Three factors account for Christina Dodwell's renown as a traveler and writer: her parents' moral support, “a little cash and a powerful wanderlust.” Because she is a member of a family of veteran voyagers, it seemed natural for her to revisit places where her family had lived (China and Nigeria) and to explore new territories.

Dodwell's maternal grandparents went to China in 1919. After a few years they settled briefly in Hankou (now part of Wuhan) and then moved to Beijing, where they stayed for seven years before they finally moved to Tianjin in 1932. Her grandfather, Lesley Beddow, was captured by Japanese invasion forces in 1941 and sent to an underground prison for seven months. Her grandmother, Doris Beddow, was a special correspondent for the News Chronicle and the Daily News. Beddow's articles on the besieged city of Hankou, warlord Chang Tso-lin, and the Kuomintang leader Sun Yat-sen's last days...