author
L. Newton Hayes
b. 1883
Born in China to American missionary parents, this early 20th-century writer brought firsthand knowledge and fluent language skills to his books on Chinese culture. His work blends curiosity, travel, and close observation, especially in his studies of the Great Wall and the enduring symbolism of the dragon.
1 Audiobook
The Chinese Dragon
by L. Newton Hayes
About the author
Luther Newton Hayes was born on April 19, 1883, in Soochow (now Suzhou), China, where his parents were American missionaries. He later studied in the United States, earning a B.S. from Wooster College in 1905 and an M.A. from Princeton University in 1907.
After his studies, he returned to China and spent much of the next twenty-five years there. Sources describe him working mostly with the YMCA, and also serving as an English tutor to the grandsons of Li Hung Chang. That long experience in China shaped the books he became known for, including The Chinese Dragon and The Great Wall of China.
Hayes wrote as someone deeply familiar with Chinese life, language, and tradition, which gives his work an unusually direct, lived-in quality. Archival records at Yale also preserve materials connected with his Great Wall research and lectures, suggesting how seriously he approached the subjects that fascinated him.