Jonathan Kaufman tells the remarkable story of two Jewish families, both originally from Baghdad, who stood astride Chinese business and politics for more than 175 years, profiting from the Opium Wars; surviving Japanese occupation; saving the lives of 18,000 Jews fleeing Nazi persecution; and losing nearly everything as the Communists swept into power.

In a story stretching from Baghdad to Hong Kong to Shanghai to London, Kaufman enters the lives and minds of these ambitious men and women to forge a tale of opium smuggling, family rivalry, political intrigue, and survival.

The Speaker

Jonathan Kaufman is a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter who has written and reported on China for thirty years for The Boston Globe, where he covered the 1989 massacre in Tiananmen Square; The Wall Street Journal, where he served as China bureau chief from 2002 to 2005; and Bloomberg News. He is the author of A Hole in the Heart of the World: Being Jewish in Eastern Europe and Broken Alliance: The Turbulent Times Between Blacks and Jews in America, winner of the National Jewish Book Award. He is director of the School of Journalism at Northeastern University in Boston.

Programme

Venue: Online on Zoom, please sign up to receive the link

Admission: No charge, please register your attendance in advance

Booking: Please email membership@royalasiaticsociety.org.hk in advance to register your attendance

The views and opinions expressed in Royal Asiatic Society Hong Kong talks and ‘Of General interest Items‘ from other Societies / Institutions, are those of the speakers and participants, and do not reflect the opinion, position or official policy of RASHK, its members, Council or its committees. Royal Asiatic Society Hong Kong does not endorse or approve and assumes no responsibility for the content of the information presented. This is applicable to all talks and events by other RAS societies or correspondences via Royal Asiatic Society Hong Kong.