author
J. O. P. (John Otway Percy) Bland
1863–1945
A British journalist and writer who spent much of his working life in China, he became known for vivid, strongly argued books on Chinese politics and history. His firsthand experience gave his work an immediacy that still makes it a revealing window into its era.
1 Audiobook
China under the Empress Dowager : Being the history of the life and times of Tzŭ Hsi
by J. O. P. (John Otway Percy) Bland, Sir E. (Edmund) Backhouse
About the author
Born in 1863, J. O. P. Bland wrote under the full name John Otway Percy Bland. He was a British writer and journalist best remembered for books on Chinese politics and history, and he lived in China for much of the period from 1883 to 1910.
That long stay shaped both his career and his reputation. He worked in China before turning his experience into books and commentary, including well-known studies of late imperial China. His writing is closely tied to the world of diplomacy, empire, and political change in East Asia during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Bland died in 1945. For listeners today, his work offers more than narrative history: it captures how one deeply involved foreign observer understood China at a time of major upheaval, making his books valuable both for their subject and for the perspective they represent.