pierre ryckmans (28 september 1935 – 11 august 2014), also known by his pen name simon leys, was a belgian-australian diplomat, writer, sinologist, essayist and literary critic. he wrote in many language including chinese, french and english. he wrote the novel "chinese shadows" ("ombres chinoises") in 1974 in french, which was later translated to english in 1977. he was also the professor of chinese studies at the university of sydney in sydney, new south wales from 1987 until 1993.