Han Suyin (ca. 1917-2012) was born to a Chinese father and Belgian mother in Xinyang in the north-central province of Henan. She qualified as a doctor in London, thereafter moving to Hong Kong. The success of her novel A Many-Splendored Thing (1952)--adapted into the Hollywood film Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing, starring William Holden and Jennifer Jones--enabled her to give up her medical career and focus on her writing. She went on to publish more than thirty books, including novels, memoirs, biographies, and volumes of cultural and political history.
