I can't wait for 2016 to be over and done with. Go. Away. Already. But to stay positive until then, I was fortunate to experience quite a few highlights. In January, I wrote the introduction for the re-release of Ban Zhao's Instructions for Chinese Women and Girls (Camphor Press, … [Read more...]
My first post for the Los Angeles Review of Books
A couple weeks ago I published my first review for the Los Angeles Review of Books! It all started with a Tweet about a newly-translated Eileen Chang novel, Half a Lifelong Romance (Anchor, 2016). I loved the book, which reminded me of her other novels I've read and films I've … [Read more...]
Photo Friday
When I was in Shanghai a couple weeks ago, I came across author Eileen Chang's old apartment on one of the Art Deco walking tours.Isn't it a beauty? Eileen Chang is one of my favorite authors, so I thought it was very fitting to see the building where she lived more than … [Read more...]
Eileen Chang
I usually feature contemporary writers in this column, but for a change I thought I would include a writer who has influenced me more than any other.Eileen Chang was born in Shanghai in 1920 and died anonymously in California a day before my birthday in 1995. Her fiction … [Read more...]
The Romance of Shanghai’s French Concession
The reason I took to Shanghai so well, more so than other cities in China, was because of the former French Concession. Just look at this quaint street.This map (in Czech, tres cool, n'est-ce pas?) shows the area of the French Concession in relation to the Whampoa River … [Read more...]