Original edition by Ray Daniels who studied Chinese as an exchange student in Taiwan and Beijing. He met his Chinese wife in a tea shop in Taiwan. Revised by Haiyan Situ, a Beijing native who has taught Chinese at the University of Otago, New Zealand. Revised by Jiageng Fan who specializes in the linguistic relationship between the Chinese and Japanese languages and scripts, focusing on the etymology of characters. He has lived, studied and taught Chinese, Japanese and/or English in China and Australia and has traveled extensively. After obtaining a B.A. at Guangdong University of Foreign Studies, then working as a magazine editor, he moved to Christchurch, New Zealand, where he earned a First Class Honours Degree from the University of Canterbury. He is pursuing his Ph.D. at the University of Canterbury.