But maybe that's why China became an essential and appealing posting on the global beat for many foreign correspondents who wanted to make their mark.

The chance for adventure drew a cast of characters from around world.

"They were a mixed bunch - from long-timers such as George 'Morrison of Peking,' glamorous journalist-sojourners such as Peter Fleming and Emily Hahn, and reporter-tourists such as Hemingway and Martha Gellhorn, along with numerous less celebrated, but no less interesting, members of the old China press corps," French writes.

The author says Hemingway was, in fact, spying for the American government and was a reluctant visitor to China.

Away from his famed hunting, drinking and womanizing pursuits, the renowned hedonist didn't enjoy his time in China, describing his experience as "the hangover that refused to go."

The coverage of China also marked some key points in the development of journalism and the communication of information around the globe.

The modern war correspondent was in part born out of the coverage of China, particularly the 1905 Russo-Japanese War, says French.

Coverage included not just writers but photographers as well as some of the first news reel footage. One British journalist, Lionel James of the Times of London, even hired a ship that was moored off northeastern China and had a direct link to the cable link to Shanghai. It was the first time a journalist had cabled information from a war.

As today, the conflict also attracted that unusual breed of reporters, the so-called "war junkie." In the case of the Russo-Japanese War, it was a band of reporters who called themselves "The Vultures" and whose number of hard-bitten hacks included the writer Jack London.

The 28-year-old author had recently come to the world's attention for his acclaimed novel "The Call of the Wild" and was on his first assignment, with no previous experience as a reporter.

"If you look at it from a war-reporting point of view, there were a large number of journalists on both sides," French says.

"These were on a number of levels, illegally running behind trying to work out what they could see, accredited and traveling where they wanted. Some were embedded, which, of course, had all of the problems then that it has now."

Paul French will launch "Through the Looking Glass" at the Glamour Bar on June 7 at 4pm. Check www.m-restaurantgroup.com for details.

(Shanghai Daily May 27, 2009)