Writing about China and Eponymous Adjectives
By Paul French In the wake of new Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s “Third Plenum” — the first policy-focused general meeting he’s presided over since being anointed a year ago — the term “Orwellian” is once...
View ArticleSherlock Holmes and the Curious Case of Several Million Chinese Fans
Image from ChinaSmack. By Paul French After a hiatus of a couple of decades China’s love affair with England’s greatest consulting detective is apparently back on. The BBC’s hit show Sherlock is a...
View ArticleRemembering Jack London’s Oriental War
By Paul French “I am disgusted! I’ll never go to a war between Orientals again. The vexations and delay are too great.” — Jack London He’d sailed his broken down sloop Razzle Dazzle as an oyster...
View ArticleA Short Look at the Long Literary History of Spies in Asia
By Paul French One of the most noteworthy books set to hit the U.S. market next week is Olivia Milburn and Christopher Payne’s English translation of bestselling Chinese espionage author Mai Jia’s...
View ArticleObsessing Over JG Ballard and His Terrible City
All images by James H. Bollen. By Paul French James H. Bollen is a British photographer, author, and translator based in Shanghai. Since arriving in the city half a dozen years ago, he has been...
View ArticleThe Book the China Crowd Missed – Lawrence Osborne’s The Ballad of a Small...
By Paul French Every so often, a novel that captures the essence and flavors of the modern China experience is published — yet seemingly totally escapes the attentions of the devoted China reading...
View ArticleYellow Peril: Sinophobia and the Great War, A Q&A with Dr. Anne Witchard
By Paul French Anne Witchard’s England’s Yellow Peril: Sinophobia and the Great War is the final volume in the Penguin China World War One series of short books that have highlighted the various...
View ArticleInto the Shanghai Trenches: A Psychogeography of Sin in Old Shanghai
By Paul French Shanghai’s sin districts that catered to foreigners were many and varied. They appeared moments after the city became a treaty port in the 1840s and survived through to the 1950s....
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