Our Writers
Damian Harper
After graduating with a degree in Chinese (modern and classical) from London’s School of Oriental and African Studies, Damian moved to pre-handover Hong Kong. He then embarked on an epic nine-province journey for the 6th edition of Lonely Planet’s China . Since then he has worked on five further editions and has worked in Shànghǎi and Běijīng (developing a Mandarin accent somewhere between the two), contributing to multiple editions of the Lonely Planet Beijing and Shanghai city guides.
Piera Chen
Piera has been travelling to Macau since she was six. Over the years, while working in Hong Kong, it was poetry readings, fado (Portuguese music) concerts, and a masterfully executed pato de cabidela (duck stewed in its own blood) that kept luring her back. For this book, she spoke to insiders of the casino industry, and for both the Hong Kong and Macau chapters, she scoured the streets for indie music dives, art spaces, and other unpolished gems. Piera also co-authored the 14th Lonely Planet Hong Kong & Macau city guide.
Chung Wah Chow
Chung Wah is a Hong Kong native who has travelled extensively in the mainland. The sheer diversity of China’s languages has always fascinated her. Cantonese, Hakka, Tai, Uighur, Teochew and Hokkien – she loves them all. With an advanced degree in translation studies, a penchant for travel and discovering new sounds and words, Chung Wah merged her talents by becoming a travel writer. She contributed to the previous Lonely Planet edition of China and co-authored Lonely Planet’s Hong Kong & Macau city guide.
Min Dai
Min Dai grew up in the old town of balmy Qīngdǎo on the Shāndōng coast before studying for four years at Běijīng Normal University. She moved to London in the mid-1990s but her seaside roots see her holidaying occasionally in Brighton, Hastings, Margate and even Bournemouth. Min Dai has also lived in Shànghǎi, Běijīng, Hong Kong and Singapore and returns to China frequently to visit family and friends and to journey across her homeland. Married with two children, Min Dai has worked on two editions of Lonely Planet’s China .
David Eimer
David first came to China in 1988. Since then, he has travelled across the country, from the far west to the Russian and Korean borders in the northeast, through the south and southwest and along the eastern coast. After stints as a journalist in LA and London, he succumbed to his fascination with China in 2005 and moved to Běijīng. As well as contributing to newspapers and magazines, David worked on the last edition of China for Lonely Planet, has co-authored the Beijing and Shanghai city guides and wrote the most recent Beijing Encounter .
Robert Kelly
Ever since he learned that his dad’s airline job meant he could fly for peanuts, Robert has been travelling. He first landed in China in the mid-80s, and has popped around Asia ever since, eventually settling down in Taiwan 15 years ago. For this book, Robert researched the very southern point and the very northern tip of China. If there was ever a perfect lesson in the need to avoid summaries and stereotypes when talking about China, this was it. This is Robert’s sixth title for Lonely Planet.
Michael Kohn
Michael grew up in Northern California and made his first trip to China in 1994. He jumped ship in Hong Kong, went to Tibet and later hiked along the Great Wall. Michael has returned to China a dozen times. This is his second tour of duty on Lonely Planet’s China guide. He has also updated Lonely Planet guides to Tibet, Central Asia and Mongolia and has written two books of his own. Michael is currently based in Ulaanbaatar. His work can be read online at www.michaelkohn.us.
Shawn Low
Shawn left his Singapore home for Melbourne and made his way into Lonely Planet as a book editor. Since then, he’s done a stint as a commissioning editor, authored guides to Singapore and Southeast Asia, and is now Lonely Planet’s Asia-Pacific Travel Editor. His fascination with China began after he was dispatched to Yúnnán to host an episode of National Geographic & Lonely Planet’s Roads Less Travelled . Returning to China as an author felt like an obvious thing to do – so he did.
Bradley Mayhew
A mountain junkie, Bradley has been visiting the Tibetan plateau for 20 years, since studying Chinese at Oxford University. Bradley has coordinated the last four editions of the Tibet guide and is also the co-author of Lonely Planet’s Bhutan , Nepal , Trekking in the Nepal Himalaya and Central Asia , as well as the Odyssey Guide to Uzbekistan . He has lectured on Central Asia to the Royal Geographical Society and was the subject of a Arte/SWR documentary retracing the route of Marco Polo. See what he’s up to at www.bradleymayhew.blogspot.com.
Daniel McCrohan
Daniel trained as journalist in the UK and worked for several years on newspapers before turning to travel writing. An Asia fanatic, he travelled extensively throughout the continent for more than 15 years before settling down in China in 2005. He now lives with his wife and their children in a courtyard home in one of Běijīng’s hútòng (alleyways). Daniel has worked on Lonely Planet guides to China, India, Shànghǎi and Tibet. He also worked as a presenter for the Lonely Planet TV series Best in China . Find him on www.danielmccrohan.com.
Christopher Pitts
A Philadelphia native, Chris started off his university years studying classical Chinese poetry before a week in 1990s Shànghǎi (en route to school in Kūnmíng) abruptly changed his focus to the idiosyncracies of modern China. After spending several years in Asia memorising Chinese characters, he abruptly traded it all in and moved to Paris, where he currently lives with his family, Perrine, Elliot and Céleste. He works as a freelance writer, editor and translator for various publishers. Visit his website at www.christopherpitts.net.
Published by Lonely Planet Publications Pty Ltd
ABN 36 005 607 983
12th edition – June 2011
ISBN 978 1 74321 268 4
© Lonely Planet 2011 Photographs © as indicated 2011
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