{"product_id":"the-last-kings-of-shanghai-the-rival-jewish-dynasties-that-helped-create-modern-china-paperback","title":"The Last Kings of Shanghai: The Rival Jewish Dynasties That Helped Create Modern China - Paperback","description":"\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cp style=\"text-align: right;\"\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/reportcopyrightinfringement.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"\u003e\u003cb\u003eReport copyright infringement\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cp\u003eby \u003cb\u003eJonathan Kaufman\u003c\/b\u003e (Author)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e\"In vivid detail... examines the little-known history of two extraordinary dynasties.\"--\u003ci\u003eThe Boston Globe\u003c\/i\u003e \u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"Not just a brilliant, well-researched, and highly readable book about China's past, it also reveals the contingencies and ironic twists of fate in China's modern history.\"--\u003ci\u003eLA Review of Books\u003c\/i\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eAn epic, multigenerational story of two rival dynasties who flourished in Shanghai and Hong Kong as twentieth-century China surged into the modern era, from the Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eShanghai, 1936. The Cathay Hotel, located on the city's famous waterfront, is one of the most glamorous in the world. Built by Victor Sassoon--billionaire playboy and scion of the Sassoon dynasty--the hotel hosts a who's who of global celebrities: Noel Coward has written a draft of \u003ci\u003ePrivate Lives \u003c\/i\u003ein his suite and Charlie Chaplin has entertained his wife-to-be. And a few miles away, Mao and the nascent Communist Party have been plotting revolution. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eBy the 1930s, the Sassoons had been doing business in China for a century, rivaled in wealth and influence by only one other dynasty--the Kadoories. These two Jewish families, both originally from Baghdad, stood astride Chinese business and politics for more than 175 years, profiting from the Opium Wars; surviving Japanese occupation; courting Chiang Kai-shek; and losing nearly everything as the Communists swept into power. In \u003ci\u003eThe Last Kings of Shanghai, \u003c\/i\u003e Jonathan Kaufman tells the remarkable history of how these families participated in an economic boom that opened China to the world, but remained blind to the country's deep inequality and to the political turmoil at their doorsteps. 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. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eThe book lays bare the moral compromises of the Kadoories and the Sassoons--and their exceptional foresight, success, and generosity. At the height of World War II, they joined together to rescue and protect eighteen thousand Jewish refugees fleeing Nazism. Though their stay in China started out as a business opportunity, the country became a home they were reluctant to leave, even on the eve of revolution. The lavish buildings they built and the booming businesses they nurtured continue to define Shanghai and Hong Kong to this day. As the United States confronts China's rise, and China grapples with the pressures of breakneck modernization and global power, the long-hidden odysseys of the Sassoons and the Kadoories hold a key to understanding the present moment.\u003ch3\u003eAuthor Biography\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eJonathan Kaufman\u003c\/b\u003e is a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter who has written and reported on China for thirty years for \u003ci\u003eThe Boston Globe\u003c\/i\u003e, where he covered the 1989 massacre in Tiananmen Square; \u003ci\u003eThe Wall Street Journal\u003c\/i\u003e, where he served as China bureau chief from 2002 to 2005; and \u003ci\u003eBloomberg News\u003c\/i\u003e. He is the author of \u003ci\u003eA Hole in the Heart of the World: Being Jewish in Eastern Europe\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eBroken Alliance: The Turbulent Times Between Blacks and Jews in America\u003c\/i\u003e, winner of the National Jewish Book Award. He is director of the School of Journalism at Northeastern University in Boston.\u003c\/p\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eNumber of Pages:\u003c\/strong\u003e 384\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDimensions:\u003c\/strong\u003e 0.9 x 8.3 x 5.4 IN\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eIllustrated:\u003c\/strong\u003e Yes\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublication Date:\u003c\/strong\u003e June 01, 2021\u003c\/div\u003e\n            ","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":52521997041938,"sku":"9780735224438","price":18.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0941\/2211\/5346\/files\/95p4lMPjY39780735224438.webp?v=1784238688","url":"https:\/\/ckbookstore.net\/products\/the-last-kings-of-shanghai-the-rival-jewish-dynasties-that-helped-create-modern-china-paperback","provider":"CK BOOKSTORE","version":"1.0","type":"link"}