Attention, readers of previous titles by Hong Kong writer David T. K. Wong: Volume 4 of his memoirs has just been published. In other news, Wong has been offered an honorary Doctorate of Letters by the University of East Anglia in the UK for his contributions to literature. As far as we know, he is the only Hong Kong writer [...]
Sarah Brennan is the author of the Chinese Calendar Tales series. She writes... People are always asking me “Which Chinese calendar animal am I?” So here’s a handy reference so you can work out what animal you are in the Chinese zodiac! Beside each animal is the name of the animal in beautiful Chinese calligraphy, given to me by Scotch [...]
Bestselling author Paul French returns to the Chinese capital in Destination Peking to tell 18 true stories of fascinating people who visited the city in the first half of the 20th century. From the ultra-wealthy Woolworths heiress Barbara Hutton and her husband the Russian emigré Prince Mdivani, to the poor “American girl” Mona Monteith who worked in the city as [...]
This year has been the age of book launches by Zoom! Click the video below to watch a book talk from Salvador's Coffee House, Kunming, by Colin Flahive. Flahive is the author of Great Leaps: Finding home in a changing China. In the book, and in this talk, he explains how he discovered China as a backpacker in his early [...]
China’s treaty ports were cities along its coast and on major rivers which were forcibly opened to foreign trade by the Western powers, starting from the early 19th century. The treaty port era extended from then until 1943, and during this time foreigners had a significant presence in China. This new book contains more than 700 photographs of many buildings [...]
Ahead of his appearance at the Shanghai International Literary Festival this month, Paul French shares a snippet of his new book, Destination Shanghai. He'll be presenting a session on March 23 at 4pm. How well do you know your old Shanghai sojourners? Over the decades so many foreigners – rich, poor; famous, infamous; European, American; dodgy, legit – came to Shanghai. It’s hard to [...]
Ray Hecht says: I’ll be in Shanghai on March 24th, at Garden Books, for a public reading from my novel South China Morning Blues. I’m very excited to be able to do this in Shanghai, the most epic city in China. Last year on my book tour I was able to travel to Beijing, among other cities, and of course all [...]
Fred Schneiter spent 30 years working in and around China, and came to recognise the value of keeping an open mind and learning something new every day. You’re likely to learn something too if you read this excerpt from his book, Getting Along with the Chinese. Chinese Mice Don’t Eat Cheese IN THE EARLY DAYS of our wheat food [...]
Read this excerpt from The Yunnan Cookbook by Annabel Jackson & Linda Chia -- an interview with a woman from the Wa ethnic group of the southwestern Chinese province. It's followed by a recipe for Yunnan ham with broad beans and goat cheese. The Wa Cheesemaker Lincang, Yunnan. Photo: San Lin As little as 25 years ago, the [...]
You're probably aware that Donald Trump was elected as US President yesterday. It's fair to say that reaction to this news has been mixed. But look on the bright side! He likes to read books about China. In an interview with Xinhua, the official Chinese news agency, Trump said, "I've read hundreds of books about China over the decades." "I [...]
Guidebook writer David Leffman is heading back to remote parts of Guizhou province on Tuesday, to pick up the trail of William Mesny - the British-born "Mercenary Mandarin" who became a general in the Chinese army. But before he goes, he will be giving an illustrated talk about Mesny to the Royal Asiatic Society in the Centre for Visual Arts, [...]
"This book is a record of descendants of Baghdadi Jewish merchants who settled in the Treaty Port of Shanghai in the mid-19th century," says Maisie Meyer. "They are authentic voices, allowing us a glimpse of bygone days of privilege, and the rich diversity that made the community so vibrant. It offers infinite perspectives of personalities whose lives were shaped by [...]
Dai grilled fish scented with lemongrass and fresh herbs is one of the great fish dishes of China's Yunnan province, alongside the Bai fish stew made with carp from Dali’s commanding Erhai Lake. The fish from Yunnan’s majestic lakes are generally highly prized. It is a land-locked province, and so it is unusual to find seafood and salt-water fish, but [...]
Roads and Kingdoms magazine has published an interview with Laurent Zylberman, photographer of our new book, Tibet, the Last Cry. "Our stance is that the situation in Tibet is a fixation for many foreigners who know little about it," he says. "It’s always been portrayed as a black and white situation, someplace where there is no middle road. The usual [...]
The World Policy Journal has published this wide-ranging interview with Alex Kuo, the author of My Private China. Your newest book, My Private China, is a remarkable glimpse into the vibrancy and diversity of China today. You’ve described the book as showing us, “the good, the bad, and the ugly,” of contemporary China. What was it about these negative elements [...]
Thanks to the South China Morning Post for a four-star review of My Private China! Although in recent years the amount of literature about China has grown significantly, Alex Kuo's My Private China successfully sets itself apart from the rest. As other books on China aim to discuss its economy, politics or the famous people it has produced, Kuo's collection [...]
Want some insights into the world of book publishing in Hong Kong and China? A bunch of local publishing folk, including yours truly, are quoted in an informative article in Publishing Trends. While globally powerful partnerships between Chinese publishers and international publishers may take a while to unfold, Hong Kong’s own industry still offers plenty of international exposure to authors [...]
Annelie Rozeboom's investigative book, which tries to find out what people living in Tibet really think, is reviewed at Overlooking Tibet. What sparkles in this book are the real people Rozeboom met while traveling in China, Tibet, and India. In the West, we tend to think of the Tibet issue as being black and white, but this book colors in [...]