Beijing, 1999

Are you thinking of moving to China?  Are you wondering how hard it will be when you don't have access to Facebook, Instagram, or decent coffee?  

This photo was taken in at Beihai Park in Beijing,1999.  There was hardly any internet, no mobile phones, very little in the way of western food or coffee ( this was pre-Starbucks )  and I was living there as a single mum with a 7 year daughter who barely spoke English, let alone Chinese and we were living on a student allowance of about $500 a month.

I had moved to China two years earlier in 1997, the year Hong Kong went back to the mainland, and we lived in a series of pretty ordinary student dormitories with shared bathroom and limited kitchen facilities including a pretty average fridge and a two burner gas cooker that I still managed to make a decent pasta sauce on.  I didn't get my own apartment until 2001 and boy that was an exciting day!

It may seem like a pretty odd thing to do to as a single mum to pack up your then 5 year old daughter and a couple of suitcases and live in pretty average conditions after living on the beaches of Western Australia for your entire life and in retrospect it was.  

However at the time, work opportunities for single mums in Perth were very limited, there was no child care system and it was very dull unless you really liked surfing.  The only way out of my situation was to study, and the legacy of a Eurasion daughter and an absent Chinese father was enough to inspire me to learn as much as I could about the language, history and culture of China.  

I spent nearly 10 years there and after almost two decades, my daughter is now grown up, speaks amazing Chinese - and loves Chinese food- and has a very worldly and mature perspective on life that she may not have got growing in Australia.  

I am still endlessly fascinated by China and that fascination has grown into a career-something that I never imagined would have happened.  China is still a tough place to negotiate, live, work and understand despite the access to every form of social media, amazing food ( and coffee !)  and incredible opportunities at every corner.  

It takes serious courage, guts and determination to survive China now, let alone in the 90s and with a young one along for the ride, but despite the challenges, I had the best time and loved nearly every minute of it.  And I still love and am fascinated by China.  I would love to share my journey and my passion for China with you.  

Ask me anything!

一路顺风