Blog
Check out Claire’s periodic blogs as well as articles by our loquacious guest bloggers on a range of Chinese culture and heritage topics. Our roster includes the legendary Tess Johnston (A Last Look: Western Architecture in Old Shanghai), Helen Zia (Last Boat Out of Shanghai: The Epic Story of the Chinese Who Fled Mao’s Revolution), and Katya Knyazeva (Shanghai Old Town: Topography of a Phantom City).
Latest Post
Interview Your Family Members
In many ways I am my mother’s daughter: like Mom, I’m always searching for a silver lining. In the B. C. (Before Covid) era...
Claire’s Posts
It’s a Great World After All
I came across a special letter that I received during the early days of my research for Remembering Shanghai regarding the Austrian-American filmmaker Josef von…
The Hong Kong of My Youth
Feeling especially nostalgic for the Hong Kong of my youth—if only to return to that age of hope and innocence (and parties).
Nostalgia is a Strange Thing
Nostalgia is a strange thing. Its Greek roots nostos (“return home”) and algos (“pain”) express a tender longing to go back to our origin, suggesting…
The Remembering Shanghai Walking Tour
The Da Vinci Code Walking Tour in Paris may have started the book walk trend, but history buffs in Shanghai have enthusiastically taken it up,…
American Club Then and Now
Hong Kong’s American Club has always held a special place in the heart of my family—not only when my brothers and I were kids in…
IPPY Awards
As I might prefer to stay in that dark comfy cave where I spent 10 enjoyable years writing Remembering Shanghai, when I’m blessed with third-party…
An 18th and an 88th
March 2019 was doubly auspicious for the Chao clan, as we celebrated Isabel’s 88th, and her youngest grandson Garrett’s 18th birthdays. Our family gathered in…
Chinese New Year at da Shop
It was such an honor and delight to be part of the January Chinese New Year celebrations at da Shop, Honolulu’s fabulous independent bookshop, where…
RTHK (Radio Television Hong Kong)
RTHK (Radio Television Hong Kong) is home to our dear friend the legendary Uncle Ray Cordeiro, who was named by Guinness World Records as “the…
House Reconstruction
We have only one photo of Isabel’s childhood home, taken in the 1980s when the house was already fifty years old and in a state…
Isabel’s Childhood Home
We have no surviving photos of the Sun family’s Shanghai home as Isabel knew it. Though the 1930s structure still stands and has a fresh…
Guest Posts
Interview Your Family Members
In many ways I am my mother’s daughter: like Mom, I’m always searching for a silver lining. In the B. C. (Before Covid) era...
Shanghai Exiles
While researching Remembering Shanghai, I’ve met lovely new friends with a passion for Old Shanghai. One of the first was blogger-raconteur Hugues Martin, author of…
The Man Who Taught China to Dance
My mother Isabel loved the nightclubs of Old Shanghai: of course the music itself and, most of all, the dancing. Researching that part of the…
How Heritage Shows Up in My Fiction
Though we haven’t met in person, Carol Van Den Hende and I have a shared experience that blends our Shanghainese heritage with an American upbringing…
Art Deco Sophisticate
I was delighted to find this article on Grosvenor House on the Shanghai Art Deco blog, brainchild of my friends Patrick Cranley and Tina Kanagaratnam,…
There’s a Chinese Saying for That
US Pacific-Northwest-born Heather Diamond’s self-described “rebellious streak and itchy feet” led to unusually diverse experiences, including her marriage into a big Hong Kong Chinese family.
Fall of the Bamboo Curtain
Hard to believe that Richard Nixon’s historic visit to China was 50 years ago, during the last week of February 1972. Hard to believe because,…
My Mother’s Secrets
To say that I admire Helen Zia is an understatement. In addition to being an award-winning writer, she has worn many diverse hats, ranging from…
From Arcadia to Airline Club
Katya Knyazeva, from Novosibirsk, Russia, is a historian and a journalist with a focus on urban form, heritage preservation and the Russian diaspora in Shanghai.
Blank Space
Yuli crossed my radar in early 2020, when the virus had hit Wuhan, and she was leading #GoWuhan, a social media awareness campaign calling for…
Cinemas in Old Shanghai
A behind-the-scenes look at the movies in Old Shanghai, by the legendary heritage advocate Tess Johnston.
Isabel’s Shanghai: Seven Decades On
Guest blogger Amy Sommers is the author of Rumors from Shanghai, her debut novel, which delves into World War II history in China.
Blogroll with Shanghai/China Blogs
Asian America
Asian Cha
Asia Literary Review
China in WW2
China Skinny
Fête Chinoise
Goldthread
Gweilo
Historic Shanghai
Joan’s Shanghai
Katya Knyazeva’s Scrapbook
Little Museum
Pastvu
Red Pork Press
Royal Asiatic Society
Shanghai Art Deco
Shanghailander
Shanghai Sojourns
Sikhs in Shanghai
Sixth Tone
Shanghai Literary Review
Shanghai Street Stories
Shanghai Tour
SupChina
Teacup Media
University of Bristol
Virtual Shanghai
