![\"BN-FN378_40_G_20141113001634\"](\"http:\/\/www.chinesepen.org\/english\/files\/2014\/11\/BN-FN378_40_G_20141113001634.jpg\")
<\/a>photo of a Masonic temple in London\u2019s Limehouse area in the early 20th century. Courtesy Anne Witchard<\/p>\nA new book on the \u201cyellow peril\u201d reminds us that scaremongering about China has a long past.<\/p>\n
Anne Witchard, a senior lecturer in English literature at the University of Westminster, is the author of\u201cEngland\u2019s Yellow Peril: Sinophobia and the Great War.\u201d The e-book, available Nov. 24, joins Penguin China\u2019s special series of new books on World War I, commemorating the 100th anniversary of the \u201cwar to end all wars.\u201d<\/p>\n
The book recounts England\u2019s response to an influx of Chinese workers who arrived in London during wartime, mostly men. Fearful residents believed such men were abducting young English women to sell into white slavery. It didn\u2019t help that the opium dens were seen as places of licentiousness and hideouts where the English upper class could act badly.<\/p>\n
Along with a new book by British writer Christopher Frayling, \u201cThe Yellow Peril: Dr. Fu Manchu and the Rise of Chinaphobia,\u201d Ms. Witchard\u2019s new work remind readers anti-foreign sentiment, in this case against the Chinese, has a long past. The area known as Limehouse, which was London\u2019s Chinatown, \u201cbecame a principal scapegoat for England\u2019s wartime vulnerabilities at home,\u201d she writes.<\/p>\n
Ms. Witchard recently spoke from London with China Real Time about opium dens and England\u2019s love-hate relationship with the Far East. Edited excerpts:<\/p>\n
What was the thinking behind the book?<\/p>\n
People are aware of the yellow peril genre thanks to Hollywood in the mid-20th century, but they are less aware that it was the first World War in Britain that partly formed those stereotypes. It was talked about in the late Victorian period, and then resurrected and reintroduced.<\/p>\n
I don\u2019t think [the topic] has been well-covered at all. We do have a community of Chinese in Britain who have been here for a long time. They\u2019ve had lots of prejudices they\u2019ve had to deal with. If we can understand these, it goes a long way in understanding our relationship with China today.<\/p>\n
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For detail please visit here<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" 1:20 pm HKT Nov 13, 2014 A photo of a Ma … Continue reading