Edwin G. "Ted" Pulleyblank was a Canadian sinologist and professor at UBC’s Department of Asian Studies, known particularly for his work on the history of the Chinese T’ang Dynasty and on the historical phonology of the Chinese language. He was born in 1922 in Calgary, Alberta. A bright student, he taught himself Ancient Greek while still in high school. He attended the University of Alberta from 1939 to 1942, majoring in Latin and Greek while also tutoring other students in math and physics.

After graduation, his aptitude for both mathematics and languages led one of Pulleyblank's professors to recommend him to the “Examination Unit”, Canada’s civilian code-breaking office during World War II. In 1943 Pulleyblank was sent to England to train with the British Code and Cipher School at Bletchley Park. He returned to the Examination Unit in Ottawa later that year, where he joined the Japanese Diplomatic Section, and began studying Chinese at Carleton University. He married Winona Relyea in 1946.

In 1946, Pulleyblank received a Chinese government scholarship to study Chinese at the School of African and Oriental Studies, University of London. In 1948, the School made Pulleyblank a lecturer in Classical Chinese, even though he later claimed that his command of Japanese at that time was still better than his Chinese. He taught while pursuing doctoral studies at the University of London, and received his Ph.D. in 1951 for a dissertation entitled "The Background and Early Life of An Lu-shan" – published by Oxford University Press in 1955 as The Background of the Rebellion of An Lu-shan. He spent a year doing further research in Japan, and also did additional studies in Chinese at Cambridge, receiving an M.A. in 1953. That year he was hired as Chair of the Chinese programme at Cambridge, where he remained for 13 years.

As Pulleyblank and his wife wanted to return with their family to Canada, in 1966 he left Cambridge to join the Asian Studies department at UBC, where he remained until his retirement in 1987. He served as department head from 1968 to 1975, succeeding William L. Holland. During his time at UBC Pulleyblank continued his research in Chinese linguistics and Chinese history, publishing extensively in both fields. He returned as acting department head in 1985-86, and hosted the 1987 International Conference on Sino-Tibetan Languages and Linguistics at UBC. After his retirement he continued with a number of research projects. Pulleyblank’s first wife Winona had died in 1976, and he married his second wife Pan Yihong in 2002. Pulleyblank was still regularly publishing papers and attending conferences until 2008, when Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases made that impossible. He died in 2013.