Midnight in Peking

I am trying to read down the enormous backlog of books in my library. Over the years, the number of volumes has increased steadily. A few years ago, I started separating those that I really want to read as soon as possible from those that I want to read eventually and stored those that were in the eventually category.

Now, my bedside, den bookshelves and library are bursting at the seams with "I want to read now" books. Now has come.

Midnight in Peking: How the Murder of a Young Englishwoman Haunted the Last Days of Old China by Paul French is part of this new regimen. Published in 2011. From the blurb:

Winner of the both the Edgar Award for Best Fact Crime and the CWA Non-Fiction Dagger Chronicling an incredible unsolved murder, Midnight in Peking captures the aftermath of the brutal killing of a British schoolgirl in January 1937. The mutilated body of Pamela Werner was found at the base of the Fox Tower, which, according to local superstition, is home to the maliciously seductive fox spirits. As British detective Dennis and Chinese detective Han investigate, the mystery only deepens and, in a city on the verge of invasion, rumor and superstition run rampant. Based on seven years of research by historian and China expert Paul French, this true-crime thriller presents readers with a rare and unique portrait of the last days of colonial Peking.

True enough but the book is even better than that.

Midnight in Peking is a nice complement to The Boxer Rebellion: The Dramatic Story of China's War on Foreigners that Shook the World in the Summer of 1900 by Diana Preston which I read recently. All the action takes place in the same neighborhood of Peking.

Midnight in Peking: How the Murder of a Young Englishwoman Haunted the Last Days of Old China functions well as both mystery and as history. Ultimately though, it is a tragedy compounded of numerous forces: Japanese Imperialism versus Chinese Nationalism, Foreign merchants versus Central Government, Rural migrants versus urban residents, agrarian culture versus manufacturing culture, etc. Oddly, despite there being immense sadness in the book, it is not a depressing read. There is too much that is interesting for that to be the case.

It gives a peek into the life of the foreign communities in China in the 1930s. There were many things I learned but I was most surprised by the numbers and the tragedies of the White Russians. After the Russian Revolution in 1917, the nationalist and conservative forces fought the communists for another five years across the sprawling Russian imperial landmass. With the defeat of the White Russians in 1922, many were scattered, far from home and unwelcome to return by the Soviets. Some 100,000 to 200,000 White Russian refugees fled to Manchuria, Shanghai, and Peking and other Chinese cities. (Sources here, here, and here.)

Bereft of resources and stateless, they lived the most primal lives in China. 20% of the women turned to prostitution to provide minimal support. Alcoholism and violence were rife. Both in Midnight in Peking and in additional research, it sounds horrifying. In the imagination, the question is not only "What would you have done?" but more basically "What could you have done?" were you in their position?

So a well written and researched book, telling a fascinating story. It was hard to put down.

Recommended.