Alice Poon's Blog, page 3
August 28, 2019
Liu Rushi's Paintings and Why I Feature Her in my Upcoming Novel
I was quite excited when I recently found on the internet a collection of Liu Rushi’s paintings. Before this discovery, I was aware that one painting by her, titled Misty Willows by the Moonlit Dike, is held at the Palace Museum of Beijing.
Liu Rushi 柳如是 (1618 – 1664), Chen Yuanyuan 陳圓圓 (1625 – 1681) and Li Xiangjun 李香君 (1624 – 1653) were courtesans with exceptional talents and stunning beauty from the late Ming dynasty. They were the most celebrated among the Eight Great Beauties of Qinhuai in Nanjing 秦淮八艷,by virtue of their high-profile romance with prominent literati and their drama-filled lives.
Liu Rushi was a poetry prodigy with artistic flair in calligraphy, painting and embroidery, while Chen Yuanyuan and Li Xiangjun were renowned kunqu opera singers and pipa (4-stringed lute) players. They are the three protagonists of my upcoming novel.
I’ve recently come to know that some of Liu’s paintings are now in the possession of the Freer Gallery of Art (Smithsonian Institution) in Washington DC. Information on the museum’s website shows that the collection was purchased at a 1992 Sotheby New York auction from (presumably the estate of) a Frenchman named Jean-Pierre Dubosc (1904 – 1988).
Curiosity drove me to do a little research on Dubosc, and I’ve discovered another interesting story.
Jean-Pierre Dubosc was a French diplomat attached to the French Legation in Beijing and an avid collector of Chinese artefacts. He happened to be married, at one time, to Janine Loo, the youngest daughter of C. T. Loo (1880 – 1957), who had, since 1908, established himself in Paris as a dealer in Chinese antiques. According to China Rhyming’s blog post, while living in Beijing, Dubosc occupied himself with sourcing Chinese treasures from antique and curio shops for various European and American museums, as well as for C. T. Loo’s Paris dealership business.
C. T. Loo, a mysterious man of humble birth, revered in the West but scorned in his homeland for stealing its patrimony, was the subject of a 2013 biography by Geraldine Lenain, an Asian art expert now living in Shanghai, titled Monsieur Loo: Le Roman d’un Marchand d’Art Asiatique (Mr. Loo: The Novel of an Asian Art Dealer). She had obtained Loo’s precious personal archives from his grandson, and permission to write the biography from Janine Loo. The publication is in French and in Chinese. I’m not sure if there is an English translation. I digress.
Back to Liu Rushi’s paintings. It is not known when or how or from whom Dubosc got those paintings. Nor is it clear why he had not sold the paintings while he was still alive. Was it because nobody in the West knew who Liu Rushi was, and so there was no demand for her work? Or was it for some other reason? It is a known fact that many of the poem and calligraphy collections and paintings by Liu Rushi and her husband Qian Qianyi were destroyed in the Qianlong Emperor’s cull of anti-Qing literary work when he championed the creation of the Siku Quanshu (Complete Library of the Four Treasuries). Dubosc could well be aware that Liu’s paintings were a rare find.
For many people, especially non-Chinese, the name Liu Rushi is probably not a familiar one. Yet, despite her low status as a courtesan, she was the subject of an 800,000-word biography written by the eminent historian and intellectual luminary Chen Yinke 陳寅恪 (1890 – 1969), who spent the last ten years of his life researching and writing it. The title of the work is: An Ulterior Biography of Liu Rushi. More importantly, he famously named her as the embodiment of the Chinese nation’s spirit of independence and liberal thinking. That comment was what had goaded me to read, research and write about this multi-talented poet-courtesan.
A note of interest is that Chen Yinke had been condemned as anti-revolutionary in his fading years, and it was not until 1988 that his former students and friends could openly commemorate him. His seminal biography of Liu Rushi and other works only emerged from oblivion in the 1990s. Hence the auction of Liu’s paintings in 1992 would appear to be a natural timing.
Liu Rushi 柳如是 (1618 – 1664), Chen Yuanyuan 陳圓圓 (1625 – 1681) and Li Xiangjun 李香君 (1624 – 1653) were courtesans with exceptional talents and stunning beauty from the late Ming dynasty. They were the most celebrated among the Eight Great Beauties of Qinhuai in Nanjing 秦淮八艷,by virtue of their high-profile romance with prominent literati and their drama-filled lives.
Liu Rushi was a poetry prodigy with artistic flair in calligraphy, painting and embroidery, while Chen Yuanyuan and Li Xiangjun were renowned kunqu opera singers and pipa (4-stringed lute) players. They are the three protagonists of my upcoming novel.
