by Paul French
First published 2009
Paul French chronicles the turbulent century when Western journalists documented China's dramatic transformation. From the Canton trading posts of the 1820s through the Communist victory in 1949, these correspondents occupied front row seats to history. They covered the Opium Wars and watched the Summer Palace burn. They survived the Boxer Rebellion and witnessed the Qing Dynasty collapse. They reported on warlord conflicts, the rise of nationalism, and Japanese invasion. They ducked bombs in Shanghai, sheltered during air raids on Chongqing, and watched Chiang Kai-shek flee to Taiwan. French reveals this press corps as flawed humans carrying their own biases and assumptions. Some were brilliant observers like Morrison of Peking. Others were glamorous visitors like Peter Fleming and Emily Hahn. A few were outright frauds and spies. Many were drunks who lost their objectivity. Yet most worked professionally to interpret modern China's birth for global audiences. Their stories illuminate both China's convulsive history and the complex characters who witnessed it unfold.
Genres: history, 20th-century, china, non-fiction, biography-memoir, 21st-century, journalism, american-history
Vibes: intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: unreliable-narrator
Setting: Canton, China, Chongqing, Peking, Shanghai, Taiwan
Period: 1820s, 1949, Boxer Rebellion, Opium Wars, Qing Dynasty
312 pages · Hardcover · Hong Kong University Press