On Sale Now

Champions Day

How a single day revealed the history and foreshadowed the future of Shanghai.

It is November 12, 1941, and the world is at war. In Shanghai, just weeks before Pearl Harbor, thousands celebrate the birthday of China’s founding father, Sun Yat-sen, in a new city center built to challenge European imperialism. Across town, crowds of Shanghai residents from all walks of life attend the funeral of China’s wealthiest woman, the Chinese-French widow of a Baghdadi Jewish businessman whose death was symbolic of the passing of a generation that had seen Shanghai’s rise to global prominence. But it is the racetrack that attracts the largest crowd of all. At the center of the International Settlement, the heart of Western colonization—but also of Chinese progressivism, art, commerce, cosmopolitanism, and celebrity—Champions Day unfolds, drawing tens of thousands of Chinese spectators and Europeans alike to bet on the horses.

In a sharp and lively snapshot of the day’s events, James Carter recaptures the complex history of Old Shanghai. Champions Day is a kaleidoscopic portrait of city poised for revolution.

Reviews & Endorsements

"juggles between telling gripping stories & advancing serious historical arguments....does a wonderful job of combining rigor with entertainment....deep knowledge of modern Chinese history and dedication to thorough research...fluent prose and the memorable quotes and phrases."

-The Los Angeles Review of Books (full review)

“With the eye of an unusually perceptive flâneur…Mr Carter is a wonderful guide for visitors in search of a long-gone city.”
–The Economist (joint review with Last Kings of Shanghai)

“On its surface, the history of a semi-annual horse race, regularly attended by an eclectic ensemble of tens of thousands, both Chinese and foreign. But in tracing the lives and disparate fates of these motley racegoers, Champions Day quickly becomes a far deeper exploration of the racial dynamics, routines, and rituals that formed the contours of Shanghai life in the run up to the Second World War.”
–SupChina (full review)

“A clear-eyed, nuanced view of colonialism that’s a useful contribution to today’s long-overdue reckoning with racism.”
-Washington Independent Review of Books (full review)

“A satisfying juggling act of academic research and engaging popular history.”
–Kirkus (full review)

“An engaging and accessible lens through which to examine Shanghai’s complicated history”
–Booklist (full review)

“More captivating than a day at the races, James Carter offers a sweeping ride through Shanghai's tumultuous history, its quasi-colonial social scene and, of course, the iconic Race Club. Every visitor to the city should read this book to know whose footsteps came before in People's Square.”
–Helen Zia, author of Last Boat Out of Shanghai: The Epic Story of the Chinese Who Fled Mao's Revolution

"A gripping tale that uses the events of just one day to illuminate a much bigger story - the inevitable clash between a growing Chinese sense of nationhood and the crumbling edifice of western colonial power in China.  To understand the origins of some of the tensions and clashes between China and the west in the present day, this account is essential - as well as giving us a highly unusual, deeply insightful view of Asia in the fateful moments before Pearl Harbor."
–Rana Mitter, Professor of the History and Politics of Modern China, University of Oxford, author of Forgotten Ally: China's World War II, 1937-45

“The work of a seasoned China specialist in top form, delivering engrossing stories, engaging arguments, and enticing details--a cultural history trifecta.”
–Jeffrey Wasserstrom, Chancellor’s Professor History, UC-Irvine, author of Global Shanghai and Vigil: Hong Kong on the Brink 

“Could it really be possible to encapsulate the nuanced story of old Shanghai in one day? James Carter proves it can and—through the lens of Champions Day, 1941, at the Shanghai Race Club—reveals the myriad histories of this controversial and problematic century-long urban experiment in east-west fusion.”
—Paul French, New York Times best-selling author of Midnight in Peking and City of Devils  

“Carter doesn’t romanticize Shanghai as a haven for expatriates, but rather shows the hope of Shanghai becoming a Chinese city run by Chinese, with some western characteristics.”
–Susan Blumberg-Kason, Asian Review of Books (full review)

“Pivotal moments in history can tell us much about pivotal times today. In this snapshot of the last days of Shanghai’s past, weeks before Pearl Harbor, we may even see a reflection of China’s current age, where the international entrepôt that the city and the nation once was is being lost again in favor of a more closed China.”
–TheWire China