IN TIME FOR IAN FLEMING’S CENTENARY THIS YEAR, SARAH WOODS TALKS TO THE BRIT WRITER NAMED BOND IN SHANGHAI ABOUT HOW HIS NAME HAS GIVEN HIM LICENSE TO THRILL
In image-conscious China, English-speaking non-nationals are encouraged to adopt a Chinese name. Not only does it help foreigners to integrate, Chinese names all have meanings that provide a hint to the owner’s personality or profession. Pity the poor Briton who proudly hands out business cards to an elite array of Chinese dignitaries at a swish Shanghai function only to realize later on that the great-sounding name he chose turned out to be a homophone for “drinking dog excrement.”
THE NAME’S BOND, GRAHAM BOND
Fortunately, the British author Graham Bond entered Chinese society without such social faux pas. He chose the name “Bond” in reference to Agent 007 (Bang De in Mandarin). Graham Bond’s well-traveled, manifestly British style, clipped accent and honed manners made the christening more than apt. “The whole 007 connection is a superb ice-breaker in China, especially when you’re the only Westerner for miles,”
Graham says. And with the Asian release of Quantum of Solace – the latest James Bond thriller – in November (the film opens on November 5 in the Philippines), he will definitely have to deal with even more references to the world-famous spy.
Bond spent much of his adult life away from home-soil, having studied in the United States and subsequently traveling extensively all across Asia, Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific. When he settled in China in 2003, his new Chinese name became an immediate conversation starter, regularly prompting a knowing, “Aha, xiang ling ling qi?” which translates to “Like 007?”
His bumbling, Hugh Grant-esque charm and droll, epigrammatic writing style soon caught the attention of the Chinese travel press and Graham began to get work as a columnist and regular writer in publications such as the leisure-travel magazine, Asia and Away, and the English-language newspaper, China Daily, as well as reputable international publications like The Times (London), the South China Morning Post (Hong Kong) and The Australian (Sydney). China’s own 007 has merely applied his suave and sophisticated persona to the range of possibilities that have materialized in the run-up to the Beijing 2008 Olympics, as well as to quite a number of quirky onscreen TV projects.
This Bond has backpacked in the snowy mountain peaks of northern Yunnan, clambered over the sand dunes of Dunhuang, and sailed the Three Gorges
CAUGHT IN THE ACT
“All sorts of weird and wonderful offers tend to come your way as a foreigner in China,” Graham admits. “I can’t act for toffee, but I was asked to play a part in a dramatization about the city of Zhaoqing for CCTV International, wearing a winged hat, a pair of turquoise clogs and a pained expression. Nothing I could say would dissuade the filmmakers that I was anything other than perfect for the part.”
Graham was also plucked from obscurity to appear in a cheesy tourist clip in which a Tai Chi master took him through his paces on a hilltop at sunrise in Lijiang. He has also hung out in Shanghai’s swankiest haunts and VIP bars to pen a book on its nightlife for Pulse and has put in months of solid round-country graft to compile a China country guide for Spiral and AA. Then, of course, there was his stint at the helm on Asia and Away magazine covering stories from Naxi ancient culture to Mandarin graffiti. It’s all a world away from his job with the Trinity Mirror Newspaper Group in the UK where, as a news reporter, he yearned to escape what he still refers to as the predictability of the “daily yawn”.
So, has his luminary moniker caused special-agent-style life-changing excitement for a self-effacing guy from England? The zillion colorful travel experiences under his belt would suggest it has: from backpacking in the snowy mountain peaks of northern Yunnan to riding buses in Tibet to clambering over the sand dunes of Dunhuang to sailing the Three Gorges. Graham has driven across the stunning grasslands of Inner Mongolia, explored China’s sleekest most futuristic cities and visited lesser-known decaying backwater wastelands, and other forbidding spots where tourists, perhaps even spies for that matter, fear to tread.
“There is a lot of warmth in China,” Bond explains, “as well as incredible societal contrasts, from the most humbling simplicity and sure-footed sincerity to out-and-out naked greed.”
And while little things like old-fashioned courtesy and the occasional “ni hao” help to open doors to non-nationals in China, it’s debatable whether Graham’s namesake would sing old Chinese folk songs at karaoke sessions with the pink-cheeked, cringing embarrassment that is characteristic of a stiff-upper-lipped Englishman. Ultimately, it’s not very 007. Also, this un-suave Bond still struggles with the complexities of the Mandarin language, though his Chinese counterparts are quick to praise his metamorphosis from giggling amateur to competent conversationalist in just a few short years.
“When I arrived in China, I couldn’t speak a single word of Mandarin or Cantonese. I felt very alone. When a Chinese girl invited me to join her table in a shopping mall food court, I immediately said yes,” he explains. “Ling showed me around town, helped with the language and gave me a handle on China and its oddities. In 2005, I had a sufficient grasp of rudimentary Mandarin to ask her to be my wife.”
