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Overlooking The Bund 

--------- taken circa 2004

Bio

Interests and obsessions include

 

  • Shanghai well really, most things China-related (except moon cakes)

  • History (China — natch, American Civil war, Ulysses Grant, African American history, Pacific Northwest are all of strong interest; I could go on…)

  • Art Deco design/architecture 

  • Trying to keep up on my 'to read' book pile 

  • Politics and the pursuit of inclusive democracy

  • Travel (especially by train)

My China obsession started when I was in my early teens and Deng Xiaoping came to Seattle in 1979. Already interested in becoming a lawyer, the discussion in late 70’s/early 80’s Seattle of how China was opening to the West made me think there might be a need for American lawyers who spoke Chinese. In university I started to learn about China and study Chinese, then did intensive language study in Taiwan in the late 80’s, and eventually became a China-focused corporate lawyer. 

 

My long-running campaign to move to China finally succeeded in 2004. For over 11 years, my family and I lived in Shanghai, while I worked as a partner at large international law firms and immersed myself in learning about pre-World War II Shanghai. It was a fantastic and energizing time to be in China, particularly in Shanghai.

 

Twitter Feed

Books
News and Events

Events

August 26: "China from Strategic Partner to Strategic Competitor" Economic Club of Las Vegas 

September 9 (9:15 pm PST; September 10 in China): "Shanghai life in the run up to Pearl Harbor" American Chamber of Commerce - Shanghai 

September 28: "Blackness and Interwar Asia: A Mobius Strip of Identity Building" with Professor Keisha Brown for Asia Society of Los Angeles (registration link to follow)

Recent Posts

Resources

Inspiration

China Rhyming

http://www.chinarhyming.com/

Envigorating treatment of true spirit of Art Deco

YANG DI

https://archive.shine.cn/feature/Envigorating-treatment-of-true-spirit-of-Art-Deco/shdaily.shtml

Shanghai Sojourns

ANDREW FIELD

http://shanghaisojourns.net/

Contact

Contact

For any media inquiries, please contact info@AmySommers.net

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