Book review Archives - Page 4 of 5

Last seen in Shanghai

Crime novels are definitely one of my favorite literary genre, including classics as Raymond Chandler, moderns James Ellroy and contemporaries such as French author Ayerdhal. When the action takes place in a historical background, this is even more interesting. Favorites include include Boris Akunin’s “Erast Fandorin” series as well a Qiu Xiao Long “Inspector Chen” series (see link to post about “Red Mandarin dress“). It is of no surprise to the reader that my very preferred combination is a crime novel taking place in Old Shanghai. I have already written a post about “The Master of Rain” by Tom Brady. I recently found another one “Last seen in Shanghai”, by Howard Turk.

The story takes place in Shanghai in spring 1925, at the time of the May 30th incident, that saw a the British police firing on a crowd of Chinese demonstrator at the Louza station in the International Settlement (see the following link to Wikipedia’s article about May 30th movement). Since this period of time was crucial for China, it creates an excellent background for the story and the introductory scene. The main plot is focused on the murder of prime Chinese businessman Yang researched by Jake Greenberg, his old business partner. Running a casino, has an unclear past that will be revealed throughout the book (this is somewhat similar to Casablanca’s Rick). He is helped by his girlfriend Claire Turner, a reporter at the most important English newspaper in the city whose niece Jane has also been killed with Yang.

The story is quite interesting, bringing surprises along the way as well as meetings with a few famous people such as (then) undercover Shanghai communist leader Zhou En Lai. The author clearly knows about China history and integrates it into his writings. The interactions between several factions at play in China at that time are well described. The main character is an old China hand (a bit of a shadier version of Carl Crow), with quite a different attitude toward China from the main character of the “Master of Rain” and the whole foreigners-Chinese relationship is an important part of the story. The character of Claire Turner is surely inspired by Emily Hahn and other female journalists of the time. The plot is good and some of the characters have the right kind of background and behavior.

Unfortunately, the research about Shanghai itself is much thiner. It is disappointing to see that a number of historical details about the city are wrong, or just invented when they actually existed. Although right in the big picture, streetnames, locations and characters often lack precision when they claim for historical accuracy. It definitely feels like the author did not study much abouth old Shanghai itself apart from a few guidelines. Similarly, the use of some Cantonese worlds… where they should be Chinese, or even better Shanghainese does not help to make the story believable.

More importantly, the reader often feels like seeing the story from the outside, while never really being involved in it. The lack of description and scenery does not help either to become part of the story, particularly when the actual background is right the reader’s doorstep. Characters often lack depth and the pace of the book is not always well balance.Action scenes do not always feel real and atmospheric scene definitely lack depth and reality to them.

All in all, “Last Seen in Shanghai” is not bad to read but it is not the page turner that it could have been and definitely lacks depth in historical research. Although the book was published a few years ago, it does not seem to have attracted much publicity.

Foreign Mud

This is one those books that I had heard about, but that can be hard to find. A little like Sin City, Foreign Mud almost always appears in the bibliography of books about Shanghai history, but as it is published only in small quantities it is difficult to find. With a bit of luck, I found a copy in a Singapore bookstore.

“Foreign Mud, A history of the Illegal Opium Trade and the Resulting Anglo-Chinese War” is a reprint of a 1946 book. Shanghai’s history of foreign-Chinese relations always starts with the Nanjing Treaty of 1842 and George Balfour coming into town to create the British settlement in 1843. Foreign Mud deals with the period previous to the opium war and the Nanjing Treaty. The really interesting part of the book is the details about the tea trade as it was done in Canton (Guangzhou today), on the island of Shamian Dao in the 18th and beginning 19th century. Collis write beautifully about the relationship between the British traders and the Hong Merchants. Under the late Qing dinasty, China was closed to the outside world while Chinese products in particular tea and silk became very fashionable in Europe. The mostly British traders had to pay with silver, while not much could be sold in exchange to Chinese. As the demand for tea in Europe increased, the traders found a way around. The official trade was still of tea purchased in Canton following the imperial rules, but the silver required for it came from smuggling opium into China. Clippers were going up the coast, selling the “Foreign Mud” i.e. opium at various ports. The book clearly studies how the mix of greed from the British Merchants and corrupt Qing officials alike managed to develop the illegal trade. It also explain the origins of the large trading company that later dominated Shanghai trade such and Jardine & Matheson and Dent & Co.

