Andrew Field, an independent scholar living and teaching Chinese history in Shanghai, will discuss his book "Shanghai's Dancing World: Cabaret Culture and Urban Politics, 1919-1954." The discussion will focus on the emergence of a Chinese cabaret industry in Shanghai composed of taxi-dance halls featuring pretty Chinese hostesses in the 1920s and '30s. Some of these women earned great fame as entertainers and film stars, while all of them eventually became embroiled in the milieu of war, nationalism, and revolution that characterized the era. The lives and fates of these women and of the men who loved them--gangsters, businessmen, warlords, and politicians--will form the heart of this talk.

Venue: China Culture Center, Beijing, China.