to you afterwards to talk to you? Are you sure you made an impression?

The irony is that almost all speakers have probably been advised or trained to present well. They don’t want to bore you. They want to entertain you – but they fail miserably. Why?

John Miers, a former nuclear submarine commander and frequent media spokesman for Britain’s Royal Navy, has developed a radically different approach to speaking. It involves teaching people how to use emotional intelligence to engage a crowd, ensuring the message gets across and their words actually have an impact.

In his new book Hit Me Again!… I Can Still Hear Him!, John explains his singular approach to business speaking – helping speakers discover how to be less conscious and more natural while communicating.

To win one of three free copies, just answer this question: Who did John act as media spokesman for? Answers to pete at blacksmithbooks dot com, Asian postal addresses only.

John Miers will be launching his book at Bookazine in Prince’s Building, Central, on July 16th… stay tuned for more details.

Some years ago now, I crossed the border from Kazakhstan into Xinjiang in China’s far northwest, and found myself stuck in Urumchi with the equivalent of US$50 and no onward tickets. It wasn’t a problem; saving my cash for food, I ‘hitch-hiked’ on China’s trains by boarding them at small-town stations and then jumping off before the ticket collectors reached my carriage. At Jiayuguan in Gansu, I spent a windy night on top of the Great Wall. When I got to Xian, a green-coated PLA soldier had a spare ticket to Beijing and insisted I go with him — we spent the journey drinking Tsingtao beer and communicating in sign language, and he wouldn’t accept a penny for the ticket. In Beijing, I slept in a bike shed and got to see early-morning tai chi for the first time. And further train-hiking got me to Hong Kong on the south coast — all the way across one of the world’s largest countries for less than the price of a typical hotel room.

This is just to point out that travel need not be expensive. If the spirit of adventure is present, you can see foreign countries as well as — if not better than — package tourists.

But few adventurers have gone as far as Tom Carter. Despite a lack of funds, he decided he wanted to see China — all of it — and he set off on a two-year odyssey to visit every province and region of the PRC. He slept in bus stations, travelled with farmers and monks, fell ill and got into scrapes, but got to meet the kind of people a business traveller never would.

The resulting photo book, CHINA: Portrait of a People, features a small proportion of the people he met during his epic trek. And what a trek it was: 33 provinces, 56,000 kilometres, 56 distinct cultures and over 10,000 photographs… Tom has probably seen more of China than any Westerner since Marco Polo.

The 640-page book is available in bookstores in China, Hong Kong and Southeast Asia, and will soon be on sale in North America. Until then, for your armchair travelling pleasure, we reproduce a few photo spreads below.

Tom is now photographing India. Get updates on his travels at www.tomcarter.org.

Mild-mannered photographer Bernd Hagemann tiptoes around Shanghai with his camera. He has to keep quiet to avoid waking his snoring subjects. But despite his low profile, his photo website Sleeping Chinese has been getting a lot of attention from media as far afield as Apple Daily and La Repubblica.

Britain’s Daily Telegraph reports: “Bernd Hagemann moved to the Far East in 2002, and since then he regularly takes to the streets of Shanghai to find extreme nappers to add to his extensive photograph collection. He divides the groups into three categories — hardsleepers, softsleepers and groupsleepers. Hardsleepers are able to fall asleep anywhere on any surface, softsleepers need something a little more comfortable, and groupsleepers sleep with people around them, be it friends, family or complete strangers.”

“China’s passion for the siesta is captured at Sleeping Chinese, where Shanghai photographer Bernd Hagemann has put up over 700 photographs of Chinese sleeping in seemingly impossible positions: under trucks, on shopping carts, scooters and butcher slabs, vividly illustrating the millions of weary masses who helped power the nation’s economic rise,” says the Wall Street Journal. “On his site — which has attracted almost half a million visitors — Mr. Hagemann wrote that he started the site to show the outside world the less threatening side of China’s rise.”

