May studied English literature in London and taught English in China from 1980 to 1982. She has collaborated on several Chinese translations , including Yu Luojin's A Chinese Winter's Tale, and two martial arts novels of the Hong Kong novelist Louis Cha. She also worked as a literary editor and produced A Birthday Book for Brother Stone, a volume commemorating the 80th birthday of her father the sinologist David Hawkes.;Chu received his PhD in Comparative Literature from the University of Hong Kong. He worked as Assistant Editor of Renditions for more than a decade before he joined the Hong Kong Polytechnic University in 1994 as Professor at the Department of Chinese and Bilingual Studies.