Laurence J. C. Ma is an urban geographer with an interest in the development of Chinese cities, past and present. He was born in China and received his B.A. from National Taiwan University and Ph.D. from the University of Michigan. He taught for 29 years at the Department of Geography and Planning, University of Akron, Akron, Ohio before taking early retirement in 2000. He has edited and written nine books, published a number of articles in various journals and edited two special journal issues on Chinese cities. He has been on the editorial board of nine journals published in the U.S., U.K., the Netherlands, China and Taiwan and has served as a consultant to the United Nations Development Programme in China. He resides in Fremont, CA.