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
The 1910 Nanyang Industrial Exposition during the end of the Qing Dynasty. It opened on 5 June 1910 and lasted 177 days.
So my thanks to John de Lucy for these photos, taken by his grandfather I believe, who attended the Nanyang Industrial Exposition in 1910…
So my thanks to John de Lucy for these photos, taken by his grandfather I believe, who attended the Nanyang Industrial Exposition in 1910…
February 14, 2026 at 4:57 PM
The 1910 Nanyang Industrial Exposition during the end of the Qing Dynasty. It opened on 5 June 1910 and lasted 177 days.
So my thanks to John de Lucy for these photos, taken by his grandfather I believe, who attended the Nanyang Industrial Exposition in 1910…
So my thanks to John de Lucy for these photos, taken by his grandfather I believe, who attended the Nanyang Industrial Exposition in 1910…
Hong Kong two cent stamp with King Edward VII and an Amoy (Xiamen) postage frank, May 1907….
February 14, 2026 at 9:10 AM
Hong Kong two cent stamp with King Edward VII and an Amoy (Xiamen) postage frank, May 1907….
The P&O Chusan dockside Kowloon, Hong Kong, 1955
February 14, 2026 at 2:17 AM
The P&O Chusan dockside Kowloon, Hong Kong, 1955
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
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…
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….
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...
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, 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
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...
Hirundo was a cargo & passenger steamer plying between Shantou & SE Asia. In 1930 it was raided by pirates but unusually the pirates commanded the chef to prepare them a banquet & afterwards complimented him on its excellence. A rather classy touch I have to say….
February 9, 2026 at 9:05 AM
Hirundo was a cargo & passenger steamer plying between Shantou & SE Asia. In 1930 it was raided by pirates but unusually the pirates commanded the chef to prepare them a banquet & afterwards complimented him on its excellence. A rather classy touch I have to say….
A mule litter fording a stream near Weihaiwei (Weihai), c.1908. This photograph was probably taken by Reginald Johnston, then assistant commissioner of Weihaiwei.
February 8, 2026 at 10:41 PM
A mule litter fording a stream near Weihaiwei (Weihai), c.1908. This photograph was probably taken by Reginald Johnston, then assistant commissioner of Weihaiwei.
Bloomsbury Asian Arguments namecheck
Historian @adamtooze.bsky.social selects 'The Southern Tour: Deng Xiaoping & the Fight for China's Future' as one of his book recommendations on @ezraklein.bsky.social's @nytimes.com podcast.
Listen now: https://apple.co/3Mk9DL5
Get your copy: https://bit.ly/3ZN3nyw
#China #USA #Politics 📕
Listen now: https://apple.co/3Mk9DL5
Get your copy: https://bit.ly/3ZN3nyw
#China #USA #Politics 📕
How the World Sees America, With Adam Tooze
Podcast Episode · The Ezra Klein Show · 30/01/2026 · 1h 4m
apple.co
February 8, 2026 at 6:27 PM
Bloomsbury Asian Arguments namecheck
Passing on language cards to a younger generation and finding explanations are needed!!!
February 8, 2026 at 1:26 PM
Passing on language cards to a younger generation and finding explanations are needed!!!
Video wall installation at the Samurai exhibition, British Museum….
February 8, 2026 at 9:54 AM
Video wall installation at the Samurai exhibition, British Museum….