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Old Shanghai, the paradise of adventurers

Book Cover, Shanghai, the paradise of adventurers — Book Cover

Old Shanghai is often associated with opium, prostitution and young western men seeking adventure. The police forces, army and other administration clearly took many of them to the Shanghai shore, with a new life in a vibrant city. I have written about several books illustrating the high life of Old Shanghai including Ralph Shaw’s Sin City, John Pal’s Shanghai Saga and the ultimate nightlife guide to Old Shanghai, Night Lights, tael Lights. One of the most famous is probably “Shanghai, the paradise of adventurers” by “GE Miller (Pseudonym)”. The book is really difficult to find as it was only printed for a short time. Reference to it can be found on Google books but the actual content is not available. It was translated in Chinese as 上海, 冒險家的樂園 and apparently still printed. It took me quite a bit of research to get my hand on this original 1937 copy.

The book starts with some background information about Shanghai and the concessions. One of the most interesting point is explaining the “shit” system where Shanghailanders once having established some credibility would not have to pay any service on the spot, instead signing a piece of paper, a “chit” with the amount collected on a later basis. Extraterritoriality protected the foreign residents, so some just never paid the bills and the whole city lived on credit. A whole section of the book also details how it was possible to get a fake passport to enjoy extraterritoriality right.

The main content is a series of portraits of shady characters, dubious, mysterious, mischievous and sometimes plain weird. The Spanish consul of the time is definitely a target as the book claims his great need of alcohol and Russian prostitutes, as well as total incompetency as a Société des Nations envoy in Manchouria, trying to assess whether Japanese invasion was justified… from the Japanese ministry of information office. It is very clear that the author used the book for some form of revenge on him. Similarly, the book has a strong anti religion theme, accusing Spanish priest of running gambling establishments as well as being very hard on missionaries. A full section is dedicated to Hungarian master of life falsification Lincoln Trebitsch. Although some parts of the book are difficult to believe if not totally wrong, the reading is very enjoyable. Characters in the book even remind me of real life characters of today’s Shanghai , still sometimes a paradise for questionable characters.

The book was written by GE Miller (pseudonym) who is self described as a diplomat. It did not take a long time for Shanghailanders to unmask the mysterious writer as Mauricio Fresco, the Mexican Honorary Consul. As pointed out by Robert Bickers in Empire Made Me, “The position had long been deeply implicated in the large-scale organized gambling in the city of the 1920″, Further more “accusing the SMP [Shanghai Municipal Police] in print, and without evidence, of granting ‘full protection’ to British opium smugglers was a representative indiscretion”. “Fresco left hurriedly when his identity was revealed” in 1937, soon after publication of the book, and never returned. However, his book is still one of those that helped creating the myth of Old Shanghai.

For a more recent book about Old Shanghai underworld, I recommend Paul French’s “City of devils, a Shanghai Noir”.

Les Confins du Yunnan

“Territoires et populations des confins du Yunnan” is a book I bought in an antique market a couple of years ago. Published in 1931 by French Beijing-based Henri Vetch company, it was actually printed by the Commercial Press in Shanghai. The author Joseph Siguret was also the French Consul from 1926 to 1953 in Beijing and later in Taipei. For this book, he was mostly a translator, as the original was published in Chinese with the support of the Guo Ming Tang a few years before. The original book (云南边地问题研究）was created by Long Yun 龙云, the then governor of the province.

The book is made from travelers notes, going to remote areas of Yunnan. France had strong interest in Yunnan due to the proximity of Tonkin ( part of French Indochina, today North of Vietnam), so having a French translation is not that surprising. As described in posts “Barney, Journals of Henry Virden Bernard” and “Gare du Sud Kunming” taking the train from Hanoi to YunnanFu (today Kunming), was the fastest way to reach Yunan. Since I was traveling to LiJiang, one of the most famous parts of Yunnan, I took this book with me to read it at those scenic places.

Air travel and mass tourism have changed Lijiang a lot, but the city was already of high importance in the 1930’s. “Li-Kiang” was a sub-prefecture, the commercial center of the whole North-West Yunnan. It was the place were Tibetan products were brought down from then mountains, the place where mountains minority would meet Chinese civilization. The tiger snow mountain is also mentioned, its beauty being as attractive to the author as it is to tourists today.

