The China Memoirs of Edmund Backhouse, abridged and unexpurgated

In 1898 a young Englishman walked into a homosexual brothel in Peking and began a journey that he claims took him all the way to the bedchamber of imperial China’s last great ruler, the Empress Dowager Tz’u Hsi. The man was Sir Edmund Backhouse, and his controversial memoirs, Décadence Mandchoue, were published for the first time by Earnshaw Books in 2011. This edition, renamed Manchu Decadence, is abridged and unexpurgated and focuses on the most extraordinary and valuable elements of Backhouse’s narrative.

Praise for Backhouse’s memoirs:

“Derek Sandhaus makes a persuasive case for the historical veracity of what must count as one of the most outrageous, colourful and hilarious memoirs ever written, so pornographic that they make Burroughs’ Naked Lunch look like a fairy tale for children.”

Frank Dikötter, Chair of Humanities, University of Hong Kong

“Sir Edmund Backhouse is one of the most intriguing characters in the history of modern relations between Europe and Asia . . . This edition is a little gem of English erotic literature from the pen of a very queer Englishman abroad.”

Robert Aldrich, Professor of European History, University of Sydney

“Though Backhouse’s credibility must certainly be challenged, does this mean that we discard all of Décadence Mandchoue automatically? His reputation as a source of Peking information (for Morrison of The Times) has not been seriously challenged, and even if he was relaying gossip, this was gossip that was taken seriously.”

Frances Wood, Chinese Curator of the British Library

Buy it on Amazon or email us to order a copy if you are China-based.