Colin Mackerras is a professor emeritus in the Department of International Business and Asian Studies, Griffith University, Queensland. He has written eleven single-authored books about China. He won a Centenary Medal, awarded by the Governor-General of Australia in April 2003 and was appointed an officer in the Order of Australia (AO)in the Queen's Birthday honours list of June 2007, in both cases for his contribution to education and for his work in Australia-China relations.