A sedan chair convoy led by a donkey with ringing bells (right) somewhere between Suzhou and Hangzhou, c.1925, by San Francisco journalist and photographer Mabel Craft Deering

October 18th - The Repulse Bay - The literary history of the old Repulse Bay Hotel, an Eileen Chang exhibition and a new branch of Bookazine (plus books, wine and veranda views)….

A number of paintings depicting Jesuit missionaries to Ming and Qing China, as well as Xu Guangqi 徐光啟, were returned to the Institute from the Asian Civilisations Museum in Singapore, where they had been on loan. The paintings were made at the T'ou-sè-wè 土山灣 orphanage in Shanghai before 1915.

Happy 25th birthday to Wong Kar-wai’s In the Mood for Love…

Chinese whaler, c.1930s, Southern Manchuria nr Haiyang Island on the southeastern part of the Shandong peninsula. There were the whaling stations too. A typical Yellow Sea whale could be completely dissected within an hour – entrails removed, meat processed, bones sawn off.

My tips for a trip to Macao that accentuates the heritage & the calm… including Hotel Central, Livraria Portuguesa, Fat Siu Lau, A Lorcha, Lai Kei Sorvetes, Largo de Santo Agostinho, Lord Stow’s, Pinto Livros e Música, Tap Seac, Barra Slaughterhouse & others… www.thatsmags.com/china/post/3...

Rowing together, near Canton (Guangzhou), c.1935, by Suikee Mack (a China-based National Geographic photographer)….

Xu Beihong - Jiang Biwei Reading - 1920s

1st Edition with dust jacket. The Silent Traveller in Dublin. By Chiang Yee. 1953.

The dreaded R4 announcement on the 6pm news- “and coming up Chris Mason’s thoughts on….’

Charles William Bartlett (1860-1940), “A Corner of the Forbidden City” c.1920s

Off the back of my collection Destination Macao (Blacksmith Books) a guide to visiting old Macao - hotels, restaurants, cafes, galleries, bookshops, and place to just breathe - for That's Shanghai…. www.thatsmags.com/china/post/3...

Heads up Lantau - i’ll be at Vibe Books, Mui Wo, October 19th to talk about some classic old travel writing in Hong Kong, Macao and Southern China… (&, as it’s VIBE there will be wine, books and vinyl in the vicinity…)

This week CrimeReads Crime and the City visited Chengdu, the capital of southwest China's Sichuan province….here’s 3 spicy reads to get you started…

Charles William Bartlett (1860-1940), "Fruit Sellers, Madura, India" (c.1923)

No exact date on this i’m afraid, but The Ambassador Hotel in Tsim Sha Tsui ( at Middle and Nathan Roads) operated from the early 1960s until the mid-1990s….

A brazen posting of what appears to be a looted Chinese five-panel screen up for sale imminently at an auction house in Buckinghamshire, England. Not uncommon to see such an item but with more information, “provenance”, than usual - more details on my blog - chinarhyming.com/2025/09/25/q...

Making noodles in Shandong, c.1927, by Shanghai photographer JC Carter

A South Manchurian whaling ship in the Yellow Sea c.1928

Your regular reminder that the Daily Telegraph, Rees Mogg and the Tory Party are easily curable illnesses we can eradicate…

A Mongolian couple on horseback near Peitzumiao, Inner Mongolia, c.1928

My recent collection Destination Macao (Blacksmith Books) in LA Review of Books… “French’s work introduces the reader to a wide range of subjects in immersive and rewarding prose, with a storyteller’s eye for mise-en-scène and a nose for the telling anecdote.” lareviewofbooks.org/article/expa...

This fortnight CrimeReads Crime & the City heads to a favourite spot - Chengdu - with Murong Xuecun, Zhou Haohui & Li Jieren among others to check out…. crimereads.com/crime-and-th...

The Yellow River at Jinan, c.late 1920s

David Addey RIBA, (1933-2019), Boat Building, Aberdeen (Hong Kong), 1982

MAGA - FYI: Bagram airfield was built by the Soviet Union in the 1950s - just sayin’

Behold, the glory of the Zichuan Colliery, Shandong!! C.1930

Stone Bell Hill (Shizhong Shan), near Jiujiang, Jiangxi Province, c.late 1920s

The Whangoo (Huangu) River, Shanghai, c.1930

Continuing my theme of albums as well as old photos. Here a beautiful cloth Japanese album from 1937. But it has a dark history - it was the album of a member of the Japanese Naval Landing Party that invaded Shanghai & contained photos of Japanese soldiers & the carnage they caused in Shanghai….

Yushun, Jiangxi, c.late 1920s….

A warm tribute to one of Shanghai's best-loved chroniclers of the city, by her friend Tina Kanagaratnam:

A Chinese river town, sadly unidentified, c.1920s

Hendrik Breitner, Girl in a White Kimono, 1893

The Temple of the Six Banyan Trees or Liurong Temple, a Buddhist temple in Guangzhou (Canton), originally built in AD 537, photographed c.1880s

Junks in harbour (location unknown)….c.1880s

Queen's Road Central (near Cochrane Street), Hong Kong, by Lai Fong, 1875...

Congratulations to Jonathan Watts whose The Many Lives of James Lovelock (Canongate Books) has been longlisted for The 2025 HWA Crown Non-Fiction Awards. Amazingly it’s been a year since I helped launch the book with Jon Edinburgh International Book Festival 2024!!!

Heads up for a free event in HK Oct 18 at Bookazine Repulse Bay. I'll be talking about the literary history of the old Repulse Bay Hotel. They'll be books, wine & a tour of the new exhibition Eileen Chang: Love, Upheaval, & the Beauty of Fragility too Sign up here - bookazine.com.hk/products/cel...

Dancers, Eastern Mongolia, 1930s

Chungshan Park, Hankou

the Grand Hotel de Pekin, Wallis' rather sumptuous Dec 1924 digs on Chang'an. the original facade. a later photo of trams, a service began in 1924. empty land opposite & one form the 50s along Chang'an Her Lotus Year: China, the Roaring Twenties & the Making of Wallis Simpson available everywhere

Even among our current cross-party crop of self-serving politicians Yvette “see my Union Jack Bunting and don’t you dare mention Palestine Action” Cooper stands out!!!

Changsha, Hunan (date unknown)

A street in the former Shanghai French Concession, 1949

Gamblers at the Central Hotel, Avenida de Almeida Ribeiro, Macao, 1949

Bookshop.org is a great place to buy my books and recommendations and do some good for indie bookstores…. uk.bookshop.org/shop/paulfre...

Hongkew (Hongkou) Market, Shanghai (sadly long gone…)

The irrepressibly curious Tess Johnston, who died this week, contributed so much knowledge to twentieth century Shanghai and China architectural history, but also gave us a whole bunch of the most beautiful books through the Old China Hand Press with her frequent collaborator photographer Deke Erh….

The irrepressibly curious Tess Johnston, who died this week, contributed so much knowledge to twentieth century Shanghai and China architectural history, but also gave us a whole bunch of the most beautiful books through the Old China Hand Press with her frequent collaborator photographer Deke Erh….