Bernd’s photo book Sleeping Chinese is published later this summer. It may be just the thing for a bedtime read…

This month we’re giving away three copies of Wing Chun Warrior by Ken Ing. The book has just been reviewed by Kent Ewing at Asia Times Online, who says:

The story of Duncan Leung — childhood friend of Bruce Lee and disciple of Wing Chun master Yip Man — is valuable not only for the insights it offers into Chinese martial arts but also for its portrayal of the lost Hong Kong of the 1950s and 1960s. Reading Ken Ing’s Wing Chun Warrior, which chronicles Leung’s Kung Fu escapades, will be a jarring revelation to anyone familiar with the manic but orderly and largely peaceful city of seven million people that is Hong Kong today. The city described by Ing is a place where Kung Fu practitioners wielded eight-chop knives in the streets and literally battled their way from one martial arts studio to another to prove their fighting prowess.

… As Ing tells the story, Lee may have been Yip Man’s most famous pupil, but Leung underwent more intensive training with the great man — four years of daily private lessons that started in 1955, when Leung was 13. During this time, Leung virtually forgot about regular schooling and devoted himself to learning Wing Chun from the master, training six hours a day, seven days a week.

… Soon the eager student began applying his lessons on the streets and in the Kung Fu studios of Hong Kong, and this is where Ing’s book is hard to put down. At one point, a young Leung comes across two triads (underworld figures) raining blows on a defenseless old man outside the long-defunct London Theater in Kowloon. His Wing Chun principles and reflexes immediately kick in, and the two toughs are quickly dispatched.

To win a free copy of the book, just tell us this:

Who is credited with inventing the Wing Chun form of martial arts?

Answers to pete(at)blacksmithbooks.com, Asian postal addresses only. Good luck!

I wrote the piece below for a local magazine a couple of years ago, but as the Old Peak Road story in last weekend’s Sunday Morning Post showed, the issue of psychotic town planning is still very much alive.

A pedestrian trying to cross the road in Hong Kong yesterday

OFF THE RAILS

By our business reporter Pete Spurrier

Champagne flowed freely at the Stock Exchange on Monday on the occasion of Hong Kong’s biggest IPO yet. The initial offering in Grey Metal Railings (HK) Ltd. was oversubscribed 17 times — coincidentally the same number of sooty fences this reporter had to climb over to get anywhere near the building.

“This is a testament to the strong demand for our product,” announced the company’s beaming CEO, Mr Frankly Irksome, clinking champagne flutes with a bevy of well-fed well-wishers. “The HKSAR Government is of course our only customer, but their appetite for our railings is apparently insatiable, and so we predict a rosy future for profits.”

The CEO went on to describe the secret behind his success. “It has been made known to us that the government has allocated 38 sections of metal railing for every citizen. The only question for us is where we put them. Of course, that’s where the fun comes in.”

Onlookers laughed as Mr Irksome recalled some of the crazy places his colleagues had blighted with irritating barriers.

“We’ve become experts at stopping people getting where they want to go in the urban area. But one of our favourite operations was on Cheung Chau, where we managed to install three parallel rows of fencing between a coastal footpath and the beach.

“We’ve done the same thing at Fenwick Pier in Wanchai, and successfully prevented sightseers from enjoying the harbour. But we’ve also extended our remit by placing railings along the length of pedestrianized roads and paths, particularly in Sheung Wan and Mid-Levels, that have never seen traffic!

“Elderly residents of these streets have to walk miles out of their way to cross the road, and frequently have to climb awkward footbridges in hot weather. It’s all part of our commitment to the Fitness in the Community scheme.

“We’ve also benefited from other helpful support schemes, such as the Offensively Low-Quality Materials Fund, the Campaign to Give Right of Way to Expensive Cars, and the Replace Granite Steps with Scraped Cement Initiative.”

Members of the construction industry and roads lobby gave a hearty round of applause and moved off in the direction of the buffet table. (more…)

To Victoria Road in leafy Pokfulam, with a dozen members of the Royal Asiatic Society’s heritage volunteers group, to investigate an overgrown compound of white buildings stretching down the hillside towards the harbour. These abandoned buildings have no name, and no street number. What are they?

