My latest pick for "The Archives" at the China Books Review is now up. This month, we're diving into the gilded goldfish bowl of Beijing’s early 20th-century Legation Quarter with Peking Picnic, by Ann Bridge, aka Mary Ann Dolling Sanders—a woman who made up for her reportedly miserable marriage by writing dishy novels based on the people she met while trailing her diplomat husband from posting to posting.
Peking Picnic, Ann Bridge's 1932 literary debut, follows a group of mostly British and American foreigners over the course of a three-day eponymous "picnic" to Jietai Temple in the Western Hills of Beijing. At first glance, the book is a novel of manners, given an exotic twist by being set on the outskirts of Beijing rather than a drawing room in the heart of Mayfair. After all, nothing says "manners" like a party of expatriates invading a Buddhist shrine for a weekend of cocktails, romantic intrigue, and smoking. Lots and lots of smoking.
The book abounds with the sort of interwar "upstairs, downstairs" vibes that made the TV show Downton Abbey a guilty pleasure on both sides of the Atlantic. But Peking Picnic earns its spot in the China Archive for its evocative portrayal of interwar Beijing, its intimate and unfiltered immersion into the hothouse of the Legation Quarter, and the author's poignant observations about adapting to life in China, many of which ring true today.
Speaking of dysfunctional marriages, next month's selection will be James Mann's Beijing Jeep: A Case Study Of Western Business In China—when Detroit met the Middle Kingdom and wacky hilarity ensued.