When I lived in Hong Kong, I not only learned to adjust my vocabulary to British English, but also learned a slew of foreign words adopted into the English language there.Like godown. It's a Malay word for warehouse, preferably dock-side. And shroff, which comes from the … [Read more...]
Godown
Another postcard from Taiwan, 1965
My grandma has been staying with us this week, entertaining my two youngest kids and talking to me about vacations from decades ago. She sent this postcard to her two youngest children 45 years ago when she and my grandfather visited Taiwan. In the postcard, she wrote: We have … [Read more...]
Variation on a theme
I found this photo of Nathan Road from a 1972 Hong Kong guidebook. It didn't take me long to recognize familiar landmarks from the photos I've posted of 1962 and 1966 Kowloon.The "EL" in the upper right corner looked familiar, like the same font used in the Sun Ya Hotel where … [Read more...]
Made in China
I found this ad in a tourist book from 1972, one of the years my grandparents traveled to Hong Kong.The ad wasn't on a two-page spread. This was it....from China!In 1972 travelers couldn't enter China easily. For some, it was closed off. For others, the country was so … [Read more...]
Book of the week–The Concubine’s Daughter
I'm always on the lookout for new voices in Chinese literature. So when I came across The Concubine's Daughter by Pai Kit Fai (St. Martin's Griffin, 2009), I was game. And that's what I read this week.The story follows the daughter of a concubine in early 20th century China … [Read more...]
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