CARL CROW – A TOUGH OLD CHINA HAND: THE LIFE, TIMES, AND ADVENTURES OF AN AMERICAN IN SHANGHAI
Paul French, Hong Kong University Press, hardcover US$35 on www.amazon.com
This biography about Carl Crow, an American writer and businessman who lived in Shanghai from 1911 to 1938, is a very readable account about one businessman’s experiences in China. Shanghai was an amazing city in the early 20th century, but, while many books on old Shanghai focus on gangsters, prostitutes and opium, good accounts of everyday life in the old city are rare, and Carl Crow fills this niche perfectly. The book describes Crow’s offices, his business, his travels, the food he ate, the clubs he drank at and the people he met. It is the stuff of daily life in one of the world’s most famous times and places, presented in a straightforward style that is a pleasure to read.
Crow led a busy life – he launched a successful advertising agency, knew Sun Yat-sen, had tea with the Generalissimo and Madame Chiang Kai-shek, and interviewed Zhou Enlai. He was unusual in his liking for the Chinese, his lack of notions of cultural superiority, his open mindedness, and his entrepreneurial energy. Writes author Paul French: “Crow was not typical of the foreigners who came to Shanghai in the first half of the 20th century. He quickly developed a love of China and a sympathy for the Chinese, while most opted to stay aloof and belittle the country...”
The book is also relevant as a business guide, because the current China boom so closely resembles the previous one. In his book 400 Million Customers: the Experiences – Some Happy, Some Sad – of an American in China and What They Taught Him, Crow wrote this: “No matter what you may be selling, your business in China should be enormous, if the Chinese who should buy your goods would only do so.”
Carl Crow also contains some lively travel passages – Crow travelled widely throughout Asia – including memorable trips to Japan and the Philippines. In 1939, he made a remarkable trip along the old Burma road, five years before it was officially opened. “When accidents did happen, they were invariably fatal,” Crow wrote. He personally saw one truck disappear over the edge of the road ahead of him. The drop was so deep and steep that he could not see the wreckage below. He noted: “When this happens, you do nothing, for there is nothing you can do...” Modern travellers, meanwhile, consider themselves unlucky if they get bumped from Business Class.
Carl Crow is an entertaining reminder that while travelling around Asia is certainly easier, the challenges and rewards of living in China, and doing business there, remain almost the same.
Brent Hannon
