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 [...]
Lena Sin, one half of the team behind How to Hong Kong, tells us how their illustrated book came about... The idea for How to Hong Kong sprung from my husband’s mind, not mine. Though it would become something of an obsession for me, I was steadfastly against it at the beginning. “I think you should write a book about [...]
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 [...]
I was pleased to be interviewed about local book publishing by Elaine Yau of the South China Morning Post. We held the interview in the Blacksmith office in Fo Tan and then went to the roof of the industrial building next door for a fun photo shoot by Xiaomei Chen (who has some great photo essays on her website). "Hong [...]
On the evening of Wednesday January 18th, you're invited to Bookazine's first "Meet the Authors" session in Prince's Building, Central. Among the writers present will be Peter Mann with his new memoir Sheriff of Wan Chai. Wine will be served and stories will be told. Full details in the evite above. Hope to see you there!
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 [...]
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 2016 New book: How to Hong Kong How to Hong Kong: An illustrated travel journalby Lena Sin and Nicholas Tay In this joyful travel sketchbook, Hong Kong is captured through the [...]
In 1976, Peter Mann left a gloomy England for the last corner of the British empire: Hong Kong. As a police inspector, he commanded a sub-unit and led a district vice squad in Kowloon, before joining the colonial government’s Administrative Service and working in the fields of transport, housing, security, environment and tourism. He also served as District Officer for [...]
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 [...]
The Umbrella Movement of 2014 put Hong Kong on the map and elevated the city to a model for pro-democracy campaigns across the globe. Umbrellas in Bloom is the first book in English to chronicle this history-making event, written by a Hong Kong-born author based on his firsthand account at the main protest sites. Jason Y. Ng will talk about [...]
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 2016 New book: Sheriff of Wan Chai Sheriff of Wan Chai: How an Englishman helped govern Hong Kong in its last decades as a British colony by Peter MannIn 1976, Peter Mann [...]
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 [...]
Fred Schneiter, author of The Taste of Old Hong Kong, has many food-related tales to tell from his 30 years on the China coast… THE BEST RIBS IN TOWN One of the most momentous events in the history of Hong Kong occurred in 1984 when British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher called on Beijing to discuss the 1997 expiration of Britain’s [...]
These days Chris Thrall is a successful author. But it wasn't always so. In the 1990s he left the Royal Marines to find his fortune in Hong Kong, but instead found himself homeless and hooked on crystal methamphetamine. In a downward spiral, he also began working for a triad society as a doorman in one of their nightclubs in Wan [...]