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Book series shares the tales of US citizens who have made a success of their time in China

Posted:2015-09-09

Source: Global Times Published: 2015-9-9
By Sun Shuangjie


Many foreigners come to Shanghai to buildlives and businesses, buoyed by the city's heady feel offruitful opportunity and promise.

According to statistics released by theShanghai Exit-Entry Administration Bureau, by the end of last year, about175,000 foreign nationals were registered as long-term inhabitants, havinglived more than six months in the city, which is home to the largest foreigncommunity in China.

A large number of these are Americans, whohave become significant players in innovation, commerce and facilitatingbusiness and cultural exchange between China and the rest of the world.

Some have helped make daily life moreconvenient and enjoyable - both food delivery service Sherpa's and restaurantchain Element Fresh were established by Americans - while others entertain, suchas TV stars Nancy Merrill and Steven Weathers, and online video comedian Mark Powers of Crazy Foreigners fame.

A book series called Americans in Shanghaipublished by the Shanghai Institute of American Studies profiles these andother successful Americans. Two years after the first volume in Chinese, theEnglish translation plus a new, second bilingual volume recently came out.Together they contain the stories of 38 subjects. 

Many of the subjects arrived in Shanghaiwith little to their names, but managed to immerse themselves in the city and,through their determination, hard work and acumen, build a life for themselveshere.

Mark Secchia, founder of the popular fooddelivery service Sherpa's, arrived in Shanghai as an English teacher in 1997,and then worked for English-language magazines in town.

He then went on to study at a businessschool in Shanghai, where he came up with the idea for Sherpa's, which now alsooperates in Beijing, Suzhou and Hangzhou.

While Secchia hadn't planned on settling long-termin Shanghai when he first got here, Justin O'Jack had long yearned to visitChina before he finally arrived.

O'Jack started dreaming of coming to Chinawhen he was a high school student. He paid his first visit to Shanghai as abackpacker in 1993. From 1996 onwards, he visited the city each year to research his thesis for his master's degree.

In 2003, he settled here permanently toestablish a China office for Long Island University.
O'Jack is now the chief representative ofthe University of Virginia's China office.

Some of the subjects profiled in Americansin Shanghai gather for a photo shoot. Photos: Courtesy of Shanghai Institute ofAmerican Studies.

In the book, O'Jack recalls that thingswere tough when he started out in Shanghai.

"I had tens of thousands of dollars inschool loan to repay and no steady income. I lived off meager savings and somedays could barely afford a bowl of dumplings," he says.

But he pulled through, and is now marriedto a Shanghainese woman with whom he has a daughter.

In O'Jack's eyes, modern China is verydifferent from how it appeared to him back when he was studying about thecountry in the US, and it still maintains its charm for him.

"The society has undergone atremendous transformation in just a couple of decades," said O'Jack in thebook.

"The experiences, world views andopportunities youth in Shanghai have today are phenomenally different fromtheir parents. This is a dynamic place and these are exciting times to be inShanghai."


 
Link: http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/941493.shtml
 
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