Royal Asiatic Society China in Shanghai

RAS China in Shanghai - Newsletter Vol 3 No 4 – April 2012
RAS BOOK CLUB
Monday 6.30pm
CHANGE OF VENUE
gloLondon, 3F VIP Room
1 Wulumuqi Lu near Dongping Lu
(across from the American Consulate)
10
Monday 16 th APRIL
Our March meeting featured a lively and intimate group of 15-mostly
people new to the RAS and to the RAS Book Club. We discussed The
Maker of Heavenly Trousers with this book’s editor, Michael Tsang of
Penguin.
While Midnight in Peking (January 2012 book selection), was set in pre-
World War II Peking, this book is set in Peking after the fall of the Qing
Dynasty. It recreates life among the multi-lingual foreigners (living
outside the Legation District) and the household entourage (an extended
Chinese family called the five virtues).
We enjoyed hearing the particular things that interested Michael about the book including the focus on
religion, the romance and risque lives of the main characters and his favorite line: “Yet it was only one
tiny baby who had died of all the millions in China”.
With a smaller group, we were able to talk more in-depth with Michael about his role in editing and fact
checking of a book written in 1912 (and published in 1935) where the author was no longer alive.
For voracious readers, here are some recommendations from Michael Tsang:
Title Author
Fortress Beseiged Shen Congwen
English Wang Gang
Dream of Ding Village Yan Lianke
Chinese Whispers Hsaio-Hung Pai
Song of Everlasting
Sorrow Wang Anyi
APRIL MEETING: please note the new venue…
Date/ Day Title Author
16 Apr 2012 The Opium War Julia Lovell
The Opium War is both the story of modern China (starting with the first conflict with the West) and an
analysis of the country’s contemporary self-image. It explores how China’s national myths mould its
interactions with the outside world, how public memory is spun to serve the present; and how delusion
and prejudice on both sides have bedeviled its relationship with the modern West.
Julia Lovell teaches modern Chinese history at Birkbeck College, University of London. She is the author
of: The Great Wall: China Against the World and The Politics of Cultural Capital: China’s Quest for a
Nobel Prize in Literature and writes on China for the Guardian, the Independent and the Times Library
Supplement. Her main translations of modern Chinese fiction include, most recently, Lu Xun’s The Real
Story of Ah-Q and Other Tales of China.
We will continue to make our book selections readily available to you when possible.
Please join us. This is your Book Club. Comments and suggestions are welcome.
Sandy Strand