T. H. Barrett is Professor Emeritus of East Asian History at the Department of Religions and Philosophies in SOAS University of London. A 1971 Cambridge graduate in Chinese Studies, he gained a Ph.D. from Yale in Buddhist Studies in 1978. His main publications concern historical aspects of Buddhism, Daoism, and Confucianism in China and Japan, especially religious printing in East Asia. He has also written extensively on the understanding of China in Britain.

Lawrence Wang-chi Wong is Professor Emeritus and Research Professor at the Department of Translation in The Chinese University of Hong Kong. He is concurrently Director of the Research Centre for Translation. He received his Ph.D. from SOAS University of London. He has published extensively on modern Chinese literature, Hong Kong, and Chinese translation history in the 18th–20th centuries. His recent projects are mostly about the translators and translation issues in Sino-British diplomatic relations in the 18th–19th centuries.