Paul French
@chinarhyming.bsky.social
Author, historian, maker of books and radio - Midnight in Peking, City of Devils, Murders of Old China, Peking Noir, The Defectors, Her Lotus Year. Return to the City of Darkness - Kowloon Walled City on BBC R3 Feb 15. Agent - Aitken-Alexander
Some messy and murky going’s on in Jiangsu over nearly 70 years. A somewhat confusing and multi-twisting art heist tale….
www.independent.co.uk/asia/east-as...
www.independent.co.uk/asia/east-as...
Museum embroiled in corruption scandal after priceless artwork resurfaces in auction
Painting once deemed a forgery and ‘transferred’ by museum appears at auction at an estimated price of £9.3m
www.independent.co.uk
February 14, 2026 at 1:40 AM
Some messy and murky going’s on in Jiangsu over nearly 70 years. A somewhat confusing and multi-twisting art heist tale….
www.independent.co.uk/asia/east-as...
www.independent.co.uk/asia/east-as...
Opium poppy field, China, location unknown, c.1905
February 13, 2026 at 9:38 PM
Opium poppy field, China, location unknown, c.1905
It’s an odd one as the ahistorical post i saw seemed to be very supportive of the communist party, yet by arguing religion had no place in Chinese society he’s negating Mao’s campaign against the “4 Olds” as pointless - time for them to call him in for a cup of tea perhaps?
February 13, 2026 at 11:15 AM
It’s an odd one as the ahistorical post i saw seemed to be very supportive of the communist party, yet by arguing religion had no place in Chinese society he’s negating Mao’s campaign against the “4 Olds” as pointless - time for them to call him in for a cup of tea perhaps?
The Palace of Compassion and Tranquility (Cininggong), in the west of the Forbidden City’s central axis, built in 1536 as a home for Empress Dowagers. Though undated this photograph was taken sometime between Puyi’s expulsion in 1924 and the more recent manicuring of the Forbidden City…
February 13, 2026 at 11:08 AM
The Palace of Compassion and Tranquility (Cininggong), in the west of the Forbidden City’s central axis, built in 1536 as a home for Empress Dowagers. Though undated this photograph was taken sometime between Puyi’s expulsion in 1924 and the more recent manicuring of the Forbidden City…
So decades of ‘Up the ‘Ra’ Nigel?
February 13, 2026 at 8:41 AM
So decades of ‘Up the ‘Ra’ Nigel?
When you ‘people’ i’ve only seen one regularly rather silly Useful Idiot suggesting it in an incoherent post. Are there others?
February 13, 2026 at 8:40 AM
When you ‘people’ i’ve only seen one regularly rather silly Useful Idiot suggesting it in an incoherent post. Are there others?
Useful idiocy and ahistoricism go together like bread and butter.
February 13, 2026 at 8:29 AM
Useful idiocy and ahistoricism go together like bread and butter.
Theatre programmes from performances held in the Forbidden City, early twentieth century….
February 12, 2026 at 8:39 PM
Theatre programmes from performances held in the Forbidden City, early twentieth century….
London Chinatown appears ready for CNY….
February 12, 2026 at 4:53 PM
London Chinatown appears ready for CNY….
This suit of armour (1696) & helmet (1519) is the centrepiece of the British Museum’s Samurai exhibition. It's a new acquisition. This suit is especially interesting as it has an iron cuirass (breastplate) based on that of Portuguese soldiers showing cross-fertilisation in Japan at the time.
February 12, 2026 at 3:22 PM
This suit of armour (1696) & helmet (1519) is the centrepiece of the British Museum’s Samurai exhibition. It's a new acquisition. This suit is especially interesting as it has an iron cuirass (breastplate) based on that of Portuguese soldiers showing cross-fertilisation in Japan at the time.
Heads up Beijing - a Midnight in Peking walk, talk and drinks coming your way late March with me and courtesy of WildChina….
February 12, 2026 at 9:03 AM
Heads up Beijing - a Midnight in Peking walk, talk and drinks coming your way late March with me and courtesy of WildChina….
They’re a rare breed these days compared to my long distant youth
February 12, 2026 at 8:47 AM
They’re a rare breed these days compared to my long distant youth
Love that the newsreaders in Macao have a whole dapper 1970s vibe going on…
February 12, 2026 at 8:05 AM
Love that the newsreaders in Macao have a whole dapper 1970s vibe going on…
The Silent Traveller in Lakeland was published by Country Life in 1937 as the first of the “Silent Traveller” books by Chiang Yee who of course famously lived in Belsize Park, London and Oxford between the 1930s and 1950s….
February 12, 2026 at 7:16 AM
The Silent Traveller in Lakeland was published by Country Life in 1937 as the first of the “Silent Traveller” books by Chiang Yee who of course famously lived in Belsize Park, London and Oxford between the 1930s and 1950s….
My BBCR3 doc on Kowloon Walled City, my latest piece in Mekong Review on HK historical fiction, a Chinese Labour Corps conference, crime in Osaka, Macao's revamped Hotel Central & more ahead in March...
open.substack.com/pub/paulfren...
open.substack.com/pub/paulfren...
