Come to the Hong Kong Maritime Museum at 4.00pm on Saturday February 24 and hear Patricia O'Sullivan tell the little-known story of the Hong Kong Naval Dockyard Police Force. The history of the force doesn’t suffer so much from lost documentation as from the lack of any in the first place. At some point in the 1850s it emerged by [...]
Glenn Leibowitz is the host of Write With Impact. In his latest podcast he interviews former American diplomat Syd Goldsmith, author of Hong Kong on the Brink, a memoir of Hong Kong's brush with the Cultural Revolution in 1967. Glenn says: In our conversation, which we conducted in person in Taipei, Syd shares how, despite never considering himself a writer [...]
The Gresson Street gunfight happened in Wan Chai 100 years ago this week. Why has it been forgotten for so long? Patricia O'Sullivan has spent a decade digging out the full story for her book, Policing Hong Kong – An Irish History. Now, Stuart Heaver has written a feature about the event. A running gunfight was now played out in [...]
If it's not one royal society, it's another. Have no fear, if you missed David Leffman's talk about William Mesny at the Royal Geographical Society in Hong Kong last year, you can listen in to the talk he gave to the Royal Asiatic Society in London in December. David has been visiting China as a travel writer for 25 years, [...]
Charles Emmons' book Chinese Ghosts Revisited: A Study of Paranormal Beliefs and Experiences came out just before Hallowe'en last year, and hopefully many people have enjoyed finding a spooky read in their Christmas stockings. It has now been reviewed by New Dawn magazine. Chinese Ghosts Revisited holds the unique position of being the only reference work comparing the supernatural and [...]
Share If you cannot view this email, please Click Here to view an online version. Unsubscribe/Update Profile | Share With Friends | Subscribe Blacksmith Books, Hong Kong Newsletter November 2017 New book: Other Voices, Other Eyes Other Voices, Other Eyes: Expatriate Lives in Hong Kong by David NunanThe stories of expats in Hong Kong – the most dynamic, dramatic and [...]
In 1976, Peter Mann left England for Hong Kong. As a police inspector, he commanded a sub-unit and led a district vice squad in Kowloon before joining the colonial government. He then served as district officer for Wan Chai. From raids on gambling dens to organising governors’ visits, his work involved him in all levels of Hong Kong society. Come [...]
Share If you cannot view this email, please Click Here to view an online version. Unsubscribe/Update Profile | Share With Friends | Subscribe Blacksmith Books, Hong Kong NewsletterNovember 2017 New book: The Dictionary of the Asian Language The Dictionary of the Asian Languageby Todd Crowell, with cartoons by MingOf course there is no single Asian language. But plenty of vogue [...]
Join us for the sixth edition of "Meet the Authors" at Bookazine! Don't miss the chance to talk to two great writers: John Saeki, author of a colourful and alternative portrait of Hong Kong in the 1950s, The Tiger Hunters of Tai O; and Alice Poon, author of a historical novel about Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang, The Green Phoenix. When: Wednesday [...]
Under-resourced and ill-prepared, three constables at the squalid Police Station on Cheung Chau stood no chance against a ruthless pirate gang in 1912. Five more policemen lost their lives in a bloodbath in Wan Chai that might have been averted. But travel forward just a little and the outcome at a hold-up in Canton Road is very different. These three [...]
Share If you cannot view this email, please Click Here to view an online version. Unsubscribe/Update Profile | Share With Friends | Subscribe Blacksmith Books, Hong Kong Newsletter October 2017 Chinese Ghosts Revisited Chinese Ghosts Revisited: A Study of Paranormal Beliefs and Experiences by Charles Emmons Do the Hong Kong Chinese experience ghosts, hauntings, spirit mediumship, ESP and other paranormal [...]
Eating Smoke author Chris Thrall is the subject of a fascinating new podcast on BFBS, the British Forces Broadcasting Service. 'Coming Home: Chris Thrall' is a feature-length story about addiction, redemption and recovery chronicling Royal Marine Chris Thrall's journey from Royal Marine Commando to a crystal meth addicted gang member of the notorious Hong Kong Triads. Chris joined the Royal [...]
Author John Saeki talks us through the process of writing his new novel, The Tiger Hunters of Tai O. The Tiger Hunters of Tai O came into existence as a direct result of hiking on Lantau island. Hikes are a great way of putting yourself in touch with places that have resisted change over the decades. You can walk off [...]
Come and hear author David Leffman talk about the “Mercenary Mandarin” at the Royal Geographical Society next week (Wednesday September 20th, 6.30pm, in Central, Hong Kong). In his talk, Leffman covers the extraordinary life of Victorian adventurer William Mesny, who spent most of his adult life in China, becoming a smuggler, a prisoner of the Taiping rebels, an arms dealer [...]
Press release PEN HONG KONG PUBLISHES BOOK TO MARK 20TH ANNIVERSARY OF HANDOVER — BRINGS TOGETHER CITY’S WRITERS AND ARTISTS TO DEFEND FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION Hong Kong 20/20: Reflections on a borrowed place (Blacksmith Books, July 2017) HONG KONG — To mark the 20th anniversary of the handover of Hong Kong from Great Britain to China, PEN Hong Kong presents [...]
Come and meet seven Hong Kong authors -- Rachel Cartland, Larry Feign, Feng Chi-shun, Peter Mann, Jason Ng, Graham Reels and Guy Shirra -- as they celebrate, discuss and debate the 20 years that have passed since Hong Kong's handover to China in 1997. Thursday June 15, 6pm-7.30pm, at Bookazine in Prince's Building, Central. Free entry, and wine will be [...]
Syd Goldsmith’s first taste of China’s Cultural Revolution is blood on his tongue. It’s 1967. Hong Kong is simmering, plagued by communist-led riots and strikes, crippled transport, punishing water-rationing, takeover threats from Beijing and roadside bombs. And Syd — the only Caucasian Foreign Service Officer at the American Consulate General who speaks Cantonese — is made responsible for reporting and [...]
Fifty years ago today, Syd Goldsmith was almost beaten to death by an angry mob in Hong Kong. On May 11, 1967, amid rumours of unrest at a factory, Syd, then a young US diplomat on his first offshore posting, was sent out into the streets to get a first-hand look. He quickly found himself in deep trouble amid the [...]