A Chinese-German volume of poems that fell into her hands as a schoolgirl sparked Susanne Hornfeck’s enthusiasm for China. She was fascinated by the strange characters. But little did she know at the time that this fascination would stay with her for decades to come. Later, Hornfeck studied Sinology, German Studies and German as a Foreign Language in Tuebingen, London and Munich. She then went to Taipei for five years as a DAAD lecturer, where she taught German.