What really made the trip fantastic was our host and guide Lao Xu. He drove us around for three days, telling the story of his province and taking us to remote places. One of the first foreigner to live in the area was Dr Joseph Rock, an American who studied flora in Yunnan from 1922 til 1949. He is mentioned in the book and Lao Xu took us to place he used to lived. Lao Xu also took us to a Buddhist monastery, meeting the Lamas and admiring the rich colors of the decoration. Beyond the beautiful Lijiang valley, we also went to the Laxi lake in the next valley from LiJiang, that is becoming the next tourist point. What was really out of the ordinary was taking us with him on a trip in the deep mountain. Going up with his friends uncle who knows all the road, we went up to a village where he had never been and where I was the second foreigner ever to come (after somebody from UNESCO a few years ago). The small Yi village hanging near the top of the mountain is so remote that there is no paved road to go up. Being up there felt like a time travel, just like the description of minority people in the 1931 book. Somehow, meeting the old lady in the picture and been invited to her home was really magical.

Today’s Lijiang changed a lot compared with the one described in the book, with millions of tourists and the old town turned into a massive shopping center (with a surprisingly large number of African drums for sale). However, changes has not gone very far from the city yet and remote places like this village still exist. Probably for not so long.

Barney, Journals of Harry Virden Bernard

I have now read quite a number of little known or privately published books written by Old Shanghailanders. Taken away from a past that seemed a lot of fun and was never to be reached again, many of them told their story in their old age. A few of them include Shanghai Saga by John Pal, Stateless in Shanghai by Liliane Willens, Sin City by Ralph Shaw and others that I never had time to write about. Memoirs often a direct account of Old Shanghai, recreating the atmostphere behind the facts, and often contains many informations that can be crossed reference. I recently ran into one that was informative, a good read and leading to finding new facts about Old Shanghai.

Like many of today’s expatriates, Harry Virden Bernard came to Shanghai sent by a company wanting to expend its business i

The Old Shanghai A-Z

Paul French has long been one of the known writer and researcher on today’s China. Besides his business writing and advisory, he is clearly fascinated by Old Shanghai and the Republican period, having published several books on the topic including Carl Crow’s biography “A tough old China hand”. His blog www.chinarhyming.com has numerous followers, he is also a regular speaker of the Shanghai Literary festival. One of his latest published book is “The Old Shanghai A-Z”.

Today’s Shanghai fast growth creates many direction problems, with roads and motorways being built where only fields existed a few months before. New districts in Xing Pu and Minhang districts as well as Pudong are a constant puzzle for taxi drivers. Places far away or unheard of a few years ago have transformed into concrete jungle and then been infused with life thanks to the arrival of a new shopping center or entertainment area. When I first arrived in Shanghai in 1998, few people had thought about going out in places like GuBei, South Bund or Pudong. The Gubei Bar Street, Coold Docks and Thumb Plaza are now thriving places for entertainment. The rapid development of Old Shanghai was very similar to today’s one. As an example, a battle was fought in 1854 on an empty muddy plain that is now People Square. Similarly the new Shanghai General hospital was built in a “Very far area” on the other side of Suzhou Creek. I really like the American Express guide for “Sightseeing in and around Shanghai”, mentioning SheShan as a 1 to 2 days trip, when it is now a stop on the Shanghai Metro line Number 9.

Just like orientation in today’s Shanghai, this creates a problem in tracing adresses in Old Shanghai. Furthermore, political changes have resulted in several changes of the street names over the year. Names in English and French of the International Settlements have been changed to Chinese names. Sometimes the original Chinese name translated from the foreign one was kept (like Sinan Lu, or GaoAn Lu), or translating the original meaning (like ZhongHua lu and Renmin Lu, the former “Boulevard des deux Républiques). Most often a brand new has been introduced, to follow the political fashion of the time. This is the case of Huai Hai lu (the battle between Communists and Nationalists) or Yannan lu (the hideout of Mao Ze Dong in the 1930’s). In any case, finding the current location of an old Shanghai address is often not easy, this is where Paul French new book is just what was needed.

