{{Short description|British author}} {{about|the British author|the American musician|Michael Rank (musician)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} '''Michael Rank''' (1950<ref>{{zh}} [https://www.flickr.com/photos/ibisbill/12037202215/ Chinese press card, 1980] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141031125634/https://www.flickr.com/photos/ibisbill/12037202215/ |date=2014-10-31 }}</ref> – 20 May 2017) was a British author. He was a journalist in China in the early 1980s, and visited Tibet in 1983.<ref>[https://www.theguardian.com/media/2017/aug/22/michael-rank-obituary Michael Rank obituary] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170822180302/https://www.theguardian.com/media/2017/aug/22/michael-rank-obituary |date=2017-08-22 }}</ref>
== Education == Rank was educated at King Henry VIII School, Coventry, and graduated from Downing College, Cambridge, in 1972 with a degree in Oriental Studies (specifically Chinese).<ref>{{cite news |title=Theological, scientific, and geographical tripos results at Cambridge |work=The Times |date=22 June 1972 |page=21}}</ref> He also pursued studies at Peking University and Fudan University in Shanghai from 1974 to 1976.
== Career == Based in London, Rank was Reuters correspondent in Beijing. He visited the city of Rason in North Korea in 2010.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/sep/26/north-korea-rason-beyond-capital |title=North Korea: Beyond the capital lies a different world |access-date=2016-12-12 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160415201505/http://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/sep/26/north-korea-rason-beyond-capital |archive-date=2016-04-15 |newspaper=The Guardian |date=2010-09-26 |last1=Rank |first1=Michael }}</ref> He also published articles in ''The Guardian'', "Asia Times Online", "BBC Wildlife",<ref>''BBC Wildlife'': Volume 16, 1998. Michael Rank (China specialist) - "Wildlife of the Tibetan Steppe"</ref> and 'North Korea Economy Watch'.<ref> {{Cite web |last=Rank |first=Michael |date=2010-04-02 |title=Nothing to Envy by Barbara Demick |url=http://www.theguardian.com/books/2010/apr/03/nothing-envy-korea-barbara-demick |access-date=2022-12-08 |website=the Guardian |language=en}}</ref>
He later became a translator from Chinese to English and a freelance journalist. His interest in birds led him to study the life of Frank Ludlow<ref>[http://www.rsaa.org.uk/speakers/view/rank_michael Michael Rank] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140202161407/http://www.rsaa.org.uk/speakers/view/rank_michael |date=2014-02-02 }}, site of the "Royal Society for Asian Affairs"</ref> and the history of English School of Gyantse.<ref>[http://www.bl.uk/catalogues/indiaofficeselect/PhotoShowDescs.asp?CollID=1390 Ludlow Collection: ' Tibet, 1923-26'.], site of the 'British Library'</ref> One of his articles on this subject was published by the Namgyal Institute of Tibetology.
He published three articles in the Royal Society for Asian Affairs.<ref>[http://www.rsaa.org.uk/speakers/r Lecturers and Authors] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130406221726/http://www.rsaa.org.uk/speakers/r |date=2013-04-06 }}, site of the "Royal Society for Asian Affairs"</ref>
== Articles == * 2014 "[http://apjjf.org/2014/11/23/Michael-Rank/4127/article.html Nineteen Eighty-four in China]", ''The Asia-Pacific Journal'' 9 June 2014. * 2012 [https://archive.today/20120701135137/http://atimes.com/atimes/korea/na19dg01.html The Ponghwa behind Pyongyang's throne], "Asia Times Online", January 12, 2012. * 2009 ''[http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/96789 Ludlow, Frank (1885–1972)]'', Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, May 2009 * 2004 [http://himalaya.socanth.cam.ac.uk/collections/journals/bot/pdf/bot_2004_02_full.pdf King Arthur comes to Tibet: Frank Ludlow and the English school in Gyantse, 1923-26], ''Namgyal Bulletin of Tibetology'', 2004 * 2003 [http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/0306837032000068581 Frank Ludlow and the English School in Tibet 1923-1926], Volume 34, number 1 Asian Affairs, Royal Society for Asian Affairs, 2003 * 2001 (with Axel Bräunlich) [https://web.archive.org/web/20120112205326/http://www.corncrake.net/Download/asia.pdf "Notes on the occurrence of the Corncrake (''Crex crex'') in Asia and in the Pacific region"], In Schäffer, n.; Mammen, U (PDF). Proceedings International Workshop 1998 Corncrake. Hilpoltstein, Germany. 2001
== Footnotes == <references/>
== External links == * [https://web.archive.org/web/20181114115606/http://www.danwei.org/wildlife/wild_leopards_of_beijing_by_mi.php] "Wild leopards of Beijing" by Michael Rank. {{in lang|en}} * [http://paper-republic.org/translators/michael-rank/] Notes on Michael Rank. {{in lang|en}} * [https://web.archive.org/web/20140202161407/http://www.rsaa.org.uk/speakers/view/rank_michael] more notes on Michael Rank. {{in lang|en}} * [http://ibisbill.wordpress.com/ Blog of Michael Rank] * [http://www.thebaron.info/news/article/2017/05/21/obituary-michael-rank Obituary in ''The Baron'', 21 May 2017] * [https://www.theguardian.com/media/2017/aug/22/michael-rank-obituary Obituary in ''The Guardian'', 22 Aug 2017]
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Rank, Michael}} Category:1950 births Category:2017 deaths Category:English ornithologists Category:English male journalists Category:Tibetologists Category:English translators Category:Chinese–English translators Category:Alumni of Downing College, Cambridge Category:Peking University alumni Category:Scholars of North Korea Category:20th-century British translators