Life and Leisure

Embracing China, late but firmly

By Wu Wencong (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-10-24 08:34

Andy Deemer's job with The World of Chinese has taken his passion for Chinese culture to a higher level.

In September, Andy Deemer persuaded his girlfriend to travel with him to a remote village in Guangdong province. They planned to search for the birthplace of her grandparents, who left for Boston in the 1940s and never returned. It proved to be an enlightening experience.

The two of them were confident about their Chinese at first, thinking it would be good enough for their mission. But to their surprise they found that few of the local people understood them - the villagers speak Toishan, a dialect of Cantonese, instead of Mandarin.

"It felt so strange when I was speaking the national language in China and nobody understood me," says Deemer.

In the end, the couple managed to find the house her grandparents used to live in 70 years ago, and they vowed they would explore further in the future.

A year ago, when Deemer first decided he would stay in China and find a job, he felt a little scared because he didn't speak a word of Mandarin.

"It may not be hard to find a job in Beijing without Mandarin," says Deemer, who was born in the United Kingdom but was brought up in the United States, "but I wanted to be completely involved in the culture."

His passion for China is revealed in the way he learns Chinese. He takes a stack of flash cards with him everywhere and writes down every new expression he learns right away.

"With these cards, every hour I'm awake, I'm learning Chinese," he says, laughing.

However, Deemer tried to resist the lure of China at first. His connection with China started 13 years ago, when his parents moved to Beijing because of his father's law business and long-term interests in China. But Deemer continued working in the US. He visited Beijing several times over the years, but it didn't really excite him and he never stayed for longer than a week.

In 2004, Deemer's two brothers also came to China, one to run a yoga retreat by the Great Wall and the other to teach a management course. In 2009, he took a three-week vacation and came to China again to attend both his brothers' courses.

"Both my gege (elder brother) and my didi (younger brother) were my laoshi (teachers)," he said.

This time he did some traveling in China and was hooked. Today he savors what he says is "the best job ever", managing editor and creative director of The World of Chinese, a magazine that explains the country's 5,000-year culture to expats.

"We prepare a topic for months, doing research and finding the most suitable person to write," Deemer said.

Those topics have included changes in swimsuits in China over the past 30 years, the effectiveness of the ingredients used in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) - including ants and seahorses - and people who once dug tunnels in villages outside Beijing to fight the Japanese.

Deemer's face lights up when he describes his daily job.

"You have no idea how interesting that is," he says.

His job with The World of Chinese has taken his passion for Chinese culture to a higher level. Every day he keeps up to date with popular culture by following the buzz of Chinese netizens.

"I think they are very interesting and show a side of Chinese culture that most foreigners don't know," he said.

Before working for The World of Chinese, Deemer tried many different jobs in the media industry. But he said he is settled at the moment and has no plans to make another change for a while.

"With China's 5,000-year history, I don't think I will ever get bored," he said.

China Daily