This is a live recording of the inaugural session of 'Cosmopolitan Conversations,' a recent symposium held in Shanghai at M on the Bund and sponsored by CET Academic Programs. All four conversations are hosted by UC Irvine Professor of History Jeffrey Wasserstrom, author of the new title China in the 21st Century: What Everyone Needs to Know and the organizing force behind The China Beat, generally considered the best academic group blog on China today.

In this session -- Red, White & Blue in Old Shanghai -- Jeff is joined by two prolific and talented authors who are experts on historic Shanghai and its architecture and community. Tess Johnston has published a string of thoroughly researched and beautiful books on Shanghai architecture, along with a memoir of her days on the diplomatic circuit. Paul French is a British author whose recent books include a history of foreign journalists in China. Paul also has a book coming out with Penguin next year titled Murder in Peking, an investigation into the death of Pamela Werner, a young English girl horrifically murdered in Beijing in 1937.

This is a lengthy recording clocking in at more than an hour. If you don't plan to spend that time at your computer or want to grab the recording for later use, we encourage you to download this recording as a standalone MP3 file.