David L. McMullen

David L. McMullen is a British sinologist, specialising in medieval China. He was Professor of Chinese at the University of Cambridge from 1989 to 2006, and was elected a Fellow of the British Academy in 1994.

Career McMullen was first introduced to Chinese during National Service with the Royal Air Force in Hong Kong at the end of the 1950s. He was part of the effort to intercept and translate Chinese military communications from the British listening station on top of Victoria Peak. He already had a place to read Classics at Cambridge, but his experiences in Hong Kong, and the knowledge of Chinese that he had acquired, caused him to switch to studying Chinese.

McMullen completed his undergraduate degree at St John's College in 1962, and then studied for his Ph.D. under Edwin G. Pulleyblank. He joined the then Faculty of Oriental Studies at Cambridge in 1968, as assistant lecturer, lecturer and finally Professor of Chinese, a post that he held from 1989 to 2006.

He was elected a Fellow of the British Academy in 1994.

Selected works