R.H. van Gulik, (1910-1967) took his doctor's degree with honours on a thesis dealing with the horse cult in India, Tibet, and the Far East in 1935. Having entered the Netherlands Foreign Service in that same year, he held posts in Tokyo, Chunking (Nanking), Washington, New Delhi, Beirut, and Kuala Lumpur. His last posting was as Netherlands ambassador in Japan. Dr. van Gulik, who, after his thesis, continued to make valuable contributions to Sanskrit and Far Eastern studies, is also well-known as the author of the series of detective stories about Judge Dee.
James Cahill is Professor Emeritus, History of Art, at the University of California, Berkeley. After receiving his Ph.D. at the University of Michigan in 1958, he was for eight years Curator of Chinese Art at the Freer Gallery of Art. He has published numerous books, articles, and catalogs on Chinese and Japanese painting.
Wilt L. Idema, Ph.D. (1974) Leiden University, currently teaches Chinese literature at Harvard University. His main area of research is traditional Chinese vernacular literature.