Year

1996

Text

Type

Publication

Contributors (2)

Subjects

Chronology Entries (3)

#	Year	Text	Linked Data
1	1963	James Clavell had lived in and around Hong Kong in his youth and he and his family spent 1963 in Hong Kong so that he could reacquaint himself with the city, research its history, and take in the sights and sounds that make his Hong Kong novels rich in local color. They were talking to residents and experts, and reviewing histories of the city's founding fathers.	Person: Clavell, James
2	1966	Cavell, James. Tai-Pan : a novel of Hong Kong [ID D33471]. Sekundärliteratur The novel begins following the British victory of the first Opium War and the seizure of Hong Kong. Although the island is largely uninhabited and the terrain unfriendly, it has a large natural harbour that both the British government and various trading companies believe will be useful for the import of merchandise to be traded on mainland China, a highly lucrative market. Although the novel features many characters, it is Dirk Struan and Tyler Brock, former shipmates and the owners of two massive (fictional) trading companies who are the main focal points of the story. Their rocky and often abusive relationship as seamen initiated an intense amount of competitive tension. Throughout the novel, both men seek to destroy each other in matters of business and personal affairs. Struan is referred to throughout the novel as Tai-Pan, indicating his position as head of the largest of all the trading companies in Asia. Clavell translates Tai-Pan as "Supreme Leader," although as described in the Tai-Pan entry, "Big Shot" might be more accurate. Brock, owner of the second largest of the trading companies, constantly vies to destroy Struan's company and reputation in an attempt both to exact revenge on Struan and to become the new "Tai-Pan" of Chinese trade. Gina Macdonald : The novel begins with problems experiences by Europeans in Canton and Macao and traces step-by-step the establishment of Hong Kong, the political twists and turns that threatenened its permanence, and the typhoon that destroyed its buildings but proved its value as a port. It also begins with the dreams and strategies of Dirk Struan, his love affair with a Chinese concubine, May-may, whom he secretly marries, and his conflict with the rival Brocks. The unexpected death of Dirk Struan and May-may amid the violence of a terrifying typhoon leaves the Noble House of Struan as vulnerable as the newly founded Hong Kong colony. Clavell's themes are as multifaceted as his book, but four dominate : 1. The determination, gamesmanship, and wit that are necessary to establish a colony that will endure ; 2. fascination with China ; 3. the threat of China ; 4) the importance of crossroads where alien cultures can meet and learn from each other to mutual benefit. For Clavell, the founding of Hong Kong illustrates the genius, strength, and farsight-edness of the Englishman abroad, and, in particular, of the British sailor-merchant abroad. Contact with the West, argues Clavell, offers China Western technology through trade that increases wealth, better lives, and provides outlets for the potentially rebellious. Westerners and Easterners alike can escape some of the restrictions of their breeding in Hong Kong. Furthermore, contact with the West provides the Chinese with new models of law, justice, and human rights. Struan/Clavell argues that the Portuguese priests want one's soul in exchange for kindness. To his disgust, Struan learns that the most pious religious leader in Hong Kong incestuously forced himself on his own dependent sister and that the most respectable community members lead secret lives of sin. May-may argues the wisdom of an open mind about religion, but notes that the Christian practice of burning heretics is far worse than the Chinese custom of offering the sea god a bar of silver bullion but only tossing over a prayer paper as a gesture. Clavell contrasts nineteenth-century European ignorance about disease, their reliance on purging and leeching, and their distrust of washing and bathing with the ancient Chinese practice of medicine and the Chinese association of cleanliness with health. Tai-Pan depicts British colonial, Hong Kong Chinese, and mainland Chinese family relationships, manners, mores, business strategies, and political maneuverings. Struan' secret marriage to May-may, their death and their burial together unites the alternating movement between Chinese and European in a final amalgam that is Struan's dream for the future : a merging of the best of both cultures into a hybrid, the Eurasian. Tai-Pan is a fictionalized history, dramatizing the founding of Hong Kong and bringing to life the men and women who created that citry. It is a historical romance, tracing the affairs of Hong Kong's founding fathers ; a dynasty story, of extended families gaining wealth and power through trade ; a sea adventure, with a night-time chase and private attack ; a medical story, about malaria and a cure that may be only legend ; and a spy story.	Document: Wikipedia : http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia. (Wik, Web) Person: Clavell, James
