On 26 January we had the pleasure to have Thomas as a speaker. Before he even started I bought his book “China In Those Days”, a remarkable collection of postcards showing a much forgotten past of China. One more example of how foreigners have been much more engaged preserving China’s history and culture. Other examples are the preservation of hutongs and antiques.
The book is not for sale on the market, so a really precious volume.
The Tuesday Speaker, Mr. Thomas Brandt, talked indeed about “China In Those Days”
Thomas Brandt is General Manager of the German Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and is a passionate collector of post cards and view cards. He is the author of several publications focusing on Asia. Furthermore Mr. Brandt has written four books in the field of intercultural management, journals and handbooks. His bestseller “China in Those Days” was published in 2008.
In his presentation Mr. Brandt used pictures from his collection of around 49.000 postcards and view cards from the years 1890 to 1914. His collection presents a photographic report of the political upheavals in China of the Qing Dynasty. It also visualizes the phenomenon of overseas Chinese, which is still of high relevance in recent history. The historical pictures took the audience to a journey to the early 20th century in China, an era when it was a privilege to send or receive postcards from a country as far away as China.
