**Early Life and Education:**
– Born in 1903 in Jiujiang, China to a painter father
– Mother passed away when he was five
– Graduated from Nanjing University in 1925 with a degree in chemistry
**Career in England:**
– Taught Chinese at the School of Oriental Studies from 1935 to 1938
– Wrote and illustrated ‘The Silent Traveller’ series of books
– Designed costumes for a ballet performance
– Made friends with British intellectuals and arts figures
**Literary Contributions and Commentary:**
– Provided a unique perspective on unfamiliar places
– Expressed opposition to Nazism in wartime books
– Critiqued British racism and exclusion of Chinese from Trinity College, Oxford
– Shared feelings of homesickness for China and love for nature, especially flowers
**Later Years in the United States:**
– Moved to the United States in 1955
– Became a lecturer at Columbia University
– Naturalized as a US citizen in 1966
– Illustrated all his books and wrote on Chinese calligraphy
– Served as Emeritus Professor of Chinese at Columbia University
**Legacy and Commemoration:**
– Passed away in China in 1977 after over forty years abroad
– Buried on the slopes of Mount Lu near Jiujiang
– Blue plaque unveiled in Oxford in 2019 to honor his contributions
– Recognized for his impact on both British and Chinese cultures
Chiang Yee (simplified Chinese: 蒋彝; traditional Chinese: 蔣彝; pinyin: Jiǎng Yí; Wade–Giles: Chiang I; 19 May 1903 – 26 October 1977), self-styled as "The Silent Traveller" (哑行者), was a Chinese poet, author, painter and calligrapher. The success of The Silent Traveller: A Chinese Artist in Lakeland (1937) was followed by a series of books in the same vein, all of which he illustrated himself. He was a nominee for the 1973 Nobel Prize in Literature.