Graham Bond may benefit from his secret agent doppelganger, but being nicknamed China’s 007 can sometimes be a millstone around the neck of this gentleman from a sleepy English village in Hampshire. Unlike James Bond, he can’t fly a private plane into a secret lair, survive renegade killer spies or woo a woman at 40 paces, although he is sharp enough at poker.
What’s more, Graham isn’t a Scorpio. He doesn’t kick-ass at judo and is not of Scottish descent. He is without the family motto: Orbis non sufficit (Latin for “The world is not enough”), although he and Ling now have a daughter, Louisa Jasmine, a la James Bond. Like his namesake, Graham has also quit smoking although he continues to indulge in an occasional cigar. He will, however, always choose a glass of French Bordeaux over a vodka martini every time. And since there isn’t an Aston Martin DB5 in his garage, this Bond tends to walk.
“Basically, the mention of ‘Bond’ usually allows for a lame attempt at a gag, from which I can draw both embarrassment and some weird sense of shallow pride. It falls flat when I need to prompt the mental connection to the M16 special agent and movie – a tiring and, frankly, undignified process,” he admits.
He also concedes to feeling somewhat special in China, citing at least ten “Who’s that guy?” stares a day – even when his hair is uncombed and he’s still, inadvertently, wearing a pair of pajama bottoms. “In China, giant career leaps are achievable in a very short period of time. Time is compressed – everything is compressed. And very little is asked of you in a nation that is undergoing a staggering pace of change,” he explains.
BOND’S CITY
These days, Graham and his family divide their time between Shanghai’s growing forest of skyscrapers and the rural town of Zhaoqing in Guangdong. Shanghai however remains Graham’s favorite urban space in China. When Ian Fleming created 007, he described him as “an interesting man to whom extraordinary things happen.” Bond may not share the special agent’s penchant for Dom Perignon and Bentleys, but he has played a part in churning out trail-blazing travel literature from China.
But unlike the grand schemes of Goldfinger, Dr. No, and the villainous Ernst Stavro Blofeld, Graham has yet to wage a literary battle with all of China’s deadly sins. Typically understated, he has also stayed shy of exploiting his 007 status even when it comes to getting the best table in his favorite eatery, the top floor of Shangri-La’s Jade on 36. It is a stance that is in keeping with China’s anti queue-jumping campaign (launched before the Olympics, under the slogan: “It’s civilized to queue; it’s glorious to be polite”). Bond is becoming Chinese.
HOW TO BE BOND
Nanjing Dong (East) Lu
Graham Bond shows us where to live it up a la 007 in Shanghai
For cocktails, swagger along to JG Bar, tucked inside one of the Bund’s grandest colonial buildings. Order a martini, sink into one of the pony-hair club chairs, and let the seduction begin. 4/F, Three on the Bund, 3 Zhong Shan Dong Yi Road; tel: +86 21 6323 3355; www.threeonthebund.com
Get a tux made at South Bund
Soft Spinning Material Market
In Xintiandi, there is a block of 1920s homes converted into Shanghai’s most exclusive drinking and dining destination. No spy worth his salt should leave without visiting the Site of the 1st National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party, lodged in a corner of this capitalist enclave.
Join Shanghai’s hardest partying crowd at the Velvet Lounge. This French Concession clubs comes with an exotic Tibetan twist, and will remain sociable all the way till the 5am closing. 1F, Building 3-4, 913 Julu Lu; tel: +86 21 5403 2976
The clock tower of
the Bund’s Custom
House at dusk
Daniel Craig’s multimillion-dollar contract could buy him a few swanky dinners at Jade on 36 restaurant. The mad-scientist fusion cuisine is pricey, but it’s also the classiest meal in town and the views would make even the meekest feel they were a Bond-styled Master of the Universe. 36/F, Pudong Shangri-La, 33 Fucheng Lu; tel: +86 21 6882 3636; www.jadeon36.com
Check out the western section of Nanjing Lu, particularly Plaza 66, for designer brands and celebrity chic. 1266 Nanjing Xi Lu, tel: +86 21 3210 4566, www.plaza66.com
Shanghai’s Maglev (short for
‘magnetic levitation’) train
Get a tux measured and made for less than RMB1,000(USD147) at the South Bund Soft Spinning Material Market. The claustrophobic mall-cum-market has a huge selection of raw textiles, so you’ll need your Bond wits about you to find what you need. 399 Lujiabang Lu, tel: +86 21 6377 2236
Shanghai’s USD1.33-billion Maglev train is a wheel-less monorail that slices through the Pudong air at 431 kilometers per hour thanks to magnetic levitation technology. The 30km-journey from the city to the airport takes seven minutes with sharp bends that would turn even Bond’s knuckles at least a little white. Longyang Metro Station/Pudong International Airport, tel: +86 21 2890 7100, www.smtdc.com
HOW TO GET THERE Cebu Pacific flies to Shanghai from Manila four times a week. Visit www.cebupaci.#64257; cair.com for details
PHOTOS BY SHARRON LOVELL and GRAHAM BOND
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