The Absence of the Kwien in 1914 Chiang Mai
I was reading a book from 1914 called the Directory for Bangkok and Siam. Intended as a guidebook for foreign businessmen, this book contains a lot of practical information about…
The Art of Denouncing Landlords in 1950s North Vietnam
Last summer while in Bangkok I bought a book at Asia Books that was published a few years ago by the Fine Art Publishing House in Vietnam. It is called…
Swimming with Crocodiles in 1934 Malaya
I came across an amazing movie from 1934 called “Beyond Bengal.” It is the record of an expedition into the Malayan jungle by American “explorer” Harry Schenck. The film was…
Italians and Americans in Thailand in the 1970s
In writing a post recently on hapa actresses from Southeast Asia I came across the name of an Indonesian-Dutch hapa actress whom I had never heard of, Laura Gemser. In…
An Overseas Chinese Who Died for Vietnamese Independence in 1945
I was reading the newspaper, The Truth (Sự Thật, 7/12/46), and found an article about “An Overseas Chinese Intellectual Who Died for the Independence of Vietnam.” The masthead of this…
A Social & Cultural History of Roads in British Southeast Asia
It dawned on me recently that it would be interesting to research and write a social and cultural history of roads in Southeast Asia. What is more, if one focused…
British Pathé Newsreels on the End of World War II in Southeast Asia
British Pathé, a company that used to produce newsreels of events around the world, has placed over 80,000 videos on YouTube. There are many from Southeast Asia. Some have sound,…
The Khmer Rouge Top Secret Santebal (S-21) Archives
The digitization of historical materials is making research ever more easy, however I still find that I make my greatest “discoveries” by looking around in actual libraries. Today, for instance,…
Chinese Rushed in Where Tamil Rubber Tappers Feared to Tread in Early-20th-Century Malaya and Sarawak
I recently read an article in The Sarawak Gazette from September 2, 1929 entitled “The Tamil Cooly” which contained the following passage: “Though the Tamil is an orthodox Hindu by…
Bengawan Solo Forever
“Bengawan Solo,” a song about the Solo River in eastern Java, was first composed by Gesang Martohartono in 1940. Recorded as a Kroncong song, it became popular on Java during…
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