I’ve recently come to know that some of Liu’s paintings are now in the possession of the Freer Gallery of Art (Smithsonian Institution) in Washington DC. Information on the museum’s website shows that the collection was purchased at a 1992 Sotheby New York auction from (presumably the estate of) a Frenchman named Jean-Pierre Dubosc (1904 – 1988).
Curiosity drove me to do a little research on Dubosc, and I’ve discovered another interesting story.
Jean-Pierre Dubosc was a French diplomat attached to the French Legation in Beijing and an avid collector of Chinese artefacts. He happened to be married, at one time, to Janine Loo, the youngest daughter of C. T. Loo (1880 – 1957), who had, since 1908, established himself in Paris as a dealer in Chinese antiques. According to China Rhyming’s blog post, while living in Beijing, Dubosc occupied himself with sourcing Chinese treasures from antique and curio shops for various European and American museums, as well as for C. T. Loo’s Paris dealership business.
C. T. Loo, a mysterious man of humble birth, revered in the West but scorned in his homeland for stealing its patrimony, was the subject of a 2013 biography by Geraldine Lenain, an Asian art expert now living in Shanghai, titled Monsieur Loo: Le Roman d’un Marchand d’Art Asiatique (Mr. Loo: The Novel of an Asian Art Dealer). She had obtained Loo’s precious personal archives from his grandson, and permission to write the biography from Janine Loo. The publication is in French and in Chinese. I’m not sure if there is an English translation. I digress.
Back to Liu Rushi’s paintings. It is not known when or how or from whom Dubosc got those paintings. Nor is it clear why he had not sold the paintings while he was still alive. Was it because nobody in the West knew who Liu Rushi was, and so there was no demand for her work? Or was it for some other reason? It is a known fact that many of the poem and calligraphy collections and paintings by Liu Rushi and her husband Qian Qianyi were destroyed in the Qianlong Emperor’s cull of anti-Qing literary work when he championed the creation of the Siku Quanshu (Complete Library of the Four Treasuries). Dubosc could well be aware that Liu’s paintings were a rare find.
For many people, especially non-Chinese, the name Liu Rushi is probably not a familiar one. Yet, despite her low status as a courtesan, she was the subject of an 800,000-word biography written by the eminent historian and intellectual luminary Chen Yinke 陳寅恪 (1890 – 1969), who spent the last ten years of his life researching and writing it. The title of the work is: An Ulterior Biography of Liu Rushi. More importantly, he famously named her as the embodiment of the Chinese nation’s spirit of independence and liberal thinking. That comment was what had goaded me to read, research and write about this multi-talented poet-courtesan.
A note of interest is that Chen Yinke had been condemned as anti-revolutionary in his fading years, and it was not until 1988 that his former students and friends could openly commemorate him. His seminal biography of Liu Rushi and other works only emerged from oblivion in the 1990s. Hence the auction of Liu’s paintings in 1992 would appear to be a natural timing.
July 4, 2019
Author Interview with Dan Moorhouse, U.K. Educator and Founder of Schools History Website
I was honored to take part in the interview with Dan Moorhouse, U.K. educator and founder of the Schools History website (U.K. based). He asked some thought-provoking questions about my novel The Green Phoenix: A Novel of the Woman Who Re-Made Asia, Empress Xiaozhuang, and whether historical fiction is helpful as a teaching tool.
Here's the link to the interview:
https://schoolshistory.org.uk/topics/...
Here's the link to the interview:
https://schoolshistory.org.uk/topics/...
May 20, 2019
Today The Green Phoenix is in the Top 100 Historical Chinese Fiction Paid on Amazon!
I've just taken a look at the Amazon book page for The Green Phoenix. Wow, the novel is in the Top 100 Historical Chinese Fiction Paid, and Top 100 Chinese Literature Paid Lists!
https://www.amazon.com/Green-Phoenix-...
https://www.amazon.com/Green-Phoenix-...
March 30, 2019
Qing Empresses Exhibition at Freer/Sackler Museum in Washington DC
The Qing Empresses Exhibition at the Freer/Sackler Museum in Washington DC starts today and will last until June 23, 2019.
Empress Xiaozhuang, the protagonist of my novel The Green Phoenix, is one of the featured Empresses.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5adHp...
Empress Xiaozhuang, the protagonist of my novel The Green Phoenix, is one of the featured Empresses.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5adHp...
March 7, 2019
The Green Phoenix Chosen for a GR Group's World Libraries Challenge!
