Badlands

A microcosm of vice and sin in the 1930s, the Peking Badlands stood in the shadow of the city’s exclusive foreign enclave. Following the murder of a young English woman, a fleeting spotlight was cast on the area offering a brief glimpse into a secretive world and bringing the lives of its residents sharply into focus. Paul French continues the stories touched upon in his international bestseller Midnight in Peking. With eyewitness accounts and new research, he explores the astonishing stories of the denizens who called the Badlands – a decadent and amoral playground – home.