Ep. 15: Paul French on Wallis Simpson's China Year

The American socialite Wallis Simpson is best known as the wife of former British king Edward VIII. When they announced their intention to marry, her status as a divorcée (and an American) caused a constitutional crisis that led to Edward's abdication in 1936. But long before that, Simpson's adventures had led her to spend a year in interwar China, from 1924-25, while fleeing her abusive first husband and allegedly transporting U.S. diplomatic documents. Later maligned by the British press for this "lotus year," the truth of Simpson's China sojourn reveals much about the chaotic state of the nation in the 1920s, and attitudes toward it — and foreigners living there — from outside.

Our guest on the podcast this month is Paul French, a British writer who lived in Shanghai in the 1990s and 2000s, where he ran a market research firm. He is the author of several books on modern Chinese history, including the bestselling Midnight in Peking (Viking, 2012) and City of Devils (Picador, 2018). His latest title, Her Lotus Year: China, the Roaring Twenties, and the Making of Wallis Simpson (St Martin’s Press, 2024), tells the full story of Simpson's China year, long before her tryst with King Edward VIII caused a scandal worthy of Harry and Megan. French talked to us about the political backdrop to this personal drama, what it shows about the status of foreigners in China, and the state of the “China book” in general.

The China Books Podcast is a companion of China Books Review, a project of Asia Society’s Center on U.S.-China Relations and The Wire China. For any queries or comments, please write to [email protected].