Jan Jacob Slauerhoff (1898-1936) was a ship's doctor serving in south-east Asia, and is one of the most important twentieth-century Dutch-language writers. His 1934 novel Adrift in the Middle Kingdom (Het leven op aarde), is an epic sweep of narrative that takes the reader from 1920s Shanghai to a forgotten city beyond the Great Wall of China.

Originally published in 1934, an epic narrative of travels in 1920s South East Asia, culminating in an ending that adds a level of fantasy and existential meditation to the preceding travelogue.