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Philip Thai Profile picture
@philip_thai
Mar 27, 2023 • 9 tweets • 6 min read • Read on X
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1/ Currently researching the career of Percy Chen, the enigmatic HK lawyer for the PRC during the Cold War. The Afro-Asian Chen family of Trinidad stood at the intersection of European empires, Chinese nationalism, and Cold War politics. A thread about this fascinating family.
2/ Matriach Alphonsine Agatha Gantheaume was a French Creole whose maternal family were former slaves and paternal family were the largest landowners on the island. She raised their 4 children, endured her husband's long absences, and passed away relatively young around 48.
3/ Patriarch Eugene Chen 陳友仁 was a second-generation Hakka-Trinidadian who later became a confidant of the revolutionary Sun Yat-sen and China's Foreign Minister. He also brokered the alliance between the Nationalists and Communists and mentored a young Zhou Enlai.
4/ When the Nationalists turned on their erstwhile allies in 1927, Percy was charged with the dangerous mission of spiriting Soviet advisor Mikhail Borodin out of China. Taking a winding path through the Gobi Dessert, Mongolia, and Siberia, they eventually made it to Moscow.
5/ Percy's younger brother Jack 陳依範 joined him on the trek to Moscow and became a celebrated artist. His cartoons sought to rally support for China during its war against Japan.
6/ Percy's sister Sylvia or Si-lan 陳錫蘭 studied ballet in Moscow and became a celebrated dancer and choreographer. She also became friends with poet Langston Hughes, who admitted he was "in love" with her.
7/ There is so much more to this fascinating family and their individual stories. Please see "Return to the Middle Kingdom" by Yuan-tsung Chen, widow of Jack Chen; "A Modern Miscellany" by @Sinobevan; and "Arise, Africa! Roar, China!" by @YunxiangGao.
8/ Each of the Chen siblings also wrote memoirs that are worth reading. They describe (and omit) their experiences during major turning points in China's history—the Republican period, war with Japan, the Chinese Civil War, and life in the PRC.
9/ And of course, I will discuss Percy Chen’s curious life and career as lawyer for the People's Republic in Cold War Hong Kong for an @ABFResearch virtual talk scheduled for 12:00 pm CDT (UTC−05:00) this Wed 3/29. Information on registration below:
americanbarfoundation.org/events/37025

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More from @philip_thai

Philip Thai Profile picture
Dec 22, 2020
1/ Ezra Vogel’s works have enjoyed wide-ranging and enduring influence. But two of his books were especially helpful to my book on smuggling in China—"One Step Ahead in China” and “Deng Xiaoping and the Transformation of China.” A thread on the influence of his work on my work.
2/ Smuggling was not his main concern, but Vogel in both books showed how it was a serious problem in the 1980s. Economic reforms stimulated the illicit traffic in watches, TVs, stereos, VCRs, and even cars, depriving the government much-needed revenues and fostering corruption.
3/ So pervasive was coastal smuggling that a 1982 frontpage story of People’s Daily celebrated a Fujian fishing community for *not* joining its neighbors to smuggle. Abstaining from smuggling during this time, in other words, was more newsworthy than engaging in smuggling itself!
Read 12 tweets
Philip Thai Profile picture
Jul 8, 2020
1/ The #KoreanWar killed millions of Koreans, created an enduring division, and destroyed a relatively developed economy that survived the ravages of WWII. But the war’s impact reverberated beyond the peninsula. A thread about its global consequences on its 70th anniversary.
2/ The war killed almost 40k Americans. At home, it stirred widespread anti-Communist fears and emboldened Republican critics of the Truman administration. It also led to the adoption of NSC-68, which dramatically expanded the US military and globalized containment strategy.
3/ The war heightened domestic fears in China too. Calling the conflict the “War to Resist America and Aid Korea” 抗美援朝战争, the new Communist government suppressed dissent and consolidated its authority via campaigns like the Three-anti and Five-anti Campaigns 三反五反运动.
Read 12 tweets
Philip Thai Profile picture
Jun 4, 2020
1/ Cancellation of 2020 @SHAFRConference was disappointing but necessary. At the encouragement of organizers, panelists are making their abstracts and presentations available online. Here is a (long) thread on my paper "Vice City: Hong Kong in the Anglo-American War on Drugs."
2/ My paper explores the local consequences of a global campaign. HK was ceded to UK in 1842 after the First Opium War and became an entrepôt for Chinese trade. By 1970s it remained a UK colony but transformed itself into a tourism center and a major exporter.
3/ At the same time, HK emerged as a major global narcotics traffic hub. Closure of Turkish pipeline ("the French Connection") left Southeast Asia as new supplier for world market. Opium from the "Golden Triangle" were shipped on Thai trawlers and processed in HK laboratories.
Read 20 tweets
Philip Thai Profile picture
Jan 13, 2020
1/ Tariffs have dominated recent news on US-China trade war. But they have always been pivotal to China’s history, shaping modern nationalism and statecraft. A long thread on tariffs in China’s history with lots of images and charts—and the small part US played in that history.
2/ Beginning with the First Opium War (1839-42), the Qing dynasty during the 19th c. lost a series of wars to foreign powers. In the wake of defeat, it signed several “unequal treaties” that accorded many privileges to foreign powers and unfettered access to the China market. Source: MIT Visualizing Cultures
3/ Key features of treaties included opening ports to trade, creating foreign concessions, and granting extraterritoriality—i.e. immunity for foreigners from Chinese laws. These treaties were not fully abrogated until 1943 and have come to symbolize “national humiliation.” Treaty of Nanjing (1842). Source: MIT Visualizing Cultures
Read 21 tweets
Philip Thai Profile picture
Jun 10, 2019
1/ Final thoughts the Global #ColdWar after teaching it for the first time this semester and fielding student feedback. Some of this might be commonsensical to specialists but are new to me as a legal and economic historian of China.
2/ There are undoubtedly many ways to teach the #ColdWar. Most syllabi on @SHAFRhistorians and elsewhere tend to focus on US foreign relations or US and the world. But more are adopting new perspectives de-centering US-USSR rivalry and elite diplomacy. bit.ly/2K2P4Bd
3/ My own approach was inspired by Arne Westad’s point that the #ColdWar was waged primarily in Third World and far from cold. Unable or unwilling to wage war directly, superpowers and their allies confronted each other indirectly around the globe. bit.ly/2K63uR8
Read 12 tweets

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