Shanghai surprise ... Paul French.
This author offers insider tips to Shanghai — and solves a murder.
Q What accounts for your fascination with China?
A As a child in London, my great grandfather would tell me stories - with a wink - about Shanghai where he was stationed with the Royal Navy. The word "Shanghai", even now, has an evocative and sexy feel for me. I have lived there since the mid-90s because I was also fascinated with the Chinese language and the code-breaking aspects of the characters.
Q How can a visitor to Shanghai step outside the usual tourist boundaries?
A There are no specific sites in Shanghai like Beijing where you must see the Forbidden City, the Summer Palace and Tiananmen Square. In Shanghai you need to go to the French Concession and get lost in the lanes. You'll stumble across old villas, interesting little shops and cafes.
Q Is it a safe city?
A There is pickpocketing, but in terms of violent crime it's incredibly safe.
Q What's the quintessential Shanghai dish?
A Jiaozi dumplings filled with meat and oil. Shanghai food is known for being oily and these dumplings are famous because when you bite into them the oil goes down the front of your shirt.
Q What's the best way to commute?
A Get a subway ticket. It's only pennies on the trains and easy to navigate. The other way is to buy a $30 bike at a supermarket.
Q What's essential on a China itinerary?
A Get away from the tour buses. Just walk around and soak up China. People are friendly.
Q Your book Midnight in Peking solves a 1937 murder. How did you get involved?
A I read a footnote in a book about the murder of a 19-year-old English girl and there was a hint of a sex scandal and a whiff of opium. The crime was not solved because the Japanese invaded a few months afterwards. I thought the case deserved more attention.
Q How did you piece it together?
A I searched out autopsy reports, police notes and newspaper stories. My eureka moment was a 150-page investigation by the girl's father, after the invasion and official investigation. When I cross-referenced it with everything else I got the answer.
Q Whodunit?
A I couldn't say because the publishers will shoot me. What I will tell you is that it's a story of white mischief.
Interview by Robert Upe
Midnight in Peking, by Paul French (Viking, $32.95).
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