Name: Tom Pattinson
From: Bedfordshire
Living: Beijing

 “China today is like New York of the 1950s or London of the 1960s. We’re witnessing an explosion of contemporary culture where film, music, art, literature and the creative industries are changing the social make-up of the country. When my grandchildren read the history books and look back at this incredible cultural turning point in early 21st century China, I can tell them that I was lucky enough to witness it happen.”

Tom’s most vivid memory of his first weeks in China is of squid. Vast quantities of squid - boiled, baked, fried, minced.... The coastal village near Qingdao where he spent his first Chinese winter in 1997 was famous for squid and it was a staple of his diet for his first year in China. While working as volunteer teacher at a local school he discovered a passion for the country and so stayed on for a second “gap year” to attend Qingdao’s Ocean University before returning to the UK to obtain a degree in Chinese and Social Anthropology from SOAS.

During his year at Beijing Normal University, Tom witnessed an unparalleled pace of change in the city’s architecture, culture and society and realised the country was going to be a major part of his life. Travelling through the wilds of China, Tibet and Asia not only fed his anthropological interest but also whetted Tom’s appetite for journalism. Upon graduation Tom began working as a journalist on the foreign desk of the Sunday Times, where he discovered how to ask the right questions and get the right answers. By 2005 the pull of China once again returned and Tom was asked to go back to Beijing to become editor in chief of the newly launched Time Out entertainment magazine.

Over the next four years he began to eat much more heartily as he discovered the best dumpling houses, fine dining establishments and street food stalls the city has to offer. He enjoyed chilli eating competitions with film stars, partying till dawn with Beijing’s punks, and tried to hold intelligent conversations with the city’s literary elite – all in the name of duty. Under Tom’s four-year leadership Time Out became the most influential English language magazine in China and broke a number of major stories that went around the world.

Tom has a strong interest in contemporary Chinese art and co-founded Affordable Art Beijing in 2006 – an annual event that sells unique works of art at affordable prices. Tom is a writer and commentator on Chinese youth culture and society for a number of media outlets and still writes occasionally for the Sunday Times. He is now launching a digital media company and is trying to spend more time in the gym. He still doesn’t like squid.