Introducing Myself

Hello readers, my name is William Daniel Garst. My friends all call me Dan. I'm very new to blogging, but want to give it a try as a way of sharing my writing and photography with a wider audience. Let me begin by saying a word or two about myself. I'm a late 40 fortysomething former academic--before coming to China, I held visiting in political science at universities like UCLA and Cornell and published a number of peer-review journal articles, most of which are still being cited. However, through a combination of bad luck and a downsized academic job market, I came very close but never quite managed to get a tenure track job. In 2005 I decided to give living in China a try. My first China home was in the Middle Kingdom's relatively poor heartland, Henan Province; I then moved to Beijing in the summer of 2006. Like many laowai (老外), the slang Chinese term for foreigners, I first taught English at Chinese universities, but now work in a Chinese company.

Notwithstanding its traffic and pollution, I think that Beijing is a fascinating and incredible place to live. Unlike, say Shanghai and certainly Hong Kong, the city offers a mix of both Western amenities and the best of Chinese culture and history. You can stroll through ancient hutongs (胡同) and courtyard houses, or siheyuans (四合院), visit other historical places, like the Summer Palace, Temple of Heavan, Forbidden City, Great Wall and the like by day and then enjoy either contemporary Western style food or Chinese dishes for dinner and top it off with live jazz and other kinds of music, modern, classical, or traditional Chinese. The city also has a myriad of cutting edge art and photography galleries, beautiful parks, great museums, and so much more. Plus this moveable feast and urban adventure can be enjoyed for fraction of what it costs to live in New York, Los Angeles, or San Francisco.

Thus I plan to stay here for the long haul, for at least another three years, perhaps four years in order to speak Mandarin like a native, understand Chinese culture, and see first-hand the incredible social and economic changes occurring in China. I will be posting writing about my experiences so that people living in and outside of Beijing and China can better appreciate this place and obtain practical advice about visiting and residing in the city. And there will lots of photos posted on this blog too. Enjoy!!