All this buzz about a crusty old historian sleeping with the Empress Dowager - can it be worth it? Word is, this crusty old historian - Sir Edmund Trelawney Backhouse for the non-initiated - turned out a final memoir that is both fairly graphic and wickedly funny. We gave you the background on the guy just last week, but if you're intrigued and want to know more, you should get yourself to the Bookworm tonight for the book launch. Editor Derek Sandhaus will be present to discuss these alleged lurid liaisons between Beijing's earliest sexpat and his royal lay.

Meanwhile, Sandhaus was kind enough to give the Beijinger the skinny on the new book:

What prompted you to edit and publish Décadence Mandchoue after it was hidden away for so long?

Sir Edmund Backhouse is one of the most enigmatic characters of early 20th century Chinese scholarship, and also one of the most influential in terms of shaping the way the Western world sees China and the late Qing dynasty. His autobiography not only helps readers understand Backhouse and how he saw the world, but it provides information about the Empress Dowager Cixi and the Peking around the turn of the 20th century that just cannot be found elsewhere. It's also a fantastic book by a charming writer with a devilish sense of humor.

Amidst the accusations of Sir Edmund Trelawney Backhouse's fraudulent historical works, what is your take on how to read this memoir? Do you think it's an accurate account?

We should certainly view Backhouse's work with skepticism, as we should view any historical claim, but it's a mistake to assume his work is fraudulent out of hand. Backhouse's reputation was tarnished by Hugh Trevor-Roper, unfairly in my view, who never convincingly proved that Backhouse was a fraud.

So what do you make of Hugh Trevor-Roper's accusations? Was it a case of expat envy?

It certainly wasn't expat envy, as Hugh Trevor-Roper never lived in China (or visited to my knowledge). I believe that Trevor-Roper's criticisms of Backhouse reveal a large degree of personal discomfort with Backhouse's homosexuality and criticism of the British, as well as a general lack of understanding of China and its culture. It's clear that he missed a great deal about Backhouse and went to great lengths to discredit him. Trevor-Roper was also a bad judge of forgery, as demonstrated by his authentication of the fake Hitler diaries in the 1980s.

Of all Backhouse's sordid details, which do you personally find the most difficult to believe?

The more I learn about Backhouse and the world in which he lived, the less difficulty I have believing his claims. There's almost nothing he writes which is out of the realm of possibility and most is impossible to prove one way or the other today. I do however, think it's important not to rush to judgment, but to keep an open mind and examine the claims Backhouse makes independently on their own merits.

Backhouse was known as an excellent translator ... do you think his chances with the Empress Dowager were improved by his being such a cunning linguist?

Certainly Backhouse's linguistic ability adds a degree of plausibility to his story. Not only did he speak fluent Chinese, but also the court's language, Manchu. There are exchanges found in the notes of the original manuscript for Décadence Mandchoue that show Backhouse's knowledge of court language far exceeded that of the average Chinese and Backhouse often corrects the Chinese secretary who helped prepare the Chinese characters in the manuscript.

Do you think the Chinese populace will get a hold of this book? What do you think their response will be to its contents?

I'm quite sure that the Chinese populace will get a hold of this. Our Chinese publishing partners for this book, New Century Press, just released the work in unsimplified Chinese characters last week in Hong Kong. Though we don't have plans for a Mainland edition, I'm quite sure that many Mainlanders will pick it up in Hong Kong and I would expect a pirated, simplified version to be circling the internet soon.

I can't say what the wider reaction will be, but the Chinese readers I've encountered so far think it's fantastic and not all that unbelievable. An early reviewer got a huge kick out of Backhouse's colloquial Beijing dialect.

If Backhouse were around in today's Beijing expat scene, what do you think he'd be up to?

Hard to say, because China is such a different place. Many of the things that attracted Backhouse to Beijing over a hundred years ago have changed and it's possible that he wouldn't have been drawn here in the same way he was back then.

How does Décadence Mandchoue team up with your earlier book Tales of Old Peking to give us a picture of our city's past?

I think Décadence Mandchoue is a nice complement to Tales of Old Peking, in that the latter is a collection of colorful voices meditating on the city's past and Backhouse is by far the most colorful. But Décadence Mandchoue focuses on a very specific part of old Peking, namely its sexual mores and the downfall of the Qing dynasty, so you might want to buy both just to get the full picture (wink, wink).

Could you give us a tidbit from Tales of Old Peking for someone who might be interested in reading it?

My favorite story in Tales of Old Peking centers around court etiquette and the battle of egos between European and Chinese statesmen (one which you'll find echoes of even today). When the British sent missions to the Peking court in the 1790s and 1810s, a great fuss was made over their refusal to kowtow to the Emperor and both missions ended in failure, though the kowtow was probably only one of many factors. Yet there was a Dutch mission that had no problem performing the kowtow to the Emperor and, in so doing, became a source of great amusement for the Qing court. In one instance, the court officials told them to bow down before one of the Emperor's unfinished pastries (just to see if they would, one suspects).

How is publishing based in China going for you and your team at Earnshaw Books?

We are a Hong Kong-based publisher, and Hong Kong is a great place to publish.

What are the next projects you have in store?

We have quite a few exciting projects on the way, covering everything from contemporary Chinese rock and roll to policing the mean streets of old Shanghai.

The Décadence Mandchoue book launch takes place tonight. RMB 20 for members, RMB 30 for non-members. 7.30pm. The Bookworm

