Where Strange Gods Call: Harry Hervey’s 1920s Hong Kong, Macao and Canton Sojourns

As a young American, Harry Hervey dreamt of travelling to Asia. In 1923, he arrived to spend time in Hong Kong, Macao and Guangzhou. His impressions of southern China are lyrical and detailed, atmospheric and informative. From the basement “dives” of Kennedy Town to the private dining rooms of Queen’s Road, and Macao’s Praia Grande to its fan-tan houses, Hervey is a fascinating flaneur. So too in Guangzhou, a city in tumult, where he encounters those fleeing warlord violence and is granted an audience with Dr Sun Yat-sen.

 

Hervey’s impressions of China would stay with him for the rest of his life, not least in his treatment for the 1932 movie Shanghai Express.

 

“Approaching Canton we were gliding past ugly, ramshackle dwellings and go-downs; grass-thatched house-boats, sampans, junks, and lighters, and millions of roofs that were flung in uneven terraces against the sky.”