Charles Patrick Fitzgerald FAHA (5 March 1902 – 13 April 1992) was a British historian and writer whose academic career occurred mostly in Australia. He was a professor of East Asian studies with particular focus on China.^[2]

Fitzgerald was born in London, England.^[2] His parents were Hans Sauer, a migrant from Cape Colony.^[2] and his Irish-born wife Cecile Josephine, née Fitzpatrick.^[1]

Unable to attend university as his family could not afford the fees, he obtained a job in a bank. After becoming interested in East Asia and the political developments there, he studied for a diploma in Chinese at the University of London's School of Oriental Studies.^[1]

He first visited China at age 21, and subsequently lived and worked there for over 20 years.^[3] Between 1946 and 1950 he worked there for the British Council.^[2] After leaving China, Fitzgerald was invited to Australia by Douglas Copland, who had been Australian Minister to China (1946-1948).^[4][5] Fitzgerald served as a Reader in Far Eastern History at the Research School of Pacific (and Asian) Studies at the Australian National University, located in Canberra, Australia, from 1951 to 1953.^[2] He later became the first Professor of Far Eastern History, from 1953 to 1967.^[2]

He was a foundation fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities in 1969.^[6]

Fitzgerald married Pamela Sara Knollys on 15 February 1941 at Bradford on Avon, Wiltshire, England. They had three daughters.^[1]

He died in Sydney, New South Wales, in 1992.^[2]

Fitzgerald's best-known book, China: A Short Cultural History (London: The Cresset Press, 1935; edited by C. P. Seligman), has been reprinted and revised several times. He authored many other books and articles, including:^[7]

• Son of Heaven: A Biography of Li Shih-Min, Founder of the T'ang Dynasty (Cambridge: University Press, 1933)
• The Tower of Five Glories (London: The Cresset Press, 1940)
• Introducing China (London: Pitman, 1948) (Joint author: George Yeh)
• Revolution in China (London: Cresset Press, 1952); revised edition: The Birth of Communist China (Harmondsworth, Middlesex: Penguin, 1964)
• Flood Tide in China (Cresset Press, 1952)
• Finding Out About Imperial China (London, Frederick Muller, 1961; Exploring the Past series)
• Empress Wu (Melbourne: F. W. Cheshire for the Australian National University, 1955)
• The Chinese View of Their Place in the World (London: Oxford University Press, 1964)
• Barbarian Beds: The Origin of the Chair in China (Canberra: Australian National University, 1965)
• The Third China: The Chinese Communities in South-East Asia (Melbourne, Victoria: Cheshire for the Australian Institute of International Affairs, 1965)
• Buddhism in Political Action in South East Asia (Canberra: St. Mark's Library, 1965)
• China in the Twenty-first Century (Hobart: Adult Education Board of Tasmania, 1968)
• China's Revolution 20 Years After (Sydney: D. B. Young, 1969)
• The Irrationality of the Fear of China (Summer Hill, N.S.W.: Australia-China Society, 1970)
• Communism Takes China: How the Revolution Went Red (London: B.P.C., 1971)
• Changing Directions of Chinese Foreign Policy (Canberra: Australian Institute of International Affairs, 1971)
• The Southern Expansion of the Chinese People: "Southern Fields and Southern Ocean" (Canberra: Australian National University Press, 1972)
• Mao Tse-Tung and China (Harmondsworth, Middlesex and New York: Penguin Books, 1977)
• China and South East Asia since 1945 (Camberwell, Victoria: Longman Australia, 1973)
• Why China?: Recollections of China, 1923–1950 (Carlton, Victoria: Melbourne University Press, 1985)
• "The Historical Background of Chinese Military Tradition" (1964) in the Journal of the Oriental Society of Australia

• List of Australian National University people