Imagethief William Moss Interview: Blogging A Foreigner’s Life in China
William Moss, PR Consultant, Imagethief.
William Moss shares his background in technology and start-ups as well as the story behind his popular China blog, Imagethief. Find out who William is writing for and what kind of advice he would offer to those new or wants to come to China.
Interview Transcript:
Can you give us some background to who you are before we go into your blog?
I work for a global public relations firm, so I spend a lot of time dealing with global companies trying to do business in China and with the Chinese media, the blog is something I do on the side, just because this is such an interesting place to live. One of the reasons I am here at China ICT is because I specialize in PR, before I worked in public relations firms, I actually worked for a couple of technology start-ups back in the mid 90’s and early 21stcentury doing various shady internet related things I’m sorry to say didn’t make me rich.
You have an English language blog in China that I very high recommended, why do you blog?
For one thing, I’ve always been a writer one way or another, and one of the things that make you a writer is that you write, and so as long as I’m going to write, I might as well put it somewhere, it’s a compulsion and I do it regardless. In a more structured way, I find it so fascinating to live here and the work I do so interesting, for me, this is a constant learning experience, I came to China speaking a little Mandarin and not knowing what it’s like to work or live in China. It’s been an adventure and to me that’s something that’s worth sharing. Some of it is very much is life in China, but a good portion is related to my work in public relations and communications, so I spend a good amount talking about how people communicate in China, how companies communicate, how the government communicates, how public issues resonate, how ideas are shared here. Perhaps, these are some of the things that helped gain the blog its wider readership.
Do you have a specific audience in mind when you blog?
This is going to sound selfish but the audience is me. I write first and foremost as a way to help myself process the things I see, observe, and learn about. I didn’t set out to reach a specific group of people. I’ve discovered that it’s mostly read by foreigners who live in China or people interested in China living overseas. It’s pretty widely read by journalists who live in China which is always gratifying for me, it’s read by some Chinese people but not many, primarily because it’s in English, but also because the things I mainly write about are instructive to foreigners and less so to Chinese people unless they want to know how Westerners perceive China.
What kind of advice would you offer to those who wants to come to China or is very interested?
A few things I would suggest: read everything you can get your hands on, and from a variety range of sources. This is a complex and nuanced sort of country, the only way to know about it is to get all kinds of different perspectives on the country. Try to start by learning the language, the little Mandarin I know has helped me tremendously. Finally, come here! If you want to work in China, nobody is going to pluck you, you have to sacrifice and come here. Come and get a feel and experience it to see if you like it here, and meet people, start building a network, and that’s the way you start to getting pulled into the country.
Where can people go to check out your blog?
Imagethief. Check it!