One of the remarkable point of the Maurice Collis book is that he does not take side and describes facts very carefully and in a rather unbiased way. The book was published in 1946, when the British Empire was still fully existing, but Collis is strongly criticizing it. The way that Napier being played by the Chinese official is not far from a few modern stories I have heard. It also fascinating how little clue the late Qing Dinasty administration had about the formidable power that was coming at them. The British navy was very much advanced, but it took the influence of Jardine in London to actually approve the war. The way a country went to war with another, manipulated by a happy few for their own profit is also recalling some later parts of the XXth century history. Finally, it also show that not all the British ruling class was in favor of the opium trade in China considering it (rightly) a terrible thing. The actual motion approving the opium war passed Westminster with only 9 votes. This decision taken by a thin margin started the chain of events that led to the opening of the treaty ports and the birth of Shanghai as we know it.

400 million customers

This is another Earnshaw reprint of a classic book about Old Shanghai. “The unexpurgated story of a Shanghai baby“, “All about Shanghai and its environs” and “Tael lights” were fun to read but were mostly of interests for people in love with old Shanghai. 400 million customers is definitely of a different class, this book is a true masterpiece.

I already wrote about Carl Crow in a review of his biography by Paul French last year. Carl Crow had many years of experience in Shanghai, going all around China for his own interest as well as the development of his advertising agency. He actually invented and developed the poster calendar that are now one of the symbols of old Shanghai. He was famous supporter of China, trying to show to the international community the real intentions of Japan invading China. He spoke fluent Chinese and his pro-Chinese positions did not always please the foreign community either. He was certainly had a correct opinion as history often proved him right.

400 million customer is not just any book about China, it is a book about doing business in China published in the 1930’s. Besides being a great read, the most amazing part is that most of the points are still valid today. Some of the article seem to be straight out of a contemporary management on his country. The first chapter is about the specificity of the Chinese consumer in knowing exactly what they want (I love the story of the needles) as well not liking any change in the brands they are used to (see the part on the Hamburg horse shoes). I had a conversation with a friend selling B2B goods in today’s China who just had exactly the same experience. If they make any change to the packaging, customers complain as they are not sure if this is truly the original or not. Furthermore, it is common place today to find items in the market that are very close imitations, sometimes even just copies. “When we start to exploit a new product in China, we can always be certain of one thing, and that is that if it is possible to do so some Chinese or Japanese manufacture will start making a similar article and selling it at a cheaper price.” Similarly, the whole chapter “fortunes through profitless sales” is just as true today as it was then.

Management in China receives one full chapter with “Tremble and obey”, and once again Carl Crow’s experience is not far from today. Giving more quotations would just take too much space, but parts about avoidance of responsibility and how to get any decisions made are just hilarious. 400 million customers is definitely a must for anyone interested to work in China. Not bad for a book that is more than 70 years old.

Tael Lights: party like no tomorrow

This guide about old Shanghai newly re-published by Earnshaw books is surely not politically correct. “Shanghai high lights, low lights, tael lights” is was not really a guide about Shanghai like “All about Shanghai“. Instead, it is an insight into the life of two Westerners living the high life of drinking and partying like no tomorrow. As they write it, they “know very little about [Shanghai], but know a hell a lot about that very little”. They clearly lived in a very small part of Shanghai and clearly had a kind of high life.The book is short, opinionated and quite funny in its description of the city.

