In 1983 I moved to London, and started a degree course in Chinese at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), which I did not complete until five years later due to an extended sojourn in China.
Chengde (1984)
We spent most of our year at the infamous 北京语言学院 avoiding lessons, learning about Juche ideology from North Korean classmates (probably it was a bad idea to put them in the same class as us), stealing bottles of vodka from the British Embassy on the Queen's Birthday, and travelling to odd parts of China. This photo was taken at Chengde, when I briefly flirted with extrovertism. and took to wearing a red plastic lobster in my hat. I have never liked partying (always look for me in the kitchen), but I always enjoyed the weekly cycle ride to the 友谊宾馆 for Qingdao and peanuts, until one night, coming back a little 'highspirited', and racing fast down the empty road I decided to grab the handlebar of my roomate's bike whilst not holding either of my own—I still have the scar hidden under my right eyebrow (which did eventually grow back).
I studied for a PhD in Chinese Literature at Princeton University under Professor Plaks for four years, specialising in the early Chinese novel (mostly Jin Ping Mei of course).
Princeton University (1990)
I wrote my dissertation on the textual history of the Ming dynasty historical novel The Three Kingdoms (Sanguo Yanyi 三國演義), which I completed in 1993 (I rewrote the core research in Chinese as a book entitled Sanguo Yanyi Banben Kao 三國演義版本考 [Study of the Editions of the "Romance of the Three Kingdoms"], which was published three years later—ironically in the same year that I lost my job for not publishing enough).
Guangxi (1992)
The picture above was taken on my world tour of libraries, in search of rare, early editions of Sanguo Yanyi, in the Spring of 1992, when I paid a visit to my wife's ancestral home in the heart of Guangxi, three hour's walk from the nearest road.
[No photos currently available]
[No photos currently available]
The Early Years (1960-1978) | The Lost Years (1978-1983) | The Academic Years (1983-1998) | The Wilderness Years (1999-2017)