French Concession logo

Although lists of Old Shanghai streets existed, I had never seen a complete one before. Paul French researched every single streets of the International Settlement, the extra territorial road and the French Concession. Not only did he list them along with the matching current name, but most importantly he wrote an article about every one of them. As in previous books from French, this is the result of an extremely thorough research, that has already become an anchor for any Old Shanghai researcher. This is surely not one to reads from beginning to the end, but an extraordinary resource for research. To add to it, French also used part of his own collection of Old documents and photographs to illustrate the book. The only point I have found missing was a picture of the French Concession logo that would go next to the flag of the International Settlement. It seems that French forgot about the French. In any case, Shanghai A-Z makes a great Christmas gift for anybody interested in Old Shanghai.

Robert Nield, The China Coast

With the summer coming and a little less traveling, I finally have to actually read the books I picked up during the Shanghai Literary Festival in last March. One of the most interesting event was the literary lunch with Robert Nield. As with all Old Shanghai related event, it attracted the usual crowd of Shanghai history enthusiasts and authors. I always enjoy is these events as they take me away from business questions and activities to get on a time travel for a few hours. The presentation was excellent as well as lunch and I was looking forward to read the actual book.

Robert Nield’s approach is quite similar to mine. He is not a cleric or a professional historian but a retired businessman who got interested in the topic of Asia colonial history. Readers are assumed to know little about the topic and that makes the book a very easy read. At the same time, the author has done in-depth research that make it really credible from an historical point of view. The aim of the author is to visit every single treaty ports in China, but the current book focuses on history of the trade on the China Coast before creation of the treaty ports, as well as Hong Kong and the 5 original ports (Canton, Xiamen, Fuzhou, Ningbo and Shanghai).

The first part of the book is focused on the pre-treaty port period, which has been much less studied than later treaty ports time, making the book even more interesting. Since Robert Nield is a business man, his point of view is oriented toward an economic view of history that is truly relevant to this case. The same period was studied from a different angle in Foreign Mud by Maurice Collis. However, The China Coast starts from a much earlier period describing the unsuccessful attempts from Portuguese, Spaniards, Dutch and British to be recognised as trading partner by China. Products such as tea, silk and porcelain (also called China!) were in the highest demand in Europe. Trade had been going on between Europe and China for centuries and traders were in the center of the political process that led to the Opium Wars and the opening of Treaty ports. Through is position in Hong Kong, Robert Nield also had access to archives of the early trading companies and banks that were also part of the colonial process, including HSBC, Jardine & Matheson and Butterfield & Swire giving us information and illustration that was previously very difficult to find.

The second part of the book is focused on the history of the treaty port, that received each a chapter of equal length. This leaves very little space for well documented places such as Shanghai and Hong Kong, but the challenge was to find enough information about the other ports, in particular Foochow (today Fuzhou) and Ningbo. A lot of time and effort has been spent to find information about these smaller ports that never really reached a large size. Fuzhou was a place for shipping tea, but did not really succeed in it for a long time. Ningbo specialized in religious evangelists as trade was also not the best due to the competition of Shanghai and better places like Hangzhou. One of the most interesting part of the book is surely about Xiamen and Kulangsoo (Gu Lan Yu island today). Surprisingly, Kulangsoo international settlement and Xiamen British Concession were too separate entities. Trade in Xiamen was never really great due to the impoverished population of the hinterland but the scenery and location are some of the best in China and foreigners there enjoyed a great life. Ultimately, the port specialised in shipping people as Chinese coolies became in high demand after the ban of slavery in Africa, paving the way for the Chinese diaspora in Malaysia, Australia and many other locations.

The Concubine of Shanghai

We continue travelling through Old Shanghai based contemporary literature with one of the airport bookstores favorite, Hong Ying, The Concubine of Shanghai. To be honest, Hong Ying “K: The Art of Love” is probably more famous, but the title of this one was the attraction point. Although the book have been acclaimed and makes an excellent read, I have mixed feelings about it.

The original Chinese title was “上海王”, translating as “Shanghai Lord” that is probably more accurate, though surely less alluring from a marketing point of view. The main character is Cassia, a sixteen years old girl from Pudong sold to Madame Emerald, the owner of a Puxi high-class brothel located in the Chinese city, on the hedge of the French Concession. Too tall, with too big feet and curves for the fashion of the time, the girl is destined to remain a servant, when others become popular sing song girls. Her fate changes when she become the favorite girl of the leader of one of the main Shanghai secret societies. After his tragic death, Cassia falls back into poverty. She only comes back to Shanghai a few years later, leading a local opera band and rise to stardom in Shanghai. She is still involved with the underworld and manage through these connections to be one of its informal leaders.