“Shanghai is a grand town, not an atmospheric background for Oriental melodrama, but a grand place to live, to work and enjoy life”. Just like in other guides, the author surely makes fun of the foreigners and tourists coming to Shanghai looking for their imaginary China with pagoda’s, temples, obscure old monks holding eternal secrets and all the “magic of the orient”. They have no interest in tourist spots of the day (and still of today) like “Lung Wha Pagoda” and the “Willow Pattern Tea House” (Yu Yuan garden area): “As a matter of fact, all of these and others of their type, are a distinct bore”. What they point to instead are modern places where Chinese gather for entertainment, such as the “Great World Amusement Company” (on Xi Zhang lu, currently under re-construction), Wing On, Sincere and the other department stores on Nanking Road (today Nanjing Dong Lu). They also spend many pages on street life, vendors and other common sights that are not far from today’s Shanghai.

Since they spent a lot of time going out and enjoying nightlife, this is the main focus of the book. The leading spots of the time were “the tower, atop the very gilt-edge Cathay hotel” (today Peace hotel is under renovation, but surely another bar will open on the top of it. This just a few meters from today’s Bund 18). “the Sky Terrace, atop Park Hotel and the Paramount Ballroom“. The author then moves onto Chinese cabarets (somewhat equivalent to today’s Chinese night clubs). After parties locations like the infamous “Venus Cafe” in Hong Kou district gets a few pages, reminding me of my last visit to Dragon Club in after party… 3 or 4 years ago. My preferred part is surely the one explaining the “three ways of making whoopee in Shanghai”, i.e. three ways to party. “Number one is by sending the boy out for three quarts and some ice, and telephoning Clara and Dick to come over and lift a few. This is known as ‘going to town while remaining at home’. Then there’s the business of gathering the clan and making the spots, St Georges, Del Montes,etc and is known in some quarters as ‘going to the dogs’. Can be expensive. And last, there are those who in case themselves in silk and white linen and sally forth to places of the cover charge type, the only real difference between this and the last class being that it takes them longer and more money to feel their liquor. This is known, (by people in the second class) as ‘going highbrow’ and can be extremely expensive financially, coming under the heading of ‘major appropriations’.”

Although the guide was written more than 70 years ago, the life of its writers was not very different from a number of people I know in Hong Kong who rarely live Central or the South part of the Island and party just the same way… or people I know in Shanghai who live work and party in an area which is just slightly bigger than the one described in the book. The modern version of this book would be an un-expurgated compilation of smartshanghai.com forum focusing on only on Shanghai’s nightlife for singles. In Shanghai, some things never really change.

Old Shanghai NOT for beginners

Cover "a short history of Shanghai" — Cover “a short history of Shanghai”

Plenty of books are currently published about old Shanghai in the run-up to Expo 2010. “A short history of Shanghai” is surely not one of the easy ones to read. Most people think I am passionate about old Shanghai, but even I sometimes reach a limit on how much information I can absorb on the topic. Coffee table books make a great decoration with lots of nice pictures of old buildings and can be highly informative as well, the best of which is probably “Building Shanghai“. Novels based in Old Shanghai take you to a trip back in time without needing much introduction. Amongst them I like “The Master of rain“, though I still need to read the classic “Shanghai 1937” and I sometimes dream that I will also write one. Old guide books such as “all about Shanghai and its environs” are often fun to read. They are a bit more dense with information and I often think that most people will read a few pages every now and then, but only few people actually read them from the beginning to the end. A short history of Shanghai is definitely a much harder nut to crack. It is not a new book but is the reprint of a book from 1927.

Probably inspired by Earnshaw books reprints (even in the beige color cover), the state owned China Intercontinental Press has reprinted this original history of Shanghai. The paper is not as good quality as Earnshaw’s and the reprint has introduced a number of spelling mistakes but illustrations and maps have been kept in. The most amazing is that the publisher managed to publish in modern China a book that was definitely not approved or even forbidden only a few years ago. The very existence of this book shows that the perception of Old Shanghai by Chinese people is also changing. As Shanghai is reborn, it is looking again for its own history and this is a fine example of high quality academic research. Having been written in 1927, the book offer many information about the early days of Shanghai that was lost after liberation or during the Cultural Revolution. “A short history of Shanghai” is definitely not Old Shanghai for beginner, but as a source of information it is invaluable.

