China Beat's First (and Maybe Last) Quiz with a Prize for the Winner
Jeff Wasserstrom recently mentioned in an interview with City Weekend magazine that he's hoping someone at the audience for his March 15 PRC book launch of Global Shanghai, 1850-2010 will ask him this question: “If you could bring back to life, for a day, two people you've written about who are now dead, and ask them questions about what Shanghai was like then, who would they be and what would you ask them?” Well, he wouldn't tell the magazine who he was thinking of, but he's now told us and offered to let us give us a copy of his 2007 book, China's Brave New World--And Other Tales for Global Times, to the winner of an online contest related to this mystery. Here's how it works:
See if you can figure out from the following clues the identities of the two people he had in mind, one of whom gets a lot of attention in China's Brave New World, the other of whom gets quoted at some length in Global Shanghai. Please send your answers as well as the supplementary material described below to Kate Merkel-Hess, the Editor of China Beat, at thechinabeat@gmail.com:
THE CLUES:
Jeff Wasserstrom recently mentioned in an interview with City Weekend magazine that he's hoping someone at the audience for his March 15 PRC book launch of Global Shanghai, 1850-2010 will ask him this question: “If you could bring back to life, for a day, two people you've written about who are now dead, and ask them questions about what Shanghai was like then, who would they be and what would you ask them?” Well, he wouldn't tell the magazine who he was thinking of, but he's now told us and offered to let us give us a copy of his 2007 book, China's Brave New World--And Other Tales for Global Times, to the winner of an online contest related to this mystery. Here's how it works:
See if you can figure out from the following clues the identities of the two people he had in mind, one of whom gets a lot of attention in China's Brave New World, the other of whom gets quoted at some length in Global Shanghai. Please send your answers as well as the supplementary material described below to Kate Merkel-Hess, the Editor of China Beat, at thechinabeat@gmail.com:
THE CLUES:
1) Both people were cosmopolitan women who spent time in both China and the United States.
2) Though only one was an American, each went to college in the U.S., attending in each case schools that had "W"s at the start of one part of the institution's name.
3) One had a husband who studied in Hong Kong and then was later detained in London, while the other had a husband who was imprisoned in Hong Kong and then later taught in London.
4) One was played on screen by Maggie Cheung.
5) One had a husband whose name began with the letters "Cha," while the other had a father whose name began with those same letters,*
*There are important ties between the two women, especially a connection established by a book, but these clues focus on other things, including the men in their lives, since mentioning that publication would give the game away too easily.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION
1) What's a question that it would be particularly interesting to have these two people discuss (if they were brought back to life)?
2) Can you think of a pair of people you think would be more interesting to quiz about Shanghai's past than the two Jeff had in mind?
3) Which actress should play the member of the pair Jeff is thinking of who, as far as we know, has not yet had a movie made of her life (but probably should have one made of it someday)?
[We'll probably publish these comments on the blog when we announce the winner.]
2) Though only one was an American, each went to college in the U.S., attending in each case schools that had "W"s at the start of one part of the institution's name.
3) One had a husband who studied in Hong Kong and then was later detained in London, while the other had a husband who was imprisoned in Hong Kong and then later taught in London.
4) One was played on screen by Maggie Cheung.
5) One had a husband whose name began with the letters "Cha," while the other had a father whose name began with those same letters,*
*There are important ties between the two women, especially a connection established by a book, but these clues focus on other things, including the men in their lives, since mentioning that publication would give the game away too easily.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION
To make this as fair as possible (so that it doesn't privilege people living in particularly time zones), we'd like some additional information to use to break a tie if multiple correct answers to the main question come in within the same 24 hour period. So please answer the following questions (keeping in mind that we'll be judging these on cleverness):
1) What's a question that it would be particularly interesting to have these two people discuss (if they were brought back to life)?
2) Can you think of a pair of people you think would be more interesting to quiz about Shanghai's past than the two Jeff had in mind?
3) Which actress should play the member of the pair Jeff is thinking of who, as far as we know, has not yet had a movie made of her life (but probably should have one made of it someday)?
[We'll probably publish these comments on the blog when we announce the winner.]
2 comments:
Are you going to announce the answers? I am very curious.
We are going to announce the winner--today, in fact.
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