Frankly, this review by Julianne of Yorkshire, U.K. made me quite breathless, and I'm so grateful that she chose my book for her group's (For Love of a Book) World Libraries challenge:-
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
February 24, 2019
Book Review - "The Goodman of Nanking: The Diaries of John Rabe" Edited by Erwin Wickert; Translated by John E. Woods
The Good Man of Nanking: The Diaries of John Rabe by John RabeMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
I had delayed reading this important book for a long time simply out of sheer fear of having the atrocious scenes imprinted on my mind.
In June 2011 I had attended a talk by Iris Chang’s mother, Dr. Ying-ying Chang, in Vancouver about her book The Woman Who Could Not Forget: Iris Chang Before and Beyond the Rape of Nanking. At that event I had also seen a documentary recording the heinous acts committed by the Japanese soldiers during the invasion and occupation of Nanking between 1937 and 1938. (As mentioned in this book, the film documentary was produced by Rev. John Magee, an American missionary.) So I was mentally prepared going into The Good Man of Nanking. Still, I found myself consciously skimming the photos in the book as best as I could.
I had not previously read Iris Chang’s The Rape of Nanking, the research of which in fact relied heavily on these diaries, which were not published as a book until forty-nine years after John Rabe’s death in 1949. The fact that John Rabe had not intended for his diaries to be published (he had only meant them for his family members’ reading) adds to the value of the book as an authentic and unassailable true account of what really happened, without any hidden agenda. The plain, sometimes emotional, but always from the heart, monologue style of writing, while speaking to readers’ mind and soul, gives good insight into the selfless and compassionate character of this good-hearted German. The monstrosities that he had to try to deflect from some 250,000 Chinese refugees were in ironic contrast to the humanitarian efforts of a handful of Westerners including him who happened to be in Nanking.
The first entry was made on September 21, 1937 and the last one was dated February 28, 1938.
This January 25, 1938 entry gives a good idea of the gist of the events on record:
“There is one case that we don’t record: A Chinese worker, who has worked all day for the Japanese, is paid in rice instead of money. He sits down in exhaustion with his family at the table, on which his wife has just placed a bowl of watery rice soup: the humble meal for a family of six. A Japanese soldier passing by plays a little joke and urinates in the half-full rice bowl and laughs as he goes his merry way.
The incident made me think of the poem “Lewwer duad us Slaav” (“Better Dead than a Slave”), but one simply can’t expect a poor Chinese worker to behave like a free Frisian. The Chinese are far too downtrodden, and they patiently submitted to their fate long ago. It is, as I said, an incident that is given the scantest notice. If every case of rape were revenged with murder, a good portion of the occupying troops would have been wiped out by now.”
After Rabe and his wife returned to Germany in April 1938, they went through days of hunger and destitution in 1945 and 1946. When the Chinese Military Mission in Berlin made him an offer to resettle in China in exchange for appearing as a witness for the prosecution at the Tokyo war crimes tribunal, Rabe declined.
In a message he left for his grandchildren, he explained: “I didn’t want to see any Japanese hang, although they deserved it…..There must be some atonement, some just punishment; but in my view the judgment should be spoken only by their own nation.”
View all my reviews
February 20, 2019
Kristen McQuinn's 5-star Review of The Green Phoenix
This latest review of The Green Phoenix by Kristin McQuinn was heart-warming! Kristin is a seasoned reviewer who reviews for Historical Novel Society and Discovering Diamonds:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
February 19, 2019
January 25, 2019
A 5-star Review that Makes My Heart Sing!
This latest 5-star review of The Green Phoenix: A Novel of the Woman Who Re-Made Asia, Empress Xiaozhuang put a smile on my face! It feels good when your work strikes a chord with the reader.
What Alice Poon has done is to take the broad historical sweep of these events and bring them down to the individual human scale, and let us view these dramatic and historically significant happenings through the eyes of one woman, over the course of her whole life.
The author doesn't shy away from the harsh historical reality of the events; we see palace intrigue in the fledgling Qing court, personal jealousies and ambition, betrayal and loyalty. We see the military and political machinations, cruel death sentences, assassination attempts, powerful generals changing sides during wartime, and vicious reprisals on civilian populations. And through it all, we're shown the ability of one individual—one woman—to influence all these events.
In a very positive form of multiculturalism, Bumbutai uses her keen judgment to emphasize the best elements of Chinese, Mongol, and even some Western ideas, values and outlooks.
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
What Alice Poon has done is to take the broad historical sweep of these events and bring them down to the individual human scale, and let us view these dramatic and historically significant happenings through the eyes of one woman, over the course of her whole life.
