Born in Jiujiang and educated at the National Southeastern University (now Nanjing University), Chiang Yee worked several jobs following his graduation including teaching chemistry, working as an assistant editor of a Hangzhou newspaper and serving as magistrate. Witnessing the instability which followed the outbreak of the Chinese Civil War in 1927, Chiang travelled to Britain in 1933 to study for an MSc at the London School of Economics. He never finished the course but remained in London, where he taught Chinese at the School of Oriental Studies (now SOAS, University of London) and worked for a time at the Wellcome Collection.
During his years in Britain, Chiang travelled the country and wrote a series of travelogues. First published between 1937 and 1944, The Silent Traveller series proved very popular. It offered a wry commentary on the English and on parts of rural and urban England then little known to Chinese. In 1948, he published an account of his travels to Edinburgh and the series continued with books on Dublin (1953), Paris (1956), the United States (1950-63) and finally Japan (1972). His success as a writer brought him into contact with British intellectuals and patrons of the arts, which may have led to an acquaintance with Queen Mary, to whom he presented this copy of his autobiography, A Chinese Childhood in 1940.
Chiang used his book to offer a humorous account of his upbringing from 5 to 15, interspersed with descriptions of Chinese customs and festivals. Rather than being a chronological account, the book featured a series of anecdotes that focused on the sense of wonderment he felt as a child.