Jonathan Clements presented several seasons of Route Awakening, National Geographic's award-winning TV series about Chinese history and culture. He is the author of many acclaimed books, including Coxinga and the Fall of the Ming Dynasty, Confucius: A Biography, and The Emperor's Feast: A History of China in Twelve Meals. He has also written histories of both China and Japan, two countries that have, at some point, claimed Taiwan as their own. From 2013 to 2019, Clements was a visiting professor at Xi'an Jiaotong University. He was born in the East of England and lives in Finland.