My Take | The Jesuit priest who was a great China watcher

During Mao Zedong's lifetime, there was an army of Western professional China experts who idealised Maoism and glorified the country under his rule.

Today, you have an army of Western professional China experts who demonise the country and vilify its leadership.

My position is that like stock tipsters, most China experts are useful taken as a contrarian indicator and that their predictions and pontifications, even if they pan out, are usually inconsequential. It is almost impossible to tell real insights from lucky guesses.

Still there have been a few who were the genuine article from the recent past and who had strong ties to Hong Kong. My Post colleague and historian Jason Wordie named two in a weekend article: John Blofeld and Peter Goullart.

To them, I would like to add a third: Father Laszlo Ladany.

The late Jesuit priest - who spent most of his life in colonial Hong Kong - published, between 1960s and 1980s, his influential China News Analysis. Being too young, I never read a live edition.