2017 Year in Review: 10 Prominent Beijing Expats That We Said Goodbye to This Year
As we approach the end of the year, it's time to look back on those familiar faces that bid Beijing goodbye. As is obvious to anyone who lives here for several months, the city is in a continuous cycle of renewal, a revolving door of characters that come to China to leave their mark in areas as varied as F&B, education, charity, music, and art.
The Beijinger's 2017 Year in Review
Factors for leaving are often cited as the city's ongoing grappling with pollution (albeit having been much better this year), increasing living costs, new opportunities elsewhere, a longing for home, and perhaps even a dulling of the excitement and curiosity that first led them here in the first place, unsurprising given the inherently unstable nature of Beijing.
No matter the specifics, none of the people listed below will be easily replaced and we remain indebted to their influence on the city. In alphabetical order, these are the expats that went to greener pastures in 2017:
Thierry De Dobbeleer – Founder, Beer Mania
Longtime owner and manager of Sanlitun's Beer Mania Thierry De Dobbeleer returned home this past September after 12 years in Beijing. De Dobbeleer was known for his inscrutable knowledge of Belgian beers as well as his charitable donations, which included raising over RMB 22,000 for Maovember in 2015 and 2016, asking participants to vote with their money as to whether he should shave or not shave. He eventually lost his beard (which may or may not have been an influence on his decision to leave) and we said a fond farewell to the proprietor of one of Sanlitun's longest-running bars.
Jonathan Ellis – Founder, Big Bear Baked Goods
Jonathan Ellis first caught our attention in 2012 when he was featured on the front cover of the Beijinger's music issue, but it wasn't until he caught our appetite in 2013 with his Cookie Monster Bake-Off-winning entry that we really took note. Ellis used that win as a springboard to launch his Big Bear Baked Goods brand, which you could often find and munch on at the city's many weekend markets. Ellis' bakery was nearly swept up in this spring's hutong destruction, and while the business survived those hard knocks (with construction stopping practically just short of his doorstep), the baker decided to return home and help his family move house before picking up what he knows best: baking that melds Western and Eastern flavors. Big Bear, meanwhile, will be carried on at the same location by Ellis' partner at the bakery, Anete Elken (where she sells her own RuKis Estonian bread) and fellow baker Peter VanderMeulen (formerly of Ahava).
Ross Harris and Ariel Tudelo – Founders, Más
Another pair that bowed to the relentless bricking were the boys at beloved Beixinqiao bar Más. Ross Harris and Ariel Tudelo, originally from Miami, Florida, transformed their small hutong shack into a bustling and welcoming oasis flowing with tropical cocktails, South American-inspired dining, eclectic tunes, and warm service. The openness of Más provided it a loyal following and a vibe that has yet to be replicated in Beijing since their departure to the sunnier climes of Cambodia, and one that is still missed to this day.
Eyee Hsu – TV Host; beijingkids Parents Board Member
Coming to prominence as host of CCTV 9’s Up Close, later broadcast as Crossover on CGTN, Taiwanese-American Eyee Hsu charmed guests as wide-ranging as actor Jet Li, primatologist Jane Goodall, and snowboarder Shaun White with her affable and easygoing on-screen personality. As her family grew, Hsu left her on-screen role to focus on more homey endeavors, including looking after her two kids and starting up her Counting Sheep boutique brand. This year, Hsu left to California, leaving a sizable hole on our sister magazine beijingkids' parent board where her entrepreneurial attitude and keen communication skills made her a valued member in providing insight into navigating Beijing family life.
Stefano Fin – Founder, Aperitivo
As the bulldozers rolled through Sanlitun this past March, longstanding Italian favorite Aperitivo was another of the venues to be demolished. That didn't deter owner Stefano Fin (of whom no picture has apparently ever existed), however, and within a couple of months he had reopened his restaurant in the sturdier Sanlitun Soho down the road. As Jim Boyce of Beijing Boyce puts it, "Stefano was a source of consistency in Sanlitun's sea of change" and you could rely on "the same decor, the same Zonin wines, the same spotless toilets – nobody messed with his toilets – while all else around him seemed to be in perpetual motion." That dependability made Fin's Aperitivo a post-work drink hotspot among Beijing's other Italian chefs and his restaurant lives on even as he seeks new prospects elsewhere.
Zach Lewison – Co-owner, Irish Volunteer
Floridian Zach Lewison also left Beijing this year for the promise of a new start in warmer locales, scoring a job at the luxurious Dusit Thani resort in Guam as chef de cuisine. Nearly a decade ago, Lewison's career started out with his help in launching the kitchen at Union Bar and Grille. He then went to work in management roles at kitchens in Kro's Nest and the Park Bar and Grill before settling into his long-running partnership at the Irish Volunteer. On leaving Beijing in May, Lewison said of Beijing: "I know sometimes you are dirty, smoggy, and frustrating. Then I remember everything that you are: a big beautiful city that has given me everything that I dreamed of, everything that I ever wanted and things I never even thought was possible. I love you Beijing."
Adam Pillsbury – Travel Writer and Editor, Insider's Guide
In 2007, Adam Pillsbury married two of his biggest loves – travel and writing – to oversee, edit, and write a number of critically acclaimed guidebooks under the Immersion Guides umbrella, including Insider's Guides to Beijing, which was published by TBJ's parent company True Run Media. By taking a street-level view of China's capital and gathering insider knowledge from people particularly involved in their respective scenes, these books acted as in-depth and localized guides to travel for tourists and old-timers alike, changing the face of Beijing's English guidebooks. Pillsbury was also an active member in the city's music scene, playing in the experimental band Random (ke) alongside fellow writer and musician Alan Paul. Towards the end of his stay, he focused on employing his deep understanding of China through his work at the British Embassy.
Justin Richardson – Musician; Director
Nearly 20 years after founding one of China's earliest rock bands, Big Aeroplane, and countless gigs in any one of the many groups he headed, this summer Justin Richardson decided it was time to return home to Australia. However, Richardson had one final love letter for the city and music scene that nurtured his creativity for the past two decades, turning his hand to directing, producing, and soundtracking a pilot web mockumentary called Subtrainian. That single episode acts as a farewell to not only his band NZT but also a lasting memory of the influence that the larger-than-life Richardson had on Beijing. Saying that, Richardson still returns to the city on a fairly regular basis to gig. his love for China apparently too strong to go completely cold turkey.
Chris Warren – Editor, Spittoon
Best known for his role in successfully building a community around Beijing's primo literary magazine, Spittoon, Chris Warren this year returned to his hometown of London. Warren acted as the fiction editor for the first issue of Spittoon, which launched in autumn of last year, as well as organizer of several of the magazine's events, including quiz nights and regular meetups. He also exhibited his painstaking piece RSI in Aotu Studio this past February, an exercise in pushing the creative limits of what can be achieved using only a typewriter. With regards to his art and writing, Warren described to us how he favored an approach that tested "the limits of a particular concept as far as it's possible to take it whilst remaining economical." That thrifty but dynamic outlook helped him forge a lasting literary legacy in Beijing.
To read all of our 2017 Year in Review coverage, click here.
Images courtesy of the individuals, the Beijinger, CRI