The story of Cassia is the one of a lady struggling through life to rise to the top through her intelligence, hard work and persistence. Asia’s women are too often seen as submissive, but Cassia is a true Shanghai lady impersonating the legendary spirit and reputation of the city’s women. Although Cassia’s life in set in the 1930’s, her story and attitude reminds me of several women friend who have managed to reach excellent business positions through hard work business sense. The book is not only about business and social achievement, but also about love and sexuality. Although modest by western standard, erotic scenes are numerous in the book and Cassia’s enjoyment of sex is very clear. In a country where sex was a taboo for many centuries, it must have been quite shocking for many readers. The book is really good literature, unfortunately research on real Shanghai history is seriously lacking.

Border Chinese City with French Concession

First of all, the main location of book first part is a brothel located on the border line between the Chinese city and the French Concession. There is even a scene where characters entering from the Chinese city are able to escape through the back door to the French concession. Unfortunately, at that time the real Shanghai Chinese city was surrounded by the City Wall and moated (see picture left). This was all replaced later by a large Boulevard (today Ren Min lu and Zhong Hua lu). In a similar way, a large part takes place in a hotel located next to the Garden Bridge (or WaiBaiDu Chao) that could be the Astor House hotel. The name of the hotel is surely not the right one, and at the contrary to the book state this hotel was surely not owned or run by Chinese at that time.
Some of the events in the book are also clearly picked from real people life. For example, Cassia’s poverty is caused by a parent’s death and when she has become a star she cause back to her Pudong’s origin, creating a monument for her long deceased parents and giving out charity to build a children’s school. This is strongly inspired by part of Du Yue Sheng’s life, who actually became the real Lord of Shanghai’s underworld. In another chapter, 1926 is described as the 5th year of the Republic… when it was clearly the 15th (this may be a translation mistake).

Finally, there is very little about real Old Shanghai feeling in the book. Western Old Shanghai novels like “The Master of Rain” or “Last seen in Shanghai” tend to focus on historical details while missing filling and real people’s life. At the contrary “The Concubine of Shanghai” is high on feelings and emotion, but historical research seems to have been done in 10 minutes, reading a two page leaflet for a local tour company. It is really a pity that attention to actual details (including in the translation) has been lacking so much, as it destroys most of its credit as a historical novel.

Shanghai Aerotropolis

It has been a few weeks since I wrote the last Shanghailander.net post, a delay very much caused by the number of Air Miles I flew in the last weeks. Taking me away from my favorite city and its history, I found myself confronted with its future. This post about New Shanghai if not future Shanghai.

“Aerotropolis, the way we’ll live next” is a book I picked in Bangkok airport a few weeks ago and reading it has been fascinating since. My interest in it surely resonates with my background in transport studies (many years ago now) as well as my recent peak in airmiles flown. The basic theory of John D. Kasarda (the wisdom behind the book) is that cities are drawn around airports because of the need of speed and connectivity. Greg Lindsay (who actually wrote the book) uses many examples of such cities that have been built (mostly in the USA) or are being built (mostly in Asia) around airports.

The aerotropolis seems to be the answer to every problem from global climate change (even demonstrating that flying food around the World is more eco-friendly than growing it locally), to over population (as everybody will be so happy to live in these new mecca of speed and efficiency). Similarly, air transport will fuel the economy of the instant age, as internet purchase rapidly inflate the need for small parcels delivered worldwide as fast as possible. In a same way, facebook and social network will push people to connect face-to-face, using airplanes to bring the gap between continents. The pair finds direct application of their theory in Asia, for example in Singapore that is labelled as the typical aerotropolis. They also find in Bangkok success for passenger traffic, i.e. tourists. At the same time, its failure to create the surrounding aerotropolis environment is also an example of how not to create an aerotropolis from Kasarda’s point of view.

The nearest example to us is surely the new Hong Qiao area. Creating the Hong Qiao 2 terminal, combined with highspeed railway links and the land clearing miles around was definitely inspired by Kasarda’s theories. Just seeing the change in what used to be Puxi’s back waters transformed into the new hot development area is fascinating. Logistics companies, manufacturing and office complexes are all moving Westwards, attracted by this new magnet of competitiveness. Hotels, serviced apartments and residential areas are sure to follow, as all these people will need accommodation short or long term. In that sense, the aerotropolis is just working the way Kasarda predicted it. People are attracted by the airport and its economic opportunities… but whether it is really where people want to live is a different story. This probably the limit to the theory (see The Guardian review of the same book) as living in the aerotropolis seems more like living in Fritz Lang’s Metropolis than in new found paradise.

