Witold Rodziński was a Polish historian, sinologist and diplomat.

He was born in 1918 in Lviv

Lviv

Lviv is a city in western Ukraine. The city is regarded as one of the main cultural centres of today's Ukraine and historically has also been a major Polish and Jewish cultural center, as Poles and Jews were the two main ethnicities of the city until the outbreak of World War II and the following...

, son of the renowned conductor Artur Rodziński

Artur Rodzinski

Artur Rodziński was a Polish conductor of opera and symphonic music. He is especially noted for his tenures as music director of the Cleveland Orchestra and the New York Philharmonic in the 1930s and 1940s.-Biography:...

. He studied at Columbia University

Columbia University

Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...

, was an official at the United Nations

United Nations

The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...

 1945–47, and adviser in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs 1947–48, a researcher at the Institute of Social Sciences and the Central Committee of the Higher School of Pedagogy in Warsaw.

From 1958 to 1971 he was assistant professor at the Department of History of the University of Warsaw

University of Warsaw

The University of Warsaw is the largest university in Poland and one of the most prestigious, ranked as best Polish university in 2010 and 2011...

.

He was the Polish Ambassador to the United Kingdom

Republic of Poland Ambassador to the United Kingdom

The first permanent Polish diplomatic mission was created in late 18th century by the last king of Poland, Stanisław August Poniatowski. After partitions of Poland, there was over a century gap in diplomatic relations...

 1960–65 and to the People's Republic of China

People's Republic of China

China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...

1966–69.

Rodskinzki was the author of the monumental History of China, published in English as The Walled Kingdom: A History of China from Antiquity to the Present.

He died in December 1997, aged 79.