This book identifies the formation, development and changes in New Zealand perceptions of its Asian neighbours, the work of which is based mainly on New Zealand sources—newspaper reports, Government and Parliamentary papers and documents from New Zealand individuals and organisations. The target audience is those with interest in how European perceptions of Asia were formed in the 19th century and Asia's response to those perceptions and how a country with a strong European culture copes with the need to better integrate with Asian neighbours.

David Hall’s first career was in UK space science using rockets and satellites to study the auroral borealis, contributing to more than 40 academic publications. He then represented the UK in the international diplomacy of space science. After retiring from space science, he studied humanities and has had books published by Palgrave Macmillan on New Zealand’s emergence from an entrenched colonial economy and on New Zealand’s agricultural economics and food policy. He has also had a book published on New Zealand farm women’s invisibility.