Little did Lloyd Lofthouse know in 1999, when he married Anchee Min, that he was beginning a decade long journey of discovery. His first trip to The Middle Kingdom was on the honeymoon with his bride, who introduced him to China and Robert Hart (1835-1911), the main characters in Lloyd's first two novels, My Splendid Concubine and Our Hart. Lloyd now lives near San Francisco with his wife—with a second home in Shanghai, China.