Lazy Man in China

The story of China over two decades — its transition from Old Communism to New Capitalism — intertwined with the love story between former ABC Beijing correspondent Helene Chung, the first female posted abroad by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, and her late partner, John Martin, the self-dubbed lazy man at the Australian Embassy in Beijing. His witty, perceptive and self-deprecating letters to family and friends have inspired a book interwoven with 90 colour photographs of China past and present.

‘This is a China book you read through in one go … a very intimate China reportage that is personal and conversational with often unfashionable private judgments … It is at once a wistful love story … and a dialogue between Helene and her partner about China.’ (Professor Stephen FitzGerald OA, Australia’s First Ambassador to the People’s Republic of China, Chairman, The Asia-Australia Institute, UNSW) (for more information go to http://www.helenechung.com)