Posted by Andrew Craig-Bennett on December 07, 2010 at 09:12:22 user ACB.
In Reply to: Re: SA Theatre Production posted by Mike Dennis on November 29, 2010 at 22:43:28:
Thanks - a penny just dropped with a resounding clang!
The reason for AR's quite evident dislike of the British communities in China suddenly becomes clear - he would have run right up against the (very strong) prejudice against Russian women as wives, in the British and other expatriate communities in Shanghai and elsewhere, which had its origin in the tendency of White Russian girls to work, faute de mieux as they were all "stateless" on Nansen passports, as prostitutes.
Explaining that Evgenia was in fact a "red" and not a "white" would have made matters ten times worse, so he was stuck with the prejudice.