Paul French
@chinarhyming.bsky.social
Author of Midnight in Peking, City of Devils, Murders of Old China, Peking Noir, The Defectors, Her Lotus Year. The Last Emperor of China is out this August. Return to the City of Darkness - Kowloon Walled City now on BBCSounds. Agent - Aitken-Alexander
A Mapin & Webb marriage presentation cocktail shaker dated 1930. To Edward “Teddy” Arnold, Machine Gun Troop, H.K.V.D.C. (Hong Kong Volunteer Defence Corps).
Happy Pub Day to Jerome Sauvage, whose memoir of working for the UN in DPRK is now available. It's the latest in my Bloomsbury Asian Arguments seriess.... And here's the author in conversation about his experiences with Alannah Hill of the essential NK News.... www.youtube.com/watch?v=5LT8...
Jerome Sauvage on North Korea’s crises, contradictions and quiet moments
YouTube video by NK News
youtube.com
A Shanghai Seagull (founded 1958, 上海海鸥照相机) 4A 6x6 Medium Format TLR Camera.
Time Exposures: Catholic Photography and the Evolution of Modern China is a book published by hkupress.hku.hk. Written by Joseph W. Ho and Anthony E. Clark, the book explores historical photography and Catholic communities in China
In 2007 the UK’s Next opened a store in Pudong’s Superbrand Mall. It lasted a hot Shanghai minute. Next wasn’t anywhere near cool enough, stylish enough or at the right price point for mid-2000s Shanghai. Still, a week after Next unveiled its store a new retailer appeared on Huaihai Zhong Lu….
An excellent example of a Jiangnan region Shikumen-style building in Suzhou featuring stone-framed lintels, second-floor balconies and arched central stone gateway. I photographed it in 2008 when it was being internally gutted and shortly before it was tragically bulldozed and erased.
A video from a visit to Bussière Garden in the Western Hills, Beijing with the Royal Asiatic Society Beijing. Just before exploring the weekend retreat of Peking resident & salon host Dr Jean-Augustin Bussière we stopped for lunch and a talk about the good doctor. m.youtube.com/watch?v=NvvG...
168) Author Paul French led RASBJ through Bussiere's Garden in rural Western Beijing, Mar. 15, 2026
YouTube video by Royal Asiatic Society Beijing
m.youtube.com
China retail legends of yore - Local brand Muge (“to admire something beautiful”) popped up around the early 2000s with retail stores.It’s English name is a play on the Japanese/RoC terms for “modern”.
Aug 3 - ChinaRhyming - From the Western Hills to Pyongyang & beyond... & Some Dates for Your Diary Remembering Jean-Augustin Bussière's Western Hills retreat, a look inside the DPRK, a new Mekong Review & upcoming The Last Emperor of China events open.substack.com/pub/paulfren...
August 3 2026 - ChinaRhyming - From the Western Hills to Pyongyang and beyond... & Some Dates for Your Diary
Remembering Jean-Augustin Bussière's Western Hills retreat outside Beijing, a unique look inside the DPRK, a new Mekong Review and an August, September and November of The Last Emperor of China events
open.substack.com
1924 (Year 13 of the RoC) copper coin notes issued by the Provincial Bank of Chihli with Tientsin branch overprints for the Chihli Provincial Official Bureau of Currency printed by the Bureau of Engraving & Printing. I think the central design image is the Five-Dragon Pavilion in Beihai Park.
China retail legends of yore - Robin Hood in Tianjin, Shenyang and Beijing c.early 2000s
China retail legends of yore - when MetersBonwe was a big thing in Shanghai c.early 2000s
Walk through London’s Bloomsbury and Fitzrovia in the footsteps of Virginia Woolf, George Orwell, Lenin, Jean Rhys….& Kenneth Williams…. voicemap.me/tour/london/...
Writers, Artists and Ne'er-do-wells: A Bloomsbury and Fitzrovia Walk | London self-guided audio tour | VoiceMap
Meet the writers and wastrels who turned Charlotte Street into London's Bohemia with this self-guided tour of London, the United Kingdom. For the best experience, install the VoiceMap audio guide app ...
voicemap.me
Chinese orphans spinning cotton at a mission school at Sienhsien (Xianxian), a Catholic mission in Hebei, c.late 1920s
Elizabeth Keith (Scottish artist, 1887–1956), “New Year’s Eve Shopping, Seoul”, - an incomplete woodcut and the final colour version, both 1921
The latest August–October 2026 issue of the Mekong Review is now available from their web store! Get your copy or subscribe here: mekongreview.com/subscribe/
Chinesisches Porzellan und die Ubrigen Keramischen Erzeugnisse Chinas, Vols. 1&2, Ernst Zimmermann, Leipzig: Verlag von Klinkhardt & Biermann, 1913
Early 20th C Images from ‘The White Devil in Beijing: Wanderings and Adventures in China’ by the Czech explorer and writer Enrique Vráz.
A Zoom treat from the RASBJ - 5/8 - Frances Wood discusses the Chinese book collection of Sir Hans Sloane (1660-1753) & explores how the London doctor acquired his remarkable collection when noone around him knew Chinese. Portrait of Sloane by Stephen Slaughter, 1736 rasbj.glueup.cn/event/france...
Frances Wood discusses online the Chinese book collection of Sir Hans Sloane (1660-1753) | RASBJ
WHAT: British Sinologist Frances Wood discusses online the comprehensive collection of Chinese books assembled by prominent physician Dr. Hans Sloane (1660-1753)WHEN: 7-8 PM Beijing Time, Wednesday Au...
rasbj.glueup.cn
Spent the day at Musée de la Résistance in Limoges. Included in their collection this Vichyite poster aimed at Maghrebian Africa, Sub—Saharan Africa & French Indochina - Eric Castel, "3 colours, a flag, an empire", published by the Secretariat of State for the Colonies - Information Service, 1941.
Junks in Victoria Harbour, c.1970s by L Alexis who was, I believe, born in Holland in 1940, studied Fine Art in Montreal (though this may be wrong!) and is best known for Paris and London cityscapes as well as coastal and marine painting from further afield.
Wigtown Book Festival is the last week of September and start of October - so much on in Scotland’s book town in stunning Dumfries and Galloway, including me on the last emperor of China - tickets and details here - tickets.wigtownbookfestival.com/sales/events...
Wandering around the delightful village of Nanteuil-en-Vallee (Charente) between M Festival events I of course had to search out the wonderful historical shots of the village placed around…
So many great events at the inaugural M Festival 2026 in Nanteuil en Vallee last weekend. Here’s Michelle Garnaut introducing Tash Aw in conversation with HKU’s Daniel Elam in the lovely venue of L’abbaye Notre-Dame de Nanteuil.
And lining the stairs of the chateau in Alencon, Normandy, antique Chinese wire mesh and rice paper hanging lanterns featuring dark wooden bases repurposed as electric lights and ornaments.
Always delighted to stumble over random Chinese items. Stopped at a independent hotel in a chateau outside Alencon in Normandy and encountered these two Chinese ceramic duck/goose figurine featuring a glossy sancai glaze with vibrant green wings and amber brown-yellow necks.
M Festival in Nanteuil-en-Vallée is on this weekend - lots of talks, music, food…. I’ll be talking about the shadier side of the old Shanghai French Concession’s history at 4PM…. There’s tons more today from 11am - m-restaurantgroup.com/m-festival-n...
