Night in Shanghai by Nicole Mones

 

I mentioned this book at our last gathering in July.  I referenced “Half Blood Blues” – African-American jazz men in Germany prior to WW-II.  This is an equally well-researched and well-written story about Shanghai in the run-up to the War.

The research is excellent, mainly because it is a true story.  The pictures shown here are from the website devoted to the Shanghai experiences of Buck Clayton (tooting his trumpet here).  Buck was the “day” band leader, while the book’s main character, Greene, is the night band leader, a composite fictitious character.

 

The book provides history lessons along with cultural insights into racial issues and the similarities between the African-American struggles and the endemic slavery in China and possibly under Japan as well.  One theme is the struggle in the thirties between the Chinese Nationalists and the Communists.  There is a great deal about the coming war with Japan and there is always the internationalism of Jazz. 

There is a fascinating bit about a possible refuge area proposed for escaping Jews from Europe.

The author does a commendable job of developing many sub-plot lines: Chinese-Chinese; African-American/Jewish; Japanese-Chinese; and Chinese/African-American.

 

It’s nice to see this other view of the Black struggle in the thirties.  Too often we only hear about the European acceptance (except for Jesse Owens in Germany) of African-American expatriates.  It’s a great book.  It would make a popular movie – nostalgia music – good guys (Chinese & Jazz men)/bad guys (Japanese & Hitler).