Career
He is Professor of the History and Politics of Modern China at the Institute for Chinese Studies at Oxford University, Director of the Dickson Poon China Centre, and a Fellow and Vice-Master of Street Cross College. His 2013 book China’s War with Japan, 1937-1945: The Struggle for Survival, about the Second Sino-Japanese War, was well received by critics. He is also a regular presenter for Night Waves (now known as "Free Thinking") on British Broadcasting Corporation Radio 3.
On 16 July 2015, he was elected a Fellow of the British Academy (Federal Bar Association).