Champions Day

May 1, 2020
A distillation of the international flavor of old Shanghai and its sublimated race relations through one wartime day of celebration, mourning, and horse racing. Carter, a history professor and fellow of the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations, focuses on Nov. 12, 1941, when "three crowds gathered in Shanghai...in different locations and with very different motivations" but all "represent[ed] tremendous change amid the crises engulfing China." It was the time of Japanese occupation, yet the International Settlement, the 3-square-mile area that served as an extraterritorial colony sheltering foreigners amid the bustling Chinese city, remained technically neutral. The Settlement was also the host of the vaunted Shanghai Race Club, whose last Champions Day race was held on this day. This event, ably portrayed by the author, drew the first--and largest--crowd. Originally established in 1850 by British residents who had elbowed their way into Shanghai commerce after the Opium Wars, the SRC gained popularity over the next few decades as more foreigners flocked to the prosperous city and horse racing grew in popularity among the Chinese. Excluded from joining the SRC, in the early 1900s Chinese merchants founded the International Recreation Club, located outside the IS, allowing the members to bypass "the complicated politics of the all-but colony." The second crowd was celebrating the birthday of the late Sun Yat-sen (d. 1925), father of republican China, whose legacy was being co-opted by the city's Japanese occupiers. The third crowd was attending the ornate funeral of China's wealthiest woman, Liza Hardoon, "the half-Chinese, half-French Buddhist widow of a Baghdadi Jewish merchant, whose death symbolized the passing of a generation that had seen Shanghai rise to global prominence." Carter, whose knowledge of Chinese history and culture is abundantly clear, moves fluidly back and forth between the historical perspective and the bitter moments when Japanese occupation would eclipse the city's once flamboyant heyday. A satisfying juggling act of academic research and engaging popular history. (45 illustrations)

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June 1, 2020
On November 12, 1941, Shanghai marked three separate occasions?the birthday of the father of the Republic of China, Sun Yat-Sen; the funeral of China's wealthiest woman, and the Champion's Day horse race. Historian Carter sets the scene as the day begins, then goes back in time to show why each event was significant to different segments of Shanghai's populace. By focusing on the highlights of this one busy day, Carter is able to encapsulate the city's history and emphasize the role played by Western imperialism and the extraterritoriality of the Western concessions. He highlights implicit and explicit racism as well as the city's cross-cultural connections. He showcases this day as the last grand hurrah before everything changed. Even though Japan invaded Shanghai in 1937, the international areas were considered safe until a few years later, when Japan's attacks on Pearl Harbor brought WWII to the Pacific. By focusing on one day and placing its events within their historical context, Carter creates an engaging and accessible lens through which to examine Shanghai's complicated history. A perfect read-alike for The Last Kings of Shanghai (2020).(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2020, American Library Association.)