The answer may come as a surprise even to people who live nearby. In 1967, Hong Kong was seized by a burst of pro-Mao agitation as a knock-on effect of the Cultural Revolution taking place over the border. Chanting rioters confronted the police and picketed the gates of Government House, bombs were planted on the streets, and transport networks were paralyzed. Fearing chaos, and even invasion by China, the colonial government went on the offensive. The Hong Kong police force’s Special Branch (the unit responsible for gathering intelligence) rounded up prominent leftists, and these buildings were used as a secret detention centre for them. Choi Wei-hung, the secretary of the Chinese Reform Association, was incarcerated in a tiny cell here for 18 months. (more…)

Tam Kung

Thanks to ULN at the insightful blog Chinayouren for his review of Chinese Gods:

… in terms of surprises, this book delivers from the preface. First, you discover it was actually written and self-published by Chamberlain 30 years ago, inspired by a series of painted glass figures he collected from local markets. It goes on to describe an unusual interview in Bangkok with British mystical writer John Blofeld, a reference in Asian religions, who agreed to give the book a prologue in articulo mortis. And then suddenly, before you realize it, you are swimming in the thick soup of China’s beliefs, following the author in his daring quest to make sense of all the Gods.

Most books I have seen about Chinese religions are centred on the three main systems: Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism, often giving an interpretation of present behaviours in the light of the teachings of the sages. From the outset, this book is radically different: it holds that, for the majority of the Chinese, there has never been more than one unnamed religion,  which absorbed all the other masters and deities — including, in some extreme cases, Jesus Christ and Muhammad (!). Based on this premise, the author explores the main aspects of this religion, analyzing the ways in which it created its Gods, and explaining these Gods as a projection of the Chinese society rather than the opposite.

Having lived in Hong Kong for a long time I thought I had a reasonable understanding of Chinese culture, but reading Jonathan Chamberlain’s book showed me how little I know. Below we print an excerpt.

譚公 Tam Kung: The Boy God

At the end of the praya of Coloane Town in Macau there is a small temple to Tam Kung. Inside, there is a rib from a whale to which some­one has added a number of small wooden carvings, transforming it into a replica of a dragon boat. Whale bones are also very much in evidence at a temple to Hou Wang (侯王) in Tai O, on the southern tip of Lantau Island, Hong Kong. This temple is delightfully sited on a tongue of land almost entirely surrounded by water. The two Gods honoured by these temples are intimately connected for they died within seconds of each other just over 700 years ago.

In 1276 Kublai Khan’s Mongol troops swept south of the Yangtze River and took Hangchou, capital of the southern Sung dynasty. They captured the emperor – no more than a boy – and took him to Peking. The emperor’s younger brothers managed to escape and they fled south. The next eldest was invested with the mantle of Son of Heaven and became the focus of Sung resistance to the invaders. The speed of the Mongol advance bogged down, literally, in the rice country of the south but they remained irresistible, continuing to force their way south. The new emperor died and the mantle fell on the youngest of the brothers – an eight-year-old child. Finally, in 1278 or 1279 (accounts vary), what little remained of the Sung court found themselves on a rocky island off Kwangtung province surrounded by the Mongols. There was no hope of escape. One of the chief ministers took the young boy on his shoulders and leapt off a cliff. Both drowned, but death was honourable.

Such are the bare facts around which a rather more elaborate story has been strung. According to this, the boy emperor arrived in Hongkong harbour with an imperial fleet of junks carrying some 3000 soldiers, retainers and ministers. They landed on Kowloon peninsula roughly where Kai Tak airport now is. They were met by the villagers of the place whose headman – one Tam Kung – welcomed them and did their best to provision them. The emperor built a house on a small hill overlooking what is now Kowloon City. They did not stay long but sailed across the Pearl River estuary to Heungshan, where rice was more plentiful. Shortly after this the Mongol fleet caught up with them. The two fleets clashed and the Sung fleet was scattered and destroyed. Lo So Fu, the chief minister, ordered his wife and daughter to drown themselves while he took the emperor on his shoulders and jumped into the water. (more…)