Yung Wing was unique, born in 1828 before the Opium Wars, he was the first Chinese person to graduate from a major US college in 1854. He tried and failed to join the Union army to fight the Confederacy and returned to China to negotiate with the Taiping rebels. He participated in and witnessed the convulsions of late 19th century China, and – amazingly and crucially – also wrote about it in English in this fascinating and highly readable book.