born Bristol, England, educated University of Sydney, Australia (Ph. D). Awarded scholastic prizes, Walter Reed bursay, Mari Kuttna Memorial Prize, critics prize, Outstanding Paper, One Hundred Flowers Film Festival and Golden Rooster. Independent art and video curator. Sub-editor, World Sculpture News and Asian Art News. Contributor, Routledge Encyclopedia of Modernism (on-line publication, forthcoming)

Hello, I am Michael. I came to China about eight years ago from Sydney, Australia, although I am English rather than Australian. At that time I was working at the University of Sydney, where I had received my Ph. D. in Humanities and Social Sciences. I majored in the History of Art and Japanese Language and I had written my Dissertation on a topic that investigated Art and Science in Japan of a certain period. Through the course of my research I visited and lived in Japan for three years, teaching English Communication courses and also courses at Obirin University in Machida, a city just west of Tokyo, along the way.

You could say that I am well travelled, since my family has moved around a lot since I was small. My father was an anthropologist—somebody who studies Human cultures—which took him, and us, to Africa, various countries in Europe, North America and Australia. My interest in East Asia also started when I was small as members of my distant family, Great Aunts, my Grandfather, had travelled to China and Hong Kong in the early days, and been caught up in the Pacific war and captured by the Japanese Imperial Army forces. As a result of these experiences they brought back to England a lot of paraphernalia—junk to most people— which became scattered around many of the houses of my family, and which fascinated me as I was growing up. As a young adult I travelled to Japan to find out more about the arts and crafts of that country.

When I arrived in China I was with my two kids, who were about three years old then (they are twins) and part Chinese. I wanted to bring them up bilingually, which to me means they must master the language, but also understand the culture and society of contemporary China. Some of my classmates from when I was a Ph. D. candidate had gone to Beijing and Shanghai, but I was more interested in Guangzhou and Guangdong province. I took up a position at Sun Yat Sen University in Guangzhou, being promoted to Associate Professor and appointed Postgraduate supervisor in two MA programs: one in Public Communication and another in Design. At the end of my second year there I met a Professor and Dean from a newly established College in Zhuhai, Beijing Normal University-Hong Kong Baptist University United Internal College, at an academic conference my School had organized—we were both presenting papers in the same group. He invited me to apply for a position in Zhuhai, which I did successfully and worked there for about seven years before joining Beijing Normal University, Zhuhai, School of Foreign Languages in September 2013.

I love living in Zhuhai, where I find the environment to be clean and there are many opportunities to go walking in the hills, bicycle riding, or enjoying the marvelous views.

22/09/2013