George Ernest Morrison

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George Ernest Morrison, (February 4, 1862 – May 30, 1920), also known as Chinese Morrison, was an Australian adventurer born in Geelong, Australia. His father George Morrison was headmaster of The Geelong College at which school he was educated. He initially studied at the University of Melbourne and eventually graduated as a medical doctor at the University of Edinburgh in 1897.

Ill at ease with the requirements of formal study, Morrison first made a name for himself by walking across Australia. From 1897, he was resident correspondent for The Times in Beijing, China, and subsequently travelled from Beijing to British occupied Burma via Yunnan. His book An Australian in China details his experiences on that journey. In 1900, he helped organise the defence of the foreign legations in Beijing when they were besieged for 55 days during the Boxer Rebellion.

Morrison was the political adviser to the President of China from 1912 to 1920. Although Morrison did not speak Chinese, he was a avid collector of Chinese books and in 1917, he donated his book collection to a Japanese businessman Iwasaki Hisaya, which subsequently became the foundation of the Oriental Library in Tokyo.

The book Morrison of Peking is a 1971 biography by Cyril Pearl.