J. O. P. (John Otway Percy) Bland

Born on 15 November 1863 in Malta, John Otway Percy Bland wrote under the name J. O. P. Bland. He was educated in Switzerland, at Victoria College in Jersey, and at Trinity College Dublin, and he went on to build a career that mixed public service, journalism, and historical writing.

Bland arrived in China in 1883 and worked in the Chinese Imperial Maritime Customs, at one point serving as private secretary to Sir Robert Hart. After leaving that post, he became secretary to the Shanghai Municipal Council and later worked as a correspondent for major British newspapers, including The Times in Peking and Shanghai. He lived in China for much of the period from the 1880s to 1910, and that long experience became the foundation of his writing.

He is best remembered for books on late Qing politics and modern Chinese history, including works such as China Under the Empress Dowager and Recent Events and Present Policies in China. Bland died in Ipswich on 23 June 1945. Today he remains a notable English-language commentator on China from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, even as readers often approach his work with an awareness of the strong opinions and imperial attitudes of his time.