Since China’s opening up, increasing numbers of British people have made China their home. There are now many thousands of British people here. To celebrate and showcase their contribution and accomplishments, the British Embassy launches “Britons in China”. This feature will run for one year up to the beginning of the 2010 Shanghai Expo. People will be profiled each week on the British Embassy website www.ukinchina.fco.gov.uk, offering readers an inspiring insight into the lives of notable British people and their endeavours in China. Individuals will range from graphic designers to charity workers, authors to entrepreneurs, painting a colourful picture of the myriad of occupations undertaken by people today. Some have been here for decades, others are newer, but all have a story.

Name: Andrew Benton
From: Bristol
Living in: Beijing

“The generosity and enthusiasm of all the staff of the South China Botanical Garden changed my perspective completely. I had to come back to China!”.

China has always had its hold on Andrew who, since his very first experience here as an intern at the South China Botanical Garden in Guangzhou in 1989, has spent most of the last 20 years in the region.

One of his earliest memories of China is of Professor Chen Senjen, one of China’s greatest experts on the ginger plant family, who introduced him to the huge range of gingers growing in South China at the botanical garden. Standing under the canopy carefully examining the flowers of the different species, he took notes from what he could understand with his very basic Chinese. Chen was already retired and curiously wore two pairs of glasses simultaneously (one for near sight, one for far) and his bounding enthusiasm was highly infectious.  It was then that Andrew knew he would have to return to China.

He returned soon after in 1990 to study Chinese for a year in Nanjing before going to Hong Kong where he researched bamboo until 1996.  In 1999, Andrew was back again for further traveling around China before settling in Beijing, where he is currently Manager of the Networking and Partnership Unit at the International Network for Bamboo and Rattan (INBAR), the first intergovernmental organisation to be headquartered in China.

Working at INBAR allows Andrew to live in China and indulge his enthusiasm for all things bamboo (and rattan), all with the mandate of working for global development. The rapid growth of bamboo means that it is an alternative to timber trees, so use of bamboo can prevent deforestation. It can be processed easily and can involve many people at different stages in its growing and processing, helping provide incomes to rural people.

His current role is a unique opportunity and responsibility, and is challenging but rewarding, and being located in Beijing allows him to work with the wider international development community.

In his free time Andrew is a keen amateur photographer, a gardener and has been a Consular Warden in the Beijing Consular district since November 2008.