Welcome to Beijing Normal University, Zhuhai Campus. It’s my pleasure to share with you my background and a little about myself. I originally come from Phoenix, Arizona in the United States, a city many of my students have heard of because of our NBA team, the Phoenix Suns. Without having to ask, most can guess that Steve Nash is my favorite player.

What brought me to China in the first place was my interest in its culture and the thrill of seeing the world. Before even contemplating teaching in China, my first brush with Chinese culture came in the form of a video game called Romance of the Three Kingdoms. When I was fourteen years old, my oldest brother and I spent most of our summer avoiding the brutal heat of Phoenix and staying indoors playing the game. We mastered the intricacies of warfare and leadership (in our modest way), and learned to pronounce tricky Chinese names, like Cao Cao, Liu Bei, and Zhuge Liang. Little did we know that the video game was in fact based on the historic novels of the same name. Imagine my surprise eight years later when I was living in Chongqing and a friend invited me to visit the tomb of Liu Bei in Chengdu. My favorite video game character had actually been a real live person hundreds of years ago? That was like discovering that Hogwarts was indeed a real place and it was possible to visit Harry Potter’s classroom. Fantasies can unexpectedly come true.

Since graduating from the College of Santa Fe with a BA in Creative Writing in 2002, I have worked primarily in the education field for over eight years total. I have taught Oral English, writing, American Culture, and have guest lectured on various topics, including teaching methodology. I have taught English as a Second Language for over five years now, four of which in China and one in South Korea.

What surprised me the most when I first came to BNU was how beautiful the campus is. I never expected to find a campus with so many lakes surrounded by green mountains. The pleasant atmosphere makes for a good work environment, especially for studying and personal projects.

My most current project is a work of non-fiction looking at the contemporary history of Chongqing, the vast changes taking place there, along with the Chinese tradition of the hermit poet/ reclusive monk in its modern form.

When I’m not in the classroom or reading books, I take time to play board games and have even codesigned one with a colleague. My friends have designated me the board game evangelist as I try to convert the skeptical into hardcore gamers. One game of Ticket to Ride or Carcasonne does most of the work for me. By luck BNU happens to have a board game café on campus so you should not have too difficult of a time finding me on a weekend night.

Best wishes,

Mathew Evans

Instructor, Department of Foreign Languages