If you want to know everything about the history of Shanghai and the International Settlement, you have found the right book. There are so many details in it that it would be easy to get lost. Dates of the opening of various bridges on the Suzhou creek, names of the bishops of the Shanghai Cathedral, debates on the Shanghai municipal councils, various episodes of fights happening around the city, you have it all. The best is probably the very old fashion tone and sentence patterns used in it. It is easy to feel the sense of superiority that western colonials had in Shanghai. The writer was a old China hand, having been the President of Saint John University (today East China University of Political Science and Law) for half of a century. He certainly knew China well as he also published several edition of an history of China. Another of his published books was “Lessons in the Shanghai dialect”, a teach yourself method in English to learn Shanghainese, that would probably also be worth a reprint. Hopefully China Intercontinental Press will also republish it.

Shanghai foxtrot

picture of the inside of a writer's Jingzidian — picture of the inside of a writer's Tingzidian

1920’s and 1930’s was the time of money, trade and parties in Shanghai, it was also a time for an incredible development of arts. While businesses where embracing new trades and industries coming from the West and introducing them to China with great profits, artists were also feeling the western wind. Jesuits fathers created a painting in school in Xu Jia Hui which was influential in introducing western painting styles and techniques to Chinese artists. At the same time, many Chinese writers came to settle in Shanghai to benefit from the commercial opportunities, safety and freedom allowed by the foreign concessions. This mostly poor crowded was often living in a “Tingzidian”, a small room between two main floors rented out in a lane house (see picture). Mostly northward looking and of very small size, tingzidian were not the most comfortable room of the house but they allowed those artists to leave in a central location at a low price. Just like French litterature from the late 19th and early 20th century was written in the Paris cafes and the “Chambre de bonne” (rooms on the top of buildings with little comfort where many artists lived and wrote), Shanghai litterature was written in the cafes of Huai Hai Lu and the French Concession, as well as in the tingzidian. Young artists would spend hours in cafes, discussing litterature, painting and how to build a new world. This was the time when artists associations like the painters “Storm society” were formed, as well as writers magazines such as “Xiandai, Les Comptemporains”.

Progressive writers such as Mu Shiying, Shi Zecun and Le Ying Feng were among the main expressionists writers of this period. Shanghai Foxtrot from Mu Shiying is for me the best symbol of old Shanghai party life described by Chinese writers. Mu Shiying was a dandy and his stories are about dandy life, dancings, clubs and restaurant. He certainly lived the high life while in Shanghai and that makes this short story so enjoyable. The party period only last for a short time, but some of these artists certainly enjoyed it. Reading texts from the 1920’s and cruising through the night life of today’s Shanghai, one sometimes feels like an echo, a deja-vu feeling (see the post “Decadence on the Bund” for more on this).

The party lasted only for a few years, as by the middle of the 1930’s politics had taken over many artists. Most of them joined or sympathized with the communist party and art was used to carry the message to the masses. Many then entered the war or resistance against the Japanese occupation. Some other fled to Hong Kong, some collaborated with the Japanese authorities, often being assasinated because of this. The 1920’s was a the time for art and adventure, by the late 1930’s art had left the place for politics. The litterature of the time was forgotten for many years before being rediscovered in the 1990’s and being republished first in China and then abroad. I only found Shanghai Foxtrot in French and in English… and after some research in Chinese as a collection of Mu Shiying works was republished in 2004.

Love in a fallen city

The recent movie “Lust, Caution” made the headlines because of the sex scenes that were cut off in the Mainland China version. “Lust, Caution” is based a novel from late author Zhang Ailing (or Eileen Chang as it is spelled in English). I had heard about “the Chinese writer who used to live on Changde Lu”, but it’s only after having seen the movie that I put the pieces together. Born in Shanghai in 1920, Zhang Ailing is probably the most famous icon of this period in Chinese literature. A women of her time, she was (and still is) an icon of modernity. She was born in one of old and powerful families of Shanghai (she was related to Li Hong Zhang) but her family was not the ideal one. Her mother was a “sophisticated woman of cosmopolitan taste” (as introduced in her biography), partly

educated in England. Her father became an opium addict and locked her up in her room for nearly half a year when she was 18. Zhang Ailing studied litterature at the University of HongKong due to the war in China and had to come back to Shanghai after 1941 Japanese invasion of Hong Kong. She became a real star Shanghai literature in 1943, when she published her first novellas and short stories and left China for Taiwan in 1949, before moving to the US.

