Auld Lang Syne: The High Profile Beijingers That Left Our Fair City in 2016
As the New Year looms, it's time once again for us Beijingers to fondly look back on the old friends that left our fair city in 2016.
As happens every year (but we still haven't gotten used to), the vast majority of expats eventually leave for greener pastures – some back to their homelands, others to live as foreigners in fresh new frontiers.
RELATED: Fare Thee Well: 12 Beijing Bars and Restaurants That Left Us in 2016
Below, we've listed a few whose presences made a differerence to us here in The Jing and who we'll miss dearly.
Rob Cunningham – Executive Chef, East Hotel
Arguably Beijing's best known and popular culinary master – who snagged an Outstanding trophy in our 2016 Restaurant Awards for Best Chef, and several other awards at our previous ceremonies – this Australian silver fox left his post at East Hotel this past summer for an exciting gig at Aryaduta Hotel Group in Indonesia, where he is working as the group F&B director. Aside from his delicious work at East's flagship restaurant Feast, Cunningham was also an integral part of the restaurant's overall F&B operations, and always game to talk about marathons or pose for photo shoots with a sly grin. Read our farewell interview with him here.
Dr Richard St Cyr – Doctor, Health Blogger
He's not just a doctor, but also a pioneering air quality blogger. For a decade, Dr St Cyr meticulously blogged on health issues, gaining notoriety for his pioneering blogs on the quality and performance of air purifiers and masks. His extensive archives on health and AQI related topics can still be browsed on myhealthbeijing.com. Alas, Dr St Cyr moved away to a much more rustic, healthy breathing locale this year (which you can read more about here). His lungs' gain is our loss.
Jeff Hinson – DJ Bite-Size Buddha
This beloved turntable virtuoso left Beijing in April after nearly nine years of spinning records, predominantly at Migas as part of the Funk Fever crew, undoubtedly helping it to become the nightlife mainstay that it is today with his mastery of techno, funk, house and disco. After departing Beijing, Hinson had his sights set on Berlin, telling us: "I definitely want to continue DJing and I’ve started producing a bit. I think Berlin is a great place to be inspired in that regard."
Kaiser Kuo – Musician, Podcast Host, Writer, IT Spokesman
Be it working as the head of international communications at Baidu, banging out eardrum-shattering heavy metal for the pioneering Beijing band Tang Dynasty, or penning back page columns for the Beijinger, Kaiser Kuo has had one of the most unpredictable, spellbinding stays in of any Peking expat. Some of his most memorable moments were detailed in an episode of the podcast This American Life, while Kuo developed his own dedicated following of listeners on his own Sinica Podcast. He left Beijing with a bang on May 31, playing one last gig with his other band, Chunqiu, before settling in North Carolina.
Gordon Kutil – Co-Owner of The Big Smoke
Having been involved with The Rickshaw, Saddle Cantina, Uncle Otis, and The Big Smoke (which he also co-owned), this Deep South-hailing restaurateur's experience is wide as the broad grin that he became famous for flashing as he warmly welcomed guests to those establishments. He and his girlfriend Sarah Ting Ting Hou (who also handled marketing and PR at The Big Smoke) headed back to Tennessee in March. Aside from his restaurant work, Kutil also starred in a rendition of Dirty Dancing at the Penghao Theater in 2009, in which he claimed to be sexy like Patrick Swayze. Beijingers already miss his unabashedly cheeky level of self confidence.
Glenn Phelan – The Garage, Paddy O'Shea's
Shunyi is too frequently overlooked by many hutong frequenting hipsters or slick Nali Patio cocktail sippers, but Glenn Phelan helped shake up the suburb by making a place for its road hogs to rev their engines. Yes, The Garage was Beijing's first biker bar, and owner Glenn also helped make it a mainstay in the local comedy scene by coordinating with Punchline to put on numerous top-notch standup gigs. Together, he made a safe haven for Shunyi parents that wanted to see the rubber meet the road or hear a seasoned jokester crack wise. Prior to that Phelan was one of the founders of Paddy O'Shea's and the now defunct Danger Doyle's, as well as serving stints at various local watering holes such as The Pavillion, Browns and Park Square. Phelan now calls Bangkok his home.
Dr George Hu – Psychologist, Beijing United Family Hospital
Upon meeting Dr Hu, it's immediately evident that he entered the right profession. His gentle, warm, and friendly demeanor made him the sort of therapist that is easy to approach and detail all your problems to. He left Beijing this past summer to be the director of psychology and mental health at Jiahui International Healthcare in Shanghai, but before that he held numerous workshops about mental health that were enthusiastically attended by expat parents, and he was also frequently quoted as a trusted source in our sister publication beijingkids magazine.
Lana Sultan – Author
With What A Place! (北京是个好地方), Lana Sultan not only penned a literary love letter to Beijing but also detailed how we can all rediscover our inner child in the capital. The children's book was published with Chinese and English text this past spring, so that local and foreign youngsters could thumb through its beautifully illustrated pages (drawn by Sultan's collaborator Xu Wendi) and take a brief but vivid tour of the city. Beijing bookworms will mourn no longer having such a talent in the midst, but Sultan's beautiful prose is sure to serve her next dwelling well.
Theresa Ahdieh – Seasoned Media Pro and Socialite
Bright, bubbly, and ever-friendly, Theresa Ahdieh not only once worked as the brand manager for our sister mag beijingkids but also lead a team of social event coordinating volunteers at the International Newcomer's Network (INN). She became a chef instructor at Sur La Table in Kirkland, Washington, in the fall of 2016 but her friends and colleagues in Beijing still remember her endless enthusiasm for any job at hand and fun penchant for hair dying.
Jerry Chan – Longtime Lifestyle Journalism Editor, Marketing and New Media Guru
This departure pulled plenty of heartstrings for us, as he was our colleague for over 15 years here at True Run Media. Jerry spent more than a decade and a half playing integral roles at various Beijing publications, and the effects of his work can still be subtly felt to this day. He spent the first half of 2001, working as the founding editor-in-chief of LE Magazine, a bilingual English and Chinese lifestyle magazine that eventually morphed into Time Out Beijing. He was also the food and drink editor and managing editor of That's Beijing, but also (more importantly, ahem, of course) established the marketing department of our own True Run Media as the marketing director and went on to work as the company's editorial director, where he was a key strategist for all of its publications.
Sijia Chen – Managing Editor, beijingkids
Sisi not only lead our sister magazine beijingkids' team from 2013-2015, but was also a successful lifestyle writer for travelandleisure.com. After leaving Beijing in 2016, she enrolled in Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA) to study global sustainable development.
More stories by this author here.
Email: kylemullin@truerun.com
Twitter: @MulKyle
WeChat: 13263495040
Photos: Badr Benjelloun, China Daily, Global Times, East Hotel, Sijia Chen, BCIS, Jeff Hinson, Glenn Phelan, Lana Sultan