February 11 2026 - ChinaRhyming - Kowloon Walled City on BBCR3 this Weekend
My BBCR3 doc on Kowloon Walled City, my latest piece in Mekong Review on HK historical fiction, a Chinese Labour Corps conference, crime in Osaka, Macao's revamped Hotel Central & more ahead in March
open.substack.com
February 11, 2026 at 4:11 PM
My BBCR3 doc on Kowloon Walled City, my latest piece in Mekong Review on HK historical fiction, a Chinese Labour Corps conference, crime in Osaka, Macao's revamped Hotel Central & more ahead in March...
open.substack.com/pub/paulfren...
open.substack.com/pub/paulfren...
And don’t forget those 3 - THREE - speeches to the Party School in Beijing he’s never liked to comment on and never made the contents of public to my knowledge (happy to hear if anyone knows otherwise?)
February 11, 2026 at 7:41 AM
And don’t forget those 3 - THREE - speeches to the Party School in Beijing he’s never liked to comment on and never made the contents of public to my knowledge (happy to hear if anyone knows otherwise?)
The Mekong Review Feb-April 2026 edition is now available by subscription (lnkd.in/eEkiEi7w) and includes a piece by me reviewing Emma Pei Yin’s When Sleeping Women Wake (Hachette), with some musings on the state of Asian-centred historical fiction and the pressures on debuts novelists these days..
February 11, 2026 at 6:11 AM
The Mekong Review Feb-April 2026 edition is now available by subscription (lnkd.in/eEkiEi7w) and includes a piece by me reviewing Emma Pei Yin’s When Sleeping Women Wake (Hachette), with some musings on the state of Asian-centred historical fiction and the pressures on debuts novelists these days..
The Royal Navy’s H31 with Chinese sail boats off Hong Kong painted by Thomas G Purvis (1861-1933).
Purvis was a sea captain who turned to painting after he abandoned his family in Bristol and worked on various steamships, at least until 1925, mostly in Far East Ports including Hong Kong.
Purvis was a sea captain who turned to painting after he abandoned his family in Bristol and worked on various steamships, at least until 1925, mostly in Far East Ports including Hong Kong.
February 11, 2026 at 5:17 AM
The Royal Navy’s H31 with Chinese sail boats off Hong Kong painted by Thomas G Purvis (1861-1933).
Purvis was a sea captain who turned to painting after he abandoned his family in Bristol and worked on various steamships, at least until 1925, mostly in Far East Ports including Hong Kong.
Purvis was a sea captain who turned to painting after he abandoned his family in Bristol and worked on various steamships, at least until 1925, mostly in Far East Ports including Hong Kong.
Reposted by Paul French
Our February–April 2026 issue is now available online!
Check it out... or better yet, subscribe and never miss an issue: mekongreview.com/sub...
Check it out... or better yet, subscribe and never miss an issue: mekongreview.com/sub...
February 11, 2026 at 2:21 AM
Our February–April 2026 issue is now available online!
Check it out... or better yet, subscribe and never miss an issue: mekongreview.com/sub...
Check it out... or better yet, subscribe and never miss an issue: mekongreview.com/sub...
Arthur H Smith most definitely considered himself to be talking to “heathens” - the image is from his 1908 autobiography The Uplift of China Published by the London MIssionary Society. He wrote the caption. The book is one long dreary racial supremacist and religiocentric slog.
February 11, 2026 at 5:02 AM
Arthur H Smith most definitely considered himself to be talking to “heathens” - the image is from his 1908 autobiography The Uplift of China Published by the London MIssionary Society. He wrote the caption. The book is one long dreary racial supremacist and religiocentric slog.
Arthur H Smith, American Christian missionary in northern China dons Chinese garb and a fake queue to preach to a “heathen” crowd!! C.1908
February 10, 2026 at 10:23 PM
Arthur H Smith, American Christian missionary in northern China dons Chinese garb and a fake queue to preach to a “heathen” crowd!! C.1908
In case you’re around and listening to RTHK3 at about 1.25pm Tuesday i’ll be on The Brew with Phil Whelan talking about my picks for the 2026 Hong Kong International Literary Festival….
February 9, 2026 at 10:38 PM
In case you’re around and listening to RTHK3 at about 1.25pm Tuesday i’ll be on The Brew with Phil Whelan talking about my picks for the 2026 Hong Kong International Literary Festival….
Junks in Victoria Harbour, Hong Kong, 1936
February 9, 2026 at 10:25 PM
Junks in Victoria Harbour, Hong Kong, 1936
I rather think any notion of “best American values” is a ship now long sailed.
February 9, 2026 at 3:34 PM
I rather think any notion of “best American values” is a ship now long sailed.
This week CrimeReads Crime and the City heads to the Vegas before there was a Vegas, “The Biggest Little City in the World” - Reno - it's the Mob, quickie divorces, burning through the alimony and put it all in a crime novel!!
crimereads.com/crime-and-th...
crimereads.com/crime-and-th...
Crime and the City: Reno
Reno – it’s old school cool!! It’s Vegas before there was ever a Vegas. “The Biggest Little City in the World” with those Italian guys down around Lake Tahoe and with “business interest…
crimereads.com
February 9, 2026 at 1:32 PM
This week CrimeReads Crime and the City heads to the Vegas before there was a Vegas, “The Biggest Little City in the World” - Reno - it's the Mob, quickie divorces, burning through the alimony and put it all in a crime novel!!
crimereads.com/crime-and-th...
crimereads.com/crime-and-th...