In 1933, #Shanghai magazine ‘The Young Companion’ featured this lady in a swimsuit on its cover. I want to repeat '1933' for you to feel how extraordinary it was. Who is she? A 🧵 on my avatar 👇 (1) twitter.com/i/web/status/1…
She is Yeung Sau-King,#China’s first female Olympian swimmer. Born a natural swimmer, she dominated at an early age. (2)
I will give you one example: She won all five women's swimming titles at the 5th National Games held in 1933, including the 50m freestyle, 100m freestyle, 100m backstroke, 200m breaststroke, and the 200m quadruple relay. (3)
And she got all the limelight a modern superstar athlete would – praise by politicians, newspaper articles all over the place, advertising, and movie deals. She was known as the “Mermaid of China”.(4)
At the peak of her career, she was picked in China’s Olympic team for the 1936 #Berlin Olympics. I think she saw Hitler there. (5)
But Berlin Olympics was a disaster for Team China. Yeung was eliminated in the preliminaries. The 'Mermaid of China' fell from her grace and was mocked by the papers. Of all the Olympians, she was the biggest target. One extreme example is this cartoon: 'Fashion of Zero.'(6)
She didn’t have a chance to prove herself again. War broke out between China and Japan soon after. She married a Hong Kong Jockey in 1939 and moved there.(7)
Hong Kong fell after Pearl Harbor. According to #Japanese files declassified in the 80s, she served as a special agent for ROC. When her cover was blown, she was interrogated by the Japanese 'Gestapo': “Kempeitai.”(8)
Then came the most mysterious part of her life. She moved to occupied Shanghai in 1943 and worked there until the end of the war. Did she collaborate with the Japanese? It’s hard to believe otherwise if she was caught by the 'Kempeitai'. (9)
But 'Mermaid of China' was safe after the war. She had a stint as a journalist in #Shanghai and divorced her first husband. She was still showered with media attention.(10)
Yeung remarried and left China. She died in 1982 in Vancouver, #Canada, at 63.(11)
What intrigued me most about this extraordinary lady was her wartime years. Did she work as a double agent? Did she pretend to collaborate but secretly work for China? The mystery's answer is probably in the KMT archive. It will resurface someday, and I am waiting.(12)
This item at the #Shanghai History Museum intrigued me. It was the 2nd prize in a police cycling race in 1904. When I saw it, many questions ran through my head: What was the 1st prize? Who were the winners? After some digging, I found the answer and more. A thread. 🧵 (1)
The #Shanghai Municipal Police held annual sports events soon after its establishment. Bicycle races have always been a key competition. Here is a picture from the 30s. (2)
The Police Sports 1904 was held on 15th October. It was a fun event with many exciting competitions, like ‘Throwing the Hammer’ and a ‘Costume Donkey Race.’ Thanks to a local newspaper, we know the final results. Here is the result of the ‘One Mile Bicycle race.’ 👇(3)
On March 9, 1936, Charlie Chaplin passed through #Shanghai on his world tour after ‘Modern Times.’ He spent less than 20 hours in the city and one of his big secrets was scooped out. What’s that? A 🧵 to guide you through Chaplin’s ONLY visit to Shanghai.👇
Approx. 1:30 PM, Chaplin arrived onboard SS President Coolidge with Paulette Goddard, leading actress of ‘Modern Times’ and his rumored fiancée.
Dozens of reporters boarded the ship the moment it docked. They found Chaplin on the deck. Chaplin promised them an interview around 6 p.m. and quickly ‘sought shelter and solitude aboard a private launch.’
In many old #Shanghai photos, you can see this statue standing in the bund. It is not there anymore. Who is she, and what happened to her? A 🧵 👇 (1)
Long story short, it's a #WWI memorial erected in 1924. The puppet government took it down during the Japanese occupation in #WWII . Rumor says it was melted for Japanese war purposes. It was not. (2)
Prof. Robert Bickers wrote a great article on it if you want to know more in detail. robertbickers.net/2014/10/10/los… I want to add a little backstory, not in that article - about how the Angel was found. (3)