3	1981	Clavell, James. Noble house : a novel of contemporary Hong Kong [ID D33472]. Sekundärliteratur Noble House is set in 1963. The tai-pan, Ian Dunross, struggles to rescue Struan's from the precarious financial position left by his predecessor. To do this, he seeks partnership with an American millionaire, while trying to ward off his arch-rival Quillan Gornt, who seeks to destroy Struan's once and for all. Meanwhile, Chinese communists, Taiwanese nationalists, and Soviet spies illegally vie for influence in Hong Kong while the British government seeks to prevent this. And nobody, it seems, can get anything done without enlisting the aid of Hong Kong's criminal underworld. Other obstacles include water shortages, landslides, bank runs and stock market crashes. In Noble House, Dunross finds his company the target of a hostile takeover at a time when Struan's is desperately overextended. He is also embroiled in international espionage when he finds himself in possession of secret documents desperately desired by both the KGB and MI6. The novel follows Dunross' attempts to extricate himself from all this and to save Struan's, the Noble House. Struan and Company is based on Jardine Matheson Holdings, which continues to exist as an Asian trading company. Gina Macdonald : In a time of crisis, Dunross takes over Noble House, a private banking house and international shipping firm, and sells public stock in the firm to prevent the bankruptcy pending from an uninsured billion-dollar cargo lost at sea. Perhaps the mos striking theme of the novel has to do with Hong Kong. Cavell argues that the city is a unique experiment in capitalistic venture and cross-cultural relationships. It epitomizes the good that can result from the peaceful meeting of East and West. A recurring theme given more weight in Noble House than in Clavell's other books is a warning against Soviet expansionism. Two of Clavell's other recurring themes, cultural differences and gender differences, have a changed focus in this book. The dominating cultural differences are between the English and the Americans, with the Chinese sharing the English reaction to Americans. Oble House is a tribute to a fascinating city that has become an international definition of successful interface between East and West. Hong Kong has always had one of the highest population densities in the world. Two interlocked characteristics of Hong Kong that Cavell illustrates again and again are its inhabitants' willingness to gamble- to gamble their lives, to gamble on life and, especially, to gamble on business ods – and their lust for money and for power. Cavell captures this gambling spirit and makes it the essential ingredient of his most successful entrepreneurs. The Struan legacy has a Chinese sense of family continuity and of family commitment to China that is reinforced by family ritual such as the passing of power from tai-pan to tai-pan. Cavell dramatizes American directness, informality, and business-first mentality grating on both Chinese and British formality and propriety, and his British finding common cause with Chinese associates against the Americans. In Noble House, the Chinese women of twentieth-century Hong Kong are still trapped in nineteenth-century patterns. The birth control pill has given British women greater freedom and wider choices, but, in general, they, like their Chinese counterparts, accept Hong Kong as a man's world in which women are limited to traditional roles. The cultural contrasts between East and West have become less striking as the melding of cultures creates Chinese with Western values and ambitions, and Westerners with a Chinese sense of time and strategy. The Hong Kong setting is equally important, since the city is an experiment in free-wheeling capitalism on the doorstep of two gigantic experiments with Communism : Red China, and, by extension, the Soviet Union. The battle of competing economic systems infuses the book with a spirit of ideological urgency, since the struggles taking place here are more than just personal and financial. Cavell interlocks political and business struggles. Hong Kong is the showplace of capitalism, with the competing socialist model never far away. Cavell argues that, though still an alien culture, with a focus on communal rather than individual values, China cannot close its doors to the West. It has become dependent on Hong Kong as a population outlet in times of trouble and as a source of income and goods ; illegal and legal traffic flows in and out of Hong Kong and back and forth between Kong Kong and the mainland. Cavell postulates that trade with China over a long period will transform Chinese thinking, and that the Chinese cannot stop those changes ; however, it will also affect Western thinking, and Westerners cannot stop thos changes either. But whichever way the influences flow, it is capitalism that will promote social and personal advances.	Document: Wikipedia : http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia. (Wik, Web) Person: Clavell, James

Cited by (1)

#	Year	Bibliographical Data	Type / Abbreviation	Linked Data
1		Universitäts-Bibliothek Basel	Publication / UBB