One day, the most trusted sources on China's own history will be Chinese academics, rather than international ones. Until then: "A book about China's disastrous Great Leap Forward policy has won the £20,000 BBC Samuel Johnson Prize for non-fiction. Mao's Great Famine, by Dutch historian Frank Dikotter, beat five other short-listed titles to the award. Chair of the judges Ben Macintyre praised the book as an 'epic record of human folly'. Mao's Great Famine reveals new details of the period from 1958-1962, providing fresh historical perspectives on Mao's campaign to increase industrial production during which tens of millions starved to death. The academic - currently chair of professor of humanities at the University of Hong Kong - was one of a small number of historians to be given access into the Chinese archives." [BBC News] more ›

Just off the northern edge of Fuxing Park, this unusual building was the original French Club (le Cercle Francais Sportif) circa 1904. Later it was moved what is now the Okura Garden Hotel (and much later moved to Cafe Montmartre). For a while this was the French Concession's most prestigious public high school, Le College Francais. You can still see the monogram 'CFS' cast into the wrought-iron railing of the main staircase. There's also some excellent stained-glass in the lobby, which we would have photographed if the security guard wasn't an ass doing his job. more ›

Some have been heard to lament China's love of traditional aspects of society, citing many traditions as being hinderances to real social development and progression. Those people who do feel so may be dismayed, though not surprised, at the recent news that filial piety is still given such importance in 2006: more ›