This is all good for Old Shanghai anyway. As the pressure to create new offices and residential real estate moves form the city center to the peripheral areas, it is likely that the destruction of our beloved city will slow down. Once money made, the winners of this new game will surely move to nicer areas like the Bund or the old French Concession. By contributing to their gentrification, they will hopefully want to protect their new found little paradise and help keeping part of Old Shanghai intact.

Shanghai Saga, John Pal

John Pal arrived in Shanghai from the UK to be employed by the Imperial Customs in 1920. At that time customs administration was delegated to foreigners, initially under the control of Sir Robert Hart. All of the customs officers were foreigners mostly British but also French, Italians, Scandinavians and Japanese. John Pal’s experience of the customs services organisation and his daily life make the book a really interesting read. China had only a 5% duty for import AND export thus, “Any Tom, Dick or Harry could afford to drink the finest wines and puff the choicest of imported cigards” and “liquor was so cheap that rum runners came from the United States” to buy liquor in Shanghai to export it back to the USA. At the same time, Shanghai saw a massive smuggling activity, mostly for opium and other drugs. John Pal certainly gives a first had account on trying to stop smuggling “continually up against some of the world’s trickiest smugglers”. “Ships from certain countries, or port of call, were always suspected of bringing narcotics” including Vladivostock and Haiphong in French IndoChina (today Vietnam). In his duty, John Pal also worked on the export side, inspecting ships departing and making sure that only the declared goods were loaded in.

John Pal left the customs administration in 1927, as China was taking back control of its administration… but his story does not stop here. He then became a reporter for the Shanghai Times, being invited to many parties and official celebrations. Each country was throwing parties for national days of celebration and other opportunities. “If a man cared to, he could live on the free handouts from Shanghai’s annual celebration – and live high. The numerous nationals of our city magnified their celebrative days into grandiose fireworks and champagne binges.” This does not seem so different from today permanent corporate and national parties occupying a lot of people’s social agenda. He also took a job as kernel manager for the French Canidrome, getting involved in the grey world of gambling in Shanghai. John Pal left Shanghai in 1939 as the War in Europe seemed inevitable and he could see how Japan would turn on Shanghai. I don’t think he lived long enough to see the new Shanghai as it is today. I am sure he would be amazed of the difference between Old Shanghai and the city nowadays but also of some the striking similarities. Somehow Shanghai spirit just never changed.

Shanghailanders leaving the city in the late 1930’s and 1940’s often left a home that they could never return to. Exiled from their Shanghai motherland, they recreated a life in other places, back in their original home country or moving on to new places like the USA and Australia. Life in Shanghai had such a strong mark on them that they could never forger the incredible city they left. Many wrote memoirs, creating books that were a true picture of Shanghai life, or sometimes mere fiction mixed with a few true facts. Besides Shanghai Saga, I also reviewed Sin City from North China Daily News reporter Ralph Shaw in an earlier post. It turned out that both Brits were probably competitors.

Shanghai Saga is an excellent source for information about Old Shanghai, although it was very rare and difficult to find. The book has been reprinted by Earnshaw books. More details in post “Shanghai Saga republished“.

Emily Hahn, The Soong Sisters

The Soong family was clearly the most influential family of Shanghai in the Republican period. Their legend is still felt in many places in Shanghai, bringing with them as many stories real or imaginary. I have read books about them before, but Emily Hahn’s “The Soong Sisters” is the most personal account anyone can find about these three ladies that shaped China.

The book was written in 1941, when the Japanese army had already invaded a large share of China and Chiang Kai Shek government had been forced to move from Nanjing to Hangkow (today’s Wuhan) and later to the distant Sichuan city of Chongqing. The whole government was moved westward, along with foreign representatives and friends as well as any factories that could be transported. Written while the city was being bombed by Japanese planes, the book clearly had a political message trying to make the Chinese governement more personnable and appealing to the full support of Western Countries, in particular the USA. Besides the political aspect, “The Soong Sisters” is also the best documented book about the life of the family. Emily Hahn turbulent lifestyle allowed her to get very close to the Soong family through her love relationship with Chinese poet and publisher Shao Xunmei, which is well documented in “Tara Grescoe’s Shanghai Grand“. Knowing the Soong Sisters personally allowed her to give a great pictures of their personality and oppositions.

