The Foreign Correspondents’ Club (FCC) is a well-known gathering spot in Hong Kong. It has a surprisingly tumultuous history. Founded in Japanese-occupied China in 1941, the Club’s first base was in Chongqing (Chungking), a city controlled by Nationalist leader Chiang Kai-shek. As the Chinese civil war intensified, the club moved with the action, first to Nanjing, then to Shanghai. It [...]
On Sunday March 30th (that's tomorrow!) at 3pm, Paul French will launch his new book Destination Macao in the city itself. The book is a collection of true stories about fascinating people who have visited or lived there — poets and pirates, rebels and writers, innkeepers and adventurers among them. Some you will have heard of, and some you won't. [...]
In 1924, Wallis Simpson — the American future wife of Britain's king — journeyed across China, witnessing a nation in turmoil. Join prolific old China author Paul French to learn about 'Her Lotus Year', his new essays in Destination Macao, and stories from his bestsellers Midnight in Peking and City of Devils. Date: Thursday, 13 March 2025 Time: 6:30 PM [...]
Ian Gill’s first visit to Hong Kong in 1975 takes an unexpected turn when he meets his Chinese mother Billie’s friends, colleagues and fellow ex-prisoners of war, lifting the veil on a tumultuous past in Hong Kong and Shanghai. He moves to Asia and unravels her intriguing journey: from controversial adoption by an English postmaster in Changsha to popular radio [...]
Taking place on Tuesday March 4 at the Royal Geographical Society in Hong Kong. Author Ian Gill talks about the main characters of his Anglo-Chinese family, who lived in China and Hong Kong from the mid-19th century until modern times. The story starts when his great-grandmother married Ted Newman, a Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company steward, in Hong Kong [...]
When Scottish footballer Derek Currie was made an offer to travel to Hong Kong in 1970 to play against the one sportsman he had dreamed of meeting on the field, he couldn't say no. From apprentice printer in Glasgow to playing football against Pelé in the Far East, singing with Stevie Wonder and shadow-boxing with Marvelous Marvin Hagler, Currie enjoyed [...]
China Revisited is a new series of extracted reprints of mid-19th to early-20th century Western impressions of Hong Kong, Macao and southern China. The series comprises excerpts from travelogues or memoirs written by missionaries, diplomats, military personnel, journalists, tourists and temporary sojourners. They came to China from Europe or the United States, some to work or to serve the interests [...]
Did Japan try to buy Macao in 1936? Were the men who declared Macao a republic in 1930 revolutionaries or extortionists? Paul French sails across the Pearl River on Friday evening to give a talk at the Livraria Portuguesa (Portuguese Bookshop) in the city's historic central district. The bookshop is at 16-18 Rua de Sao Domingos. No charge, all welcome. [...]
For the next event at Vibe bookshop -- on Saturday 28th January at 2:30pm -- Patricia O'Sullivan will be discussing real-life Hong Kong murders from a century ago! Women carried out some of these crimes on Hong Kong's outlying islands like Cheung Chau and Lantau, as well as in the city. Patricia will also be signing copies of her newest [...]
You are invited to the launch of The Chakrata Incident, 6pm-7pm, Wednesday October 12. Come to Bookazine in Prince's Building, meet multi-talented author Neville Sarony and get your book signed! Neville's military thrillers draw on his own experience as an army officer. What's the new book about? Here's the blurb. Major Max Devlin, poised for a commanding post in the [...]
You are invited to the launch of The Marvellous Adventures of Maggie and Methuselah: A Mystery in Hong Kong! If you love real-life mysteries about missing Hong Kong treasure, adventures in dark tunnels, and above all, crazy rhyme-loving African Grey parrots, you’ll love hearing Sarah Brennan's new story at 3pm on Saturday, 23rd October, at Bookazine, 3rd Floor, Prince's Building, [...]
This free online talk is hosted by the Royal Asiatic Society Hong Kong. While women were filling the magistrates courts and prisons of the British Isles during the 19th century, a female criminal in Hong Kong was a rarity. Yet, often in response to the privations of grinding poverty, some did find themselves on the wrong side of the law. [...]
In this online talk to the Royal Geographical Society, well-known historian, raconteur and author Paul French talks of the Chinese capital, telling numerous true stories of fascinating people who visited the city in the first half of the 20th century. From Bolsheviks and Nazis to artists and bank robbers, to English aesthetes, to transplanted New York Bowery Balladeers, he describes [...]
In this talk for the Royal Geographical Society Hong Kong, well-known China historian, raconteur and author Paul French talks of Macau during World War II. Based on true stories and new research, he attempts to weave together the stories of those Jewish refugees who in the war moved on from their temporary haven of Shanghai. Many sought a possible route [...]
Designing a Life tells the inspiring story of Kai-Yin Lo, a determined Hong Kong woman born to a wealthy family who had to build her own future following an abrupt change in the family’s fortunes. “Kai-Yin is a polymath and a phenomenon, having seamlessly juggled an analytical career as a scholar, historian, teacher and editor, with the artistic and imaginative [...]
Gill Shaddick is the author of The Hong Kong Letters, her memoir of an eventful two years working at an ad agency in Hong Kong in the late 1960s. Among other things, her yacht was seized by Chinese militia, and she was held incommunicado, after she unwittingly strayed into PRC waters at the height of China's Cultural Revolution. Drop by [...]
You are invited to the launch of Kai-Yin Lo's autobiography at Fine Art Asia 2019 in Hong Kong. To launch Designing a Life: A Cross-Cultural Journey, Kai-Yin Lo will be in dialogue with Ms Suhanya Raffel, Executive Director of M+ Museum, and Dr Edmund Lee, Executive Director of the Hong Kong Design Centre. The talk will be moderated by Ms [...]
Join us for a book talk & signing with Paul French for his latest book Destination Shanghai: a collection of 18 biographical vignettes of the famous and infamous who travelled to Shanghai during the city's golden age. Wednesday 10th April 2019 6.30pm–7.30pm Bookazine Prince's Building, Shop 326-328, Landmark Prince's, Central, Hong Kong Free event – RSVP or enquiries: enquiries@bookazine.com.hk / [...]