Textbook romance

A tireless writer shines a light on interracial relationships during the Republic of China days. Liu Zhihua reports.

Pan Jianbing, a school teacher from Quanzhou in eastern China's Fujian province, is the author of a rare book on interracial relationships from the country's past.

In July, Pan published Romance of the Republic of China: Interracial Relationships That Cannot Be Outshined in which he reveals details of interracial relationships involving government officials, scholars and royal family members in the Republic of China (1912-49) - a period when a rise in such relationships attracted public attention.