The great typhoon of 18 September 1906

Super typhoon Meranti is upon us but seems that it will make landfall further up in China. Hong Kong was not so fortunate 110 years ago.

Here is a page from the diary of Gino Montecorvo, who witnessed that tragedy. Gino is one of the main characters of my book The Dew of Heaven already on sale at Bookazine.

I am enclosing the  announcement for the official signing ceremony.

But it was not always smooth sailing. The first trouble to hit us was the great typhoon of 1906, which caused enormous damage to Hong Kong and Macau. The roof of our warehouse was torn off, and we lost a large quantity of fabric packed and ready for export. On September 18, at eight in the morning, the sky turned black in a matter of minutes and without warning. Nobody could have foreseen the furious winds which broke upon us, lifting and sinking several boats. The Anglican bishop Joseph Hoare and some of his priests were at sea fishing, and their bodies were never found. A French destroyer anchored in Hong Kong, the Fronde, was lifted and flung by a tsunami above the port.
I offered some money to raise a monument to the memory of those unlucky sailors. It is impossible to know the total number of dead, but it was certainly more than ten thousand. My workers and I lent a hand in the search for the bodies, countless children among them.

 

 

THE DEW OF HEAVEN by Angelo Paratico Soon Released

Cactus Moon of Tempe, Arizona, will soon release in Hong Kong ‘The Dew of Heaven’ in which I am recounting all the passages of a dramatic finding, happened in Hong Kong in 2011, of the sacred relict said to hold the soul of Genghis Khan, the great Mongol conqueror. The American edition will be released in November.

A limited number of copies will be available – only at BOOKAZINE – starting from 14 of September, and then there will be a first public discussion about it which will be aired at RTHK3 ‘Morning Brew’ on the 15th of September, 11 a.m. My gratitude goes to Phil Whelan for having me as his guest.

Then, on the 2nd of October, there will be a signing event at Bookazine, Prince Building, III Floor. Here my thanks goes to Shonee Merchandani and to Kate McDonnell for their great kindness.

BELLISSIMA ITALIA is also helping to publicize it and thanks are due to the Consul of Italy, Antonello de Riu.

This book deals with the story of the discovery of Genghis Khan’s relict and with the people involved, even if such momentous find was not publicized, perhaps in order not to upset China. It is now believed to be kept in a secure place, inside an unknown lamasery in Mongolia.
This sacred relic did disappear from a lamasery in central Mongolia during the twenties’ or thirties’ while the country was ravaged by communists’ thugs linked to Moscow. After its mysterious disappearance this artifact was thoroughly searched by Japanese, before their 1939’ botched military attempt to take over Mongolia and even by Adolf Hitler and Heinrich Himmler, who were alerted about its existence by Swedish explorer Sven Hedin.

The artifact found its way south after it was entrusted to Gino Montecorvo, an Italian merchant, and to his wife, a Mongol princess belonging to the Darkhad, a tribe in charge of the protection of the relicts of Genghis Khan. This man arrived in China as an officer in the Italian army, sent to Beijing in 1900 with the armies of seven other nations – including the USA – to quell the Boxers revolt and free the diplomatic legations. This is a well-known story narrated – with little respect for the facts – in the 1963’s Hollywood blockbuster movie The 55 days of Peking starring Charlton Heston, Ava Gardner and David Niven.