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China’s Golden Age on the Western Bookshelf

China may seem like a big story today, but its presence on Western bookshelves was even greater during the 1930s. Books about China not only appeared on bestseller lists but often dominated them. In this short solo episode, John discusses some of the most notable titles of the decade. He begins with Pearl S. Buck’s The Good Earth and ends with Ruth Harkness’s account of panda collecting. Most of the popular books about China were highly sympathetic to the Chinese people. We take a close look at a striking exception: Ralph Townsend’s now-forgotten Ways That Are Dark, which viciously attacked China and lavished praise on Japan.

Show Notes

Books mentioned in the episode:

The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck (1931)
Also by Buck: Fighting Angel: Portrait of a Soul and The Exile (both 1936)

Oil for the Lamps of China by Alice Tisdale Hobart (1933)

Lost Horizon by James Hilton (1933)

Ways That Are Dark: The Truth About China by Ralph Townsend (1933)

My Country and My People by Lin Yutang (1935)
Lin also wrote: The Importance of Living (1937)

The Blue Lotus by Hergé / Georges Remi (1936)
News from Tartary: A Journey from Peking to Kashmir by Peter Fleming (1936)

Four Hundred Million Customers: The Experiences – Some Happy, Some Sad – of an American in China, and What They Taught Him by Carl Crow (1937)

Red Star Over China by Edgar Snow (1937 in Britain, 1938 in the U.S.)

The Lady and the Panda: An Adventure by Ruth Harkness (1938)