Ki-tong Tcheng

Born in 1851 and also known as Chen Jitong, he was a Chinese diplomat, scholar, and writer from Fuzhou in the late Qing period. He studied French at the school attached to the Fuzhou shipyard and later served abroad, becoming especially well known in France.

Writing under the name Tcheng Ki-tong, he published several books in French that explained Chinese society, customs, and everyday life to Western readers. He is often noted as one of the first Chinese authors to write extensively in French for a European audience, using a lively, accessible style rather than a purely academic one.

He died in 1907, but his work still stands out for the way it tried to bridge cultures at a time of intense misunderstanding and change. For audiobook listeners, his books offer both historical insight and the voice of someone determined to represent China on his own terms.