dennis hodgson

I qualified as a geologist in 1967 but after working in the Sahara Desert and the Australian Outback for a couple of years I decided to become an Outward Bound instructor in 1971. I came to Hong Kong in 1974 to work in the OB School there, finishing as programme director in 1984. I now live in a quiet(ish) village in the New Territories, just south of the Chinese border.

For 15 years before I retired, I worked as a freelance editor of academic books for Longman and Routledge.

I started writing a blog, "The view from Fanling", in 2009. I write about anything that interests me, which means that the most common topics are Hong Kong, Chinese culture and how we use language to communicate. I also discuss political and social issues.

Boring! Here's an alternative description:
"From a deconstruction of the story of Cain and Abel to a complete explanation of rocket science (in ten words), from a commentary on Chinese tea rituals to an account of how the Chinese poke fun at foreigners, from an attempt to defrenchify the English language to an analysis of the influence of the Roman Empire on twentieth-century space exploration...."

My other interests are rock-climbing, cycling, rock music, playing cards and Chinese food.