Zhang Ailing lived in the Eddington House on Hart Road (now Changde lu). Built in the 1930’s it is a fine example of art deco apartment building. Traffic on Hart Road was surely less noisy and polluted than on today’s Changde lu, so living in this building was probably the mark of high social status. Eddington House still has a lof of class. Its back is glass covered, now hidden by the brand new Swissotel Jing An. It’s interesting that the proximity of Zhang Ailing’s old apartement to the hotel is used as a marketing to zhangailing003 ol by the hotel company. A bookstors-cafe has just opened at the bottom of the building with 30’s theme… the perfect place to revive old Shanghai with a coffee.

Some of Zhang Ailing’s most significant short stories have been republished by Pinguin in 2007, taking advantage of the success of “Lust, Caution”. I bought this book in Shanghai and read it a few days ago. The short stories take place in Shanghai or in HongKong during war time. “Love in a fallen city” giving its title to the book is the central novella, taking place in HongKong during the Japanese invasion. Zhang Ailing style is precise and touchy, immersing us in this troubled period. The book is both a very enjoyable and essential read for anybody interested in old SHanghai. I particularly liked “Red rose white rose” for its melancholic tone. Ailing Chang was a modern women in old Shanghai, but a number of issues she mentions are still very relevant in today’s Shanghai. Although little known in the West, she is very famous in Taiwan and China. Some of her novels have been turned into movies or theater plays. Just ask any cultivated Chinese person, he or she will probably have read her books.

All about (old) Shanghai

Cover all about Shanghai I had read parts of this book over the internet before, as it is available on the Tales of old China website, but having it on paper is a much nicer experience. Recently republished by EarnShaw books, “All about Shanghai and its environs” is a time travel. A reprint of an actual 1934 guide book about Shanghai, it catches the city at its highest point, just before the 1937 Japanese invasion that altered the course of history. While Europe and the US were struggling in the great depression, the guidebook shows a city full of energy and hopes, the most important city in Asia at the time.
Well known old Shanghai expert Peter Hibbard brings his contribution in a great introduction to the original guide. What is striking is how much tourist expectations and reactions over the city remain unchanged after so much political turmoil and redevelopment. Exactly like today, Shanghai was the entry point of many tourists visiting China. Landing on the Bund, they would come looking for the “eternal China” with pagodas, blue porcelain and incense like they always dreamed it. The first mostly found disappointment with Shanghai being a modern western city. They would then try to get a glimpse of their China dream visiting temples and garden (like Yu Yuan garden, Jing An Temple, Jade Buddha Temple or Long Hua Pagoda) before finally seeking refuge in the familiar environment on hotels and bars in the city center.
Just like today, night life was one of the high point of Shanghai with places of all levels catering for every taste. Nightly China encounter was one of the major attraction of Shanghai, from the English Club (#2 on the Bund), the bar of the Cathay hotel (today Peace Hotel) or the French Club (Today’s Garden hotel) to cabarets and male-only establishment on Blood Alley or the back streets of Broadway’s Hong Kou district,
Today’s Shanghai is a shopper’s paradise, just as was old Shanghai. Shopping streets offered a mix of shops bringing foreign goods to China (just like current department stores or City Shop nowadays). Nanking Road (Nanjing Dong Lu) was famous for its department stores as it is today for many Chinese shoppers, Avenue Joffre (Huai Hai Zhong Lu) was famous for its many French and Russian dressmakers as well as cafes, restaurants and bakeries (just like today). Ward Road (current Shi Men Yi lu) was famous for lady’s underwear shops. Some of today’s famous brands such as retailers Wing On and Lane Crawford already had outlets in the city. Bayer chemicals and pharmaceuticals, GE electric products, OTIS lifts and French Champagne already were famous brands in the old Shanghai.
Just like today, tourists and foreign residents were looking for “typical” China products. Tea, silk and jade were offered in many places… with a big warning for jade as its many shapes and colors require an expert eye in order to pay the right price. Hotels had many curios and antics shops… often selling brand new antics to gullible tourists of the time (just like today). This 1934 guidebook is full of warnings about the buying so-called antics that are just brand new. A short visit to today’s Yu Yuan garden shows that not much as changed on this front either.
I usually don’t spend most times reading guidebooks, but reading every details of this one was a great to a trip to Old Shanghai. With the amount of information involved, it is probably not for the old Shanghai beginner. However, with a bit of back ground knowledge it is an extremely enjoyable read about Old Shanghai. After “The Unaltered diary of a Shanghai baby”, the republication of “All about Shanghai” is a great achievement from EarnShaw books.

