Stuart McDouall is one of six children born into an army family in 1950 and experienced postings to foreign parts from an early age. Upon finishing school he followed the footsteps of his two older sisters, signing up for Voluntary Service Overseas (VSO) and becoming a VSO teacher in the Falkland Islands in 1968/69. There he developed a sense of adventure which has never left him and which prompted him to take the next major step in his life; joining the Royal Hong Kong Police as a probationary inspector at the tail-end of 1970, aged twenty-one.

 In a career spanning 35 years, McDouall worked in several different spheres of policing, beginning with shift work as a duty officer and taking charge of a divisional patrol unit. He graduated from detective training and spent the next twenty years in the Criminal Investigation Department (CID), principally in the Triad Society, Criminal Intelligence and Narcotics Bureaus. In 1997, at the time when the sovereignty of Hong Kongwas returned to the People's Republic of China, McDouall was acting Chief Superintendent in charge of the PoliceTraining School.

 Retiring from active service in 2005, McDouall obtained a diploma in education and took up teaching in a secondary school for a while. At the same time he was in charge of the English-speaking Scout groups in Hong Kong. He married in 1975 and has two sons.

All Agog in China is for everyone interested in China; its history and travel potential. It's the fusion of the enthusiasm and energy of a couple made in Hong Kong. -- He's from Edinburgh and his wife is a fourth-generation Hong Konger ... rather rare. They met in the '70s when both were inspectors of police.... When an opportunity for joint leisure time presented itself, the couple entrained for Beijing, basing themselves in son Jack's flat. And from there they set off, by train mostly, and a bit of boat, armed with camera and notebook, to view as many wonders of China as they possibly could in five months.... It is sprinkled with good humour and light commentary on the characters Stuart and Susanna met along the way. All Agog in China is a charmer; likely to inspire readers to race off and see the marvels and mysteries of China for themselves.

-- Jethro Roger Medcalf, Saikung, Hong Kong.