Charles Patrick Fitzgerald

Charles Patrick Fitzgerald, better known as C. P. Fitzgerald, was a British historian. He was a professor of East Asian studies with particular focus on China.

Fitzgerald was born in London, England. His parents were Dr. Hans Sauer, a South African from Cape Town. and his Irish-born wife Cecile Josephine, née Fitzpatrick.

Unable to attend university as his family could not afford the fees, he obtained a job in a bank. Becoming interested in East Asia and in the political developments there, he studied for a diploma in Chinese at the University of London's School of Oriental Studies.

He first visited China at age 21, and subsequently lived and worked there for over 20 years. Between 1946 and 1950 he worked there for the British Council. After leaving China, Fitzgerald served as a Reader in Far Eastern history at the Australian National University, located in Canberra, Australia, from 1951 to 1953. He later became Professor of Far Eastern History at the university's Institute of Advanced Studies, from 1953 to 1967.

Fitzgerald's best-known book, China, A Short Cultural History (1935), has been reprinted and revised several times. He authored many other books and articles, including Revolution in China (1952), The Chinese View of Their Place in the World (1964), Empress Wu (1955), Communism takes China (1971), The Southern Expansion of the Chinese People (1972), China and South East Asia since 1945 (1973), and Why China? (1985).

Fitzgerald died in Sydney, New South Wales, in 1992.