Milestone 96: leaving Yantai, #China by ship. In the 1920s the port, called Chefoo, hosted US sailors. One wrote a poem to a girlfriend: It was many a year ago In Chefoo by the sea That a waitress there was whom you may know By the name of Anna Foo Li… outofedenwalk.nationalgeographic.org/milestones/202…

❤️ Yesterday, we welcomed 18 wonderful Veterans who worked at Bletchley Park during WW2 to return to the once top-secret site for the Annual Veterans’ Reunion. Aged between 97 to (almost) 102, Veterans enjoyed an afternoon tea in the Mansion, spending time together, with family

A new blog from Robert Bickers on a Shanghai photograph album, almost ... visualisingchina.net/blog/2024/09/0…

When they say ‘our team’ I doubt CEO Lawrence Gosden (vital stats: base salary of £480,000, bonus of £183,000, 300k hours of sewage spill in 2023, bills up from £451 to £722) will be there. - Southern Water ? Feargal Sharkey

Today in 1948, Kim Il-sung declares the establishment of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. Learn more in this outstanding book ... Review of: North Korea: State of Paranoia by Paul French 🖋️ Paul French – Regarp Book Blog regarp.com/2015/02/02/rev…

A portrait of Francis Festing (1902-76) by Claude Harrison (1922-2009). Festing was a British Army Officer who was the Commander of British Forces in HK from 1945-46. Painted around this time. Harrison trained at Preston College, Liverpool College & the Royal College of Art

It was quite common in Chinese cartoons of the late 19th/20th century to satirize Jesus/Christianity as a pig, since zhǔ 主 (‘the Lord’) sounds similar to zhū 豬 (‘pig’)

Basically the worst reality tv show ever….

Lovely

Bargain of the day - paul vidich The Mercenary - great Moscow-set espionage thriller - 99p Amazon.co.uk - amazon.co.uk/Mercenary-Spys…

weekend bookshop find - a very strange book published in 1897 and written by a very strange looking chap....

Thanks to England's privatised water, the whole of the UK is rated the dirtiest water in Europe. They should be in prison for the rest of their lives.

These fairly average 1930s pictures show various seasons are in hardwood carved frames made by Tai Loong Furniture & Picture Frame Makers of 873-875 Bubbling Well Road (Nanjing Xi Lu), Tel35694, Shanghai.

A blockhouse in a village near Soochow, constructed by the Taiping c.1860, photographed c.1925 by Charles H Kragh

Bridge over a canal at Hangchow (Hangzhou), c.1925 by Maynard Owen Williams

Great piece Zolima CityMag by Ilaria Maria Sala on the Cold War and Hong Kong movies - zolimacitymag.com/hong-kong-cold…

Remember to vote National Trust - you know who doesn’t want you to!!

Book #54 on the Sinica Podcast Ultimate China Bookshelf - the many covers of William Hinton’s Fanshen (1966) - open.substack.com/pub/sinica/p/u…

A little prep for an upcoming podcast - Austin Coates’ Myself a Mandarin (1968)

A little series on the Chinese objects at Petworth House, West Sussex, built in 1688 by Charles Seymour, 6th Duke of Somerset. #1 pair of Chinese vases decorated with sprays of flowers, c.1650-1700