"Shen's insightful, yet gentle exploration of the life and work of Florence Ayscough serves to bring a very human face and elegant persona to the tumultuous and challenging world of turn of the 20th century Shanghai. Ayscough's homes in the British settle

"Lindsay Shen has brought Florence Ayscough to life and painted a fascinating picture of the many aspects of the life of the foreign community in old Shanghai. Using enchanting prose, Lindsay shows us a scholarly and unusual woman who, in her study of Chi

"This is a sensitive and elegantly written biography of one of the most passionate Sinologists of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The author moves fluidly between closely shadowing Florence Ayscough's remarkable life and immersion in Ch

Lindsay Shen is an associate professor at Sino-British College, Shanghai, and Honorary Editor for the Royal Asiatic Society China in Shanghai. She has published in the fields of design and museum studies in Europe and the United States.