History of China
He studied Chinese at the University of Oxford (Wadham College), and took an M.A. at the University of London. He also studied at the University of Shandong in China. His first book, "The Lilies of China", was published in 1986. He subsequently authored "China: A Cultural History" (1991), "A Traveller’s History of China" (first edition 1995; several subsequent editions), "Broadleaved Evergreens" (2001), "Marco Polo's China" (2006), and "Beijing – A Concise History" (2007). Of these, "A Traveller’s History of China" has been published in translations into Finnish, Swedish and Portuguese. One reviewer wrote of this book that it "is not the perfect solution to the problem of a single source for the prospective China tourist, but it is by far the best attempt at such a book I have yet seen."