Educated at Winchester College and with an art history degree and six years of bookselling under his belt, DAMIAN HARPER pursued an interest in Chinese martial arts at London's School of Oriental and African Studies, graduating in 1995 with a degree in modern and classical Chinese. The four-year course took him to Beijing for a year where he met his Chinese wife, Dai Min. Harper has lived and worked in Beijing, Shanghai, and Hong Kong, traveled extensively throughout China, and co-authored several guides on China, Beijing, and the Hong Kong region. He frequently returns to China with his wife, son, and daughter.