Old Shanghai’s architecture is world famous, particularly for the many Art Deco buildings designed and erected during its golden age in the 1920s and 1930s, before the Japanese invaded and the world changed. Many of the Art Deco gems in Shanghai were designed by the French architect Paul Veysseyre, the focus of this book. Coauthor Spencer Dodington has lived in and renovated many of Shanghai’s Art Deco masterpieces, and coauthor Charles Lagrange has chronicled the history of Shanghai’s French Concession in numerous articles. Together they have visited all surviving works by architect Paul Veysseyre. Having been granted with access to the private Veysseyre family archives outside Paris, plus extensive on-the-ground research in Shanghai, the two writers have created the definitive book on one of the city’s greatest architects. His works in the French Concession brought contemporary French architecture, especially the glamorous new Art Deco style, to the booming port city in the 1920s and 1930s, to its lasting glory. This book sheds light on the story of one exceptional man and his creations, and also covers the French Concession’s remarkable history and legacy.

Shanghai's Art Deco Master: Paul Veysseyre’s Architecture in the French Concession

Arts & Photography

Dodington, Spencer

Lagrange, Charles

Architecture

Earnshaw Books

In 1970 Hong Kong was the fastest expanding city in the world, a city that lived on three levels: the expatriates, nearly always British who lived in almost complete isolation; the vast mass of Chinese residents struggling to get by and improve their lot; and, finally, the criminal and corrupt underside which not only fought among itself, but also affected the lives of everyone else in the Crown Colony through fear and corruption. Fighting to hold this in check—and by and large succeeding—were the Hong Kong police force. At the officer level, many were British. Into this heady and dangerous mix steps a young Merseyside policeman, Chris Emmett. His account of those times brings vividly to life the crime, prostitution, drugs, triad street gangs, and corruption that was an important part of the fabric of Hong Kong of that time.

Hong Kong Policeman: Law, Life and Death on the Streets of Hong Kong: An English Police Inspector Tells It as It Was

Biographies & Memoirs

Emmett, Chris

Community & Culture

Hemmed in by prejudice and restrictive laws, Chinese Americans lived in a defensive crouch at the turn of the 20th century. This is the true story of three scrappy and ambitious brothers who fought hard for their share of the American dream. Activists who rose to prominence and spoke out against injustice, these men made waves and broke barriers; they defied laws to defend their interests and tore down the walls that separated them from the rest of society. Exciting and informative, this history weaves the tale of Chinese immigrants with the larger relationship between China and the United States during that time.

Three Tough Chinamen

SELIGMAN, Scott D.

With vivid firsthand descriptions of Asia's most cosmopolitan city from the 1920s to the 1950s, this recollection chronicles Liliane Willens' life and trials in Shanghai as China collapsed under the weight of foreign invaders and civil war. Engaging and often humorous, this unique memoir relates Willens' experiences as a Jewish Russian living in early Communist China.

Stateless in Shanghai

Willens, Liliane

An exciting and moving collection of stories, this book introduces denizens of the wildly disparate worlds populating China's most vibrant city: Shanghai. Different and unique, these spirited stories are united by the universal longing to feel connected, to be known, and to love and be loved. Told with tenderness and emotional acuity, it delves deep into the hearts and minds of everyday individuals caught up in China's great transformation.

Beggar's Chicken: Stories from Shanghai

Literature & Fiction

Baer, Ulrich

History & Criticism

Opera singer Franziska Goldmann has fallen on hard times, but a chance encounter with Queen Victoria’s musically inclined second son seems to offer Franziska an opportunity to resume her career as a singer. But it is the other unpredictable characters in her life, including her German anarchist lover and a devious procurer, who may ultimately determine her destiny. The haunting story of a lone woman’s struggle to escape her fate, this story unfolds against the ironically observed background of colonial society, from the waterfront brothels to the mansions of the rich.

Gage Street Courtesan

New, Christopher

British & Irish

Featuring entirely original writings written exclusively for this work, this anthology is filled with 28 essays from foreigners who live or have lived in China for a significant period of time. The book contains beautiful and enlightening stories about China from such noteworthy writers as Simon Winchester, Peter Hessler, Susan Conley, and Alan Paul, among others. Through their personal stories, they illustrate the many sides of Chinese life—the weird, the fascinating, and the appalling—and share what it’s like to live, learn, and love as an outsider in a land unlike any other in the world.

Unsavory Elements: Stories of Foreigners on the Loose in China

For two years, Princess Der Ling was the favorite lady-in-waiting to the Empress Dowager Cixi in the imperial palace in Beijing. This book provides a unique and surprisingly intimate portrait of the Dragon Lady, who ruled China for 47 years, and brought the country to the brink of destruction. Der Ling refers to the larger political context on many occasions. But the best parts of the book are the small details. What emerges is an intimate portrait of the life and personality of the Empress Dowager, and a sense of the inner workings of the highly secretive world of the imperial palace.

Two Years in the Forbidden City (Tales of Old China)

Ling, Der

Historical

This book, written in the early 1950s by a former Chinese ambassador to London, is a cultured and entertaining view of the gastronomic side of Chinese life. F.T. Cheng sets out to show Westerners that there was a lot more to Chinese food culture than chop suey. It is a wonderful reminder of the richness and depth of Chinese culture from a man who also completely understood the West.

Musings of a Chinese Gourmet

Cookbooks, Food & Wine

Cheng, F. T.

Regional & International

Isabella Bird was one of the greatest travelers and travel writers of all time, and this is her last major book, a sympathetic look at inland China and beyond into Tibet at the end of the 19th century. In describing the journey, Isabella provides a rich mix of observations and describes two occasions when she is almost killed by anti-foreign mobs. It many ways, Isabella created the model for travel writing today, and this one of her greatest works.

The Yangtze Valley and Beyond

Bird, Isabella L.

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