John Gittings is a peace historian who was for many years chief foreign leader-writer and East Asia editor at The Guardian. He was on the editorial team of the Oxford International Encyclopedia of Peace and is a Research Associate of the China Institute at the School of Oriental & African Studies. He was active in the early years of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament and in the International Confederation for Disarmament and Peace. He has written extensively on issues of war and peace and on cold war politics, as well as many works on modern China. Earlier books include The Changing Face of China (2005, also published by OUP), Real China (1995), Beyond the Gulf War (1991, editor), and Superpowers in Collision (1982, with Noam Chomsky and Jonathan Steele).