'In 1953 when Pierre Ryckmans, better known to the literary world under his pen name Simon Leys, was 18, he crewed for a time on a fishing trawler in Icelandic waters. Soon afterwards he undertook a solo trip by foot through remote villages in the Congo. Between university studies in art history, philosophy and law in Belgium, he travelled to China and met Zhou Enlai, first premier of the People’s Republic of China.' (Introduction)