Tony Fairbank holds a Ph.D. in Chinese history from the University of Washington, where he studied the history and literature of the Han – Tang periods. Having begun his Chinese studies in high school, he went on to attend Tufts University, earning a B.A. in Chinese history. His work there included an academic year of language study in Taiwan, where he was introduced to classical Chinese. At present, Fairbank works as an independent scholar and freelance translator; and was a contributing translator to the recently published Tracing the Past, Drawing the Future: Master Ink Painters in Twentieth Century China (2009), and Chinese Ceramics (2010), part of Yale's "Culture and Civilization of China" series. His main scholarly interest is the study and translation of the seventh-century Chinese historical text, Jin shu (History of the Jin Dynasty). He lives on Bainbridge Island, Washington.
