Gordon Dickson left England for China at the age of twenty. In mid-1900, he arrived in Shanxi where the Boxers were relentlessly persecuting foreigners and the provincial governor had just given the order to behead missionaries. His lucky escape from the mayhem there should have made him more cautious about his own safety, but in late 1917 he was walking into danger again. This time it was in Russia where the war, the abdication and political upheaval were having devastating consequences on many lives. His was one of them.