George Magnus is an associate at the China Centre at Oxford University, research associate at the School of Oriental and African Studies and former chief economist at UBS. He was featured in the Telegraph as the man widely acknowledged to have predicted that the US sub-prime mortgage crisis would trigger a global recession. Magnus has written extensively about China in print media including for the Financial Times, Bloomberg View, and Prospect magazine, and is regularly asked to speak on radio and TV.

Derek Perkins is a professional narrator and voice actor. He has earned numerous AudioFile Earphones Awards and the prestigious Audie Award for Best Narration. Augmented by a knowledge of three foreign languages and a facility with accents, he has narrated numerous titles in a wide range of fiction and nonfiction genres.