The Unexpurgated Diary of a Shanghai Baby

I still don’t understand how come I did not see this book in Shanghai… but bought it in Beijing instead. “The Unexpurgated Diary of a Shanghai Baby” is captioned by Graham Earnshaw as his “favorite book on old Shanghai by a long margin”. I knew the name of Graham Earnshaw throught Tales of Old Shanghai website, but I had not heard about the book before. After flipping through the pages for a minute, I bought on the spot and read it over in the train from North Korea.
The book is the mock diary of a one year old baby living with his parents in HongKou district. First published in 1924, it’s a first hand witness of the life of the Shanghailanders. It is a lot of fun to read about the live of the father going to play golf and spending hours drinking at the club or at the race course. Dady probably works to support the family, but little mention is made of it in the book. Mummy’s main occupation is to give away the baby to the Amah (as Ayi were called then) and take care of her appearance. Staying with the family, Auntie (surely Mama’s younger sister) is going out with a boy or another, but does not seem to have a lot of brain. As all the nearby places the baby goes to are located in HongKou district, mainly “HongKew park” (today’s LuShun Gong Yuan), I guess the family lived in an appartment on Sichuan Bei Lu or the neighboring streets not far from the Suzhou creek.
Like a number of today’s expatriates in Shanghai, the kid is mainly raised by the Chinese Amah, giving us a great view of the life of the chinese domestics in foreign houses. The story of the houseboy stealing socks from the master, or using the lady’s fine garments and toiletries for cleaning purposes are hillarious… and not so far from stories I have heard in today’s Shanghai. The Chinese servants run every practical aspects of the house with the foreign owners having little control or understanding of it. This is also not so different from today’s foreigners’ life in Shanghai.
The writing is easy to read and very humorous, with Elsie Mc Cormick making fun of foreign life in Shanghai. It is a great introduction to old Shanghai, but also contains many details of the period that make in an invaluable resource for research on this topic. The writer went back to the US in the 1930’s and started to write for the New Yorker later on. As a proof of a writer’s quality, you hardly can get better.

Biased Review

I always try to write unbiased reviews… but this one will be a bit different since I have been involved in creating the book. “Promenades au coeur de l’ancienne concession Francaise” is the new version of an old guide about Shanghai’s French concession. As the original one, this book was made by “A pleines mains” an expat charity in Shanghai. Proceeds are used in various help projects in Shanghai and the surrounding cities. The original guide was published in 2002 and has become out of print since then. It has been transformed into a number of guided walks throughout the French Concession. Each walk is about one hour and can be easily fit into a busy afternoon shopping or as a short break in a business trip. Walks are spread the old French Concession and the adjacent Xu Jia Hui area. One of them passes by the entrance of the lane where I live. Fortunately, my house is not included… which will avoid disturbing the quietness of my little private Shanghai.
The book is both in French and English, ensuring that the information collected within the important French community in the city is spread out to every lover of the old Shanghai. The original text was written in 2001 and the original author interviewed a few remaining Chinese survivors of the Concession time. This adds anecdotes and real stories to the book, making it a lively read. Having been interested in the topic for a few years, I still managed to learn quite a few things from it.

I did not design the walks, but I contributed is by landing some of my own collection of old Shanghai postcards and documents to be used as illustration. I am quite proud of having been part of it as the result is really good, but it’s for you to judge. If you are looking for a practical book about old Shanghai, it’s a good point to start.