Charlie Soong incredible journey to the USA and his education there made him a very singular character in early 20th century China. Although not a Shanghainese, the open city was the only place he could live in China when he came back, taking a house in Nanshi (now part of Huang Pu district). He was a precious aid to Dr Sun Yat Sen, using his bible printing company as a cover for printing political material for the future leader of the Chinese revolution. Giving his daughters an education was already quite a shock for the time, but the top of it was sending them for schooling in the US.

The three sisters attended McTyeire School for Girls in Shanghai (in today Changning district), and graduated from Wesleyan College in Macon, Georgia, United States. They came back transformed, converted to ideas unknown in China, in particular the will to choose their own destiny. Soong Qinling was the first woman to ride a bicycle in Shanghai, before fleeing the family home to get married with Dr Sun Yat Sen. Soong Ailin married Dr HH Kung, who became the finance minister of China for the Kuomintang government, replacing TV Soong (one of the brothers of the Soong sisters) in 1933. Soong Mailing, probably the most well known, got married with Chiang Kai Shek in 1927 in the Majestic Hotel (on today’s Nanjing Xi Lu). She became mostly known as Mme Chiang Kai Shek, a political figure of Republican China.

Emily Hahn’s “The Soong Sister” is a fascinating book giving close contact with these three ladies with an incredible destiny. Definitely a must read for anybody interested in old Shanghai. For details about Emily Hahn’s life, see post “Tara Grescoe’s Shanghai Grand“.

French view on Man’s Fate

Old Shanghai was an inspiration for writers, some of them never having actually set foot in the city. The most famous book is probably 1933’s Andre Malraux “La condition humaine”, translated as Man’s fate in English. My friend Paul French will be giving a speech about it next week (see link to the event’s webpage), giving me an opportunity for a post on this book.

Man’s Fate takes place in 1927, during the Northern Expedition when the Kuomintang (nationalist party) armies along with their allies re-conquer the main part of China. After 1911’s revolution, the central government in Beijing quickly lost all control of the Chinese territories when several provincial lords took over their provincial armies and started to conquer their neighbours. Nationalist and Communist parties had been allied, a number of Russian advisors helping the Kuomintang. At the same time, Russian advisors where also helping the communist party to spread the revolution among the workers population in the large cities in particular Wuchang (South of today’s Wuhan) and Shanghai. In 1927, while the armies of the Northern Expedition where approaching, the Communist started massive strikes to try and take over the city. The Kuomintang used gangsters to break the strikes and take back the city. Many of the communist leaders were killed on the current site of the Longhua Cemetery. From that point on, Nationalists and Communists started to fight the civil war.

The novel takes place against this background, as the main character wants to assassinate Chiang Kai Shek to stop him taking over Shanghai. All characters are linked to him and this action. Andre Malraux never actually came to Shanghai, and the novel lacks in substance about the city, describing as hot and humid in March which is most often not the case. As there is little attention for the city itself, the novel is centered on the characters, some of them being inspired by real historic people. For example, Kyo who leads the uprising of the communist forces in Shanghai is probably inspired by Zhou Enlai who was actually leading the communist party and the strikes in Shanghai at that time. Living in the French Concession, he nearly escaped being captured by the French police at one point before becoming the long serving prime minister of China under Mao Zedong. Since Zhou Enlai studied in Paris in the 1920’s, it is even possible that him and Malraux actually met in the French capital. The other character clearly inspired by a real person was Vologuine, the Russian advisor to the communist who in real life was Mikhail Borodin, a soviet agent who helped both the Kuomintang and the Chinese communist party in the 1920’s. It is clear that Borodin helped Zhou Enlai and the party for the Shanghai uprising. Finally, the director of the French Chamber of commerce, called Ferral in the book, actually lived in the French Concession. The former residence of the director is now the Shanghai art & craft museum.

Man’s fate is not so much about Shanghai as about the fate of all the characters. It was much acclaimed when published and received the Goncourt Price, the highest price in French literature, in 1933.