Author of Midnight in Peking, City of Devils, Murders of Old China, Peking Noir, The Defectors, Her Lotus Year. The Last Emperor of China is out this August. Return to the City of Darkness - Kowloon Walled City now on BBCSounds. Agent - Aitken-Alexander
Paul French
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The marble boat, Summer Palace (Yiheyuan), Peking, restored in 1893 by Cixi with an additional storey. This photograph from the 1920s.
Entrance to a courtyard house, Peking, c.1890s, by Isabella Bird
Advanced reader copies of The Last Emperor: Twilight of the Forbidden City from St Martin’s Press in New York…. Out this November in North America….
In 1981 David Hockney (1937-2026) visited China with poet Stephen Spender inspiring their 1982 book China Diary. Hockney explored landscape scrolls in his 1988 documentary film A Day on the Grand Canal with the Emperor of China, where Hockney examines a 72-foot-long 17th-century Qing Dynasty scroll.
Flowery Pagoda (Hua Ta) at the Temple of the Six Banyan Trees in Canton (Guangzhou), - maybe by Afong (Lai Afong)
Ya Zhen's studio on Heavenly Peace Street - Tianping Jie, Canton (Guangzhou). Possibly Lai Afong or John Thomson, both photographers documenting China during that era who took images of this street. Not sure who took this one though.
The Macau Tower (Torre de Macau) lit up for Portugal Day
Another beautiful day London / why not get out and explore Marylebone’s grand garden squares with my VoiceMap Publishers GPS walking tour - voicemap.me/tour/london/...
It’s a glorious weekend London - why not take my Voicemap GPS walking tour from Shepherd Market through the hidden mews and back lanes of Mayfair…..
voicemap.me/tour/london/...
The next book in my Asian Arguments series for Bloomsbury is Jerome Sauvage’s first-hand account of life in NK based on his time as a UN Special Resident coordinator in Pyongyang. A unique deep dive into PY & often invisible rural DPRK. Out August - preorder here…. www.bloomsbury.com/uk/witness-t...
Step into one of London’s poshest pockets, where artists and aristocracy mingled with this self-guided tour of London, the United Kingdom. For the best experience, install the VoiceMap audio guide app...
Uncover mews where servants slept, kings sinned and generals prayed with this self-guided tour of London, the United Kingdom. For the best experience, install the VoiceMap audio guide app with automat...
