Oil for the Lamps of China

Oil for the Lamps of China
AuthorAlice Tisdale Hobart
SubjectAmerican business in early 20th-century China
Set inChina
Published1933
PublisherBobbs-Merrill, EastBridge
Publication date
2002
Publication placeUnited States

Oil for the Lamps of China is a 1933 novel by Alice Tisdale Hobart which became a bestseller in 1934. It was originally published by Bobbs Merrill and reprinted by EastBridge in 2002 (ISBN 1891936085).[1]

The novel describes the life in China of a young executive in an American oil company from the early 1900s through the Nationalist Revolution of the 1920s. The young protagonist, Stephen Chase, is successful in understanding China and building business, but in the turmoil of China's Nationalist Revolution of the 1920s, he is betrayed by the company and by the new China which emerges. Hobart's husband was an executive for the Standard Oil Company.[2]

The novel was the basis of a 1935 film by the same name starring Pat O'Brien.[3]

  1. ^ "eastbridgebooks Resources and Information". ww16.eastbridgebooks.org. Retrieved 2023-01-31.
  2. ^ "Oil for the Lamps of China". Goodreads. Retrieved 2023-01-31.
  3. ^ "Movie Reviews". The New York Times. 2023-01-31. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2023-01-31.