The author doesn't shy away from the harsh historical reality of the events; we see palace intrigue in the fledgling Qing court, personal jealousies and ambition, betrayal and loyalty. We see the military and political machinations, cruel death sentences, assassination attempts, powerful generals changing sides during wartime, and vicious reprisals on civilian populations. And through it all, we're shown the ability of one individual—one woman—to influence all these events.
In a very positive form of multiculturalism, Bumbutai uses her keen judgment to emphasize the best elements of Chinese, Mongol, and even some Western ideas, values and outlooks.
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
December 21, 2018
A Painting and Late Qing History
The Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Massachusetts, has recently blogged about how an amazing gem of a Chinese painting came to land on the museum’s doorsteps. It is a moving story, and the serendipitous find in question is a lovely painting of the Garden of Nurtured Harmony 頣和園. In the 1880s Empress Cixi ordered this imperial garden restored, which was located near the site of the Old Summer Palace 圓明園.
Peabody Essex Museum's Blogpost - Hidden Treasure
One paragraph in the middle of the blogpost reads:
“At the time, Wang was in the very early stages of planning for the Empresses of China’s Forbidden City exhibition. The donated painting, now on view in the last gallery, helps tell the story of the influence wielded by Empress Dowager Cixi within the Qing dynasty. In the 1880s Cixi personally oversaw the restoration of the property, which had been pillaged by Anglo-French troops some 20 years earlier.”
But the unvarnished official history behind these imperial gardens is far less palatable than that indicated in the above paragraph. Around 1860, the Old Summer Palace 圓明園 had been vindictively burned to the ground by Anglo-French troops under orders of British Commander Lord Elgin, in what came to be known as the Second Opium War (1856 – 1860). All this violence was in retaliation for the Chinese people trying to resist opium trade and the British invasion of Guangdong in the 1850s.
Willfully oblivious to her subjects' long sufferings during the two Opium Wars and foreign countries' relentless military offensives on Chinese soil, and the crippling penalties they imposed, Cixi took the funds earmarked for the modernizing of the Qing naval fleet and lavished it on the restoration of the Garden of Nurtured Harmony 頤和園 for her own private pleasure.
Perhaps this infamous act paled in comparison to her later wicked persecution of patriotic reformists in 1898, it was nonetheless a direct cause of the Qing court’s defeat in various naval battles with France and Japan between 1884 and 1894, which effectively turned China into a sitting duck vis a vis foreign aggressors and set the stage for the 1900 Boxer Rebellion and the invasion of Beijing by the Alliance of Eight Nations (Britain, France, Germany, Russia, Japan, U.S., Italy and Austria), and then the 1911 Revolution.
It makes me think that world history is a super complex chain of causes and effects. Without going deep into our history, we would never be able to understand the conflicts that plague international relations, much less our present human condition.
Peabody Essex Museum's Blogpost - Hidden Treasure
One paragraph in the middle of the blogpost reads:
“At the time, Wang was in the very early stages of planning for the Empresses of China’s Forbidden City exhibition. The donated painting, now on view in the last gallery, helps tell the story of the influence wielded by Empress Dowager Cixi within the Qing dynasty. In the 1880s Cixi personally oversaw the restoration of the property, which had been pillaged by Anglo-French troops some 20 years earlier.”
But the unvarnished official history behind these imperial gardens is far less palatable than that indicated in the above paragraph. Around 1860, the Old Summer Palace 圓明園 had been vindictively burned to the ground by Anglo-French troops under orders of British Commander Lord Elgin, in what came to be known as the Second Opium War (1856 – 1860). All this violence was in retaliation for the Chinese people trying to resist opium trade and the British invasion of Guangdong in the 1850s.
Willfully oblivious to her subjects' long sufferings during the two Opium Wars and foreign countries' relentless military offensives on Chinese soil, and the crippling penalties they imposed, Cixi took the funds earmarked for the modernizing of the Qing naval fleet and lavished it on the restoration of the Garden of Nurtured Harmony 頤和園 for her own private pleasure.
Perhaps this infamous act paled in comparison to her later wicked persecution of patriotic reformists in 1898, it was nonetheless a direct cause of the Qing court’s defeat in various naval battles with France and Japan between 1884 and 1894, which effectively turned China into a sitting duck vis a vis foreign aggressors and set the stage for the 1900 Boxer Rebellion and the invasion of Beijing by the Alliance of Eight Nations (Britain, France, Germany, Russia, Japan, U.S., Italy and Austria), and then the 1911 Revolution.
It makes me think that world history is a super complex chain of causes and effects. Without going deep into our history, we would never be able to understand the conflicts that plague international relations, much less our present human condition.
