BRIAN FINCH was commissioned into the Middlesex Regiment in 1960 and served with one of the survivors of the Lisbon Maru, sparking a life-long interest. He saw active service in Malaysia (where he commanded a platoon of Iban head-hunters), and later on peacekeeping duties in Northern Ireland. Following an intensive course in Chinese in Hong Kong he had a posting to the Headquarters staff where at the height of the Cultural Revolution he studied the deployment of Chinese forces along the Hong Kong border. 

Brian Finch later joined he Foreign and Commonwealth Office where he used his knowledge of Chinese in support of the negotiations over the future of Hong Kong.

     His years in Hong Kong led to a close relationship with the Lisbon Maru Association of Hong Kong, and since learning the full story of the courageous Chinese fishermen of Zhoushan who rescued hundreds of British prisoners of war from Hong Kong, including many from the Middlesex Regiment, he has worked closely with the Association to help their work of educating others about the incident, and this inspired him to translate this book. In 2011 he undertook a 117-mile walk from the south coast to the north coast of Devon across Dartmoor and Exmoor to raise funds for the Association.

 Brian speaks Mandarin Chinese to near-native standard and can get by in Cantonese; he is often mistaken on the telephone for a native Chinese. He reads Chinese in both traditional and simplified characters and writes it with a Chinese word-processor.

The above description was provided by the author at the time of publication.

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Brian's book is, A FAITHFUL RECORD OF THE LISBON MARU INCIDENT. In this, he translates an original Chinese publication covering an important chapter in Hong Kong’s wartime history, with additional material and commentary. It gives details of the Lisbon Maru Incident of 1942, seen through the eyes of the Chinese fishermen who rescued hundreds of British prisoners of war from Hong Kong, whose ship had been torpedoed. A Faithful Record also recounts the visit to Zhoushan in 2005 of one of the survivors and his emotional reunion with some of those who saved him. It also describes a visit to Hong Kong in the same year of the last few remaining fishermen who had taken part in the rescue. This book was published in the Royal Asiatic Society Hong Kong Studies Series, with publication support from the Ride Fund.