Imagethief will put in a little promotion for the April issue of That's Beijing magazine because he filled in for his friend, Kaiser Kuo on the "Ich Bin Ein Beijinger" column that closes the magazine every month. Kaiser and his wife had a new baby last month (number two) so he was, understandably, a little swamped. Congrats, buddy. Hope you're getting some sleep.

As a courtesy to the magazine, I won't reprint the column here. I will put up a link to it when That's Beijing puts it on their website, but that may not be for another month or so. Meanwhile, now that it has hit the newsstands, I will tease you with the opening:

Journey to the West

I am a creature of the East.

I don’t mean that I am a China hand – two years doesn’t qualify you for that, even in today’s more accessible China. Rather, I am a creature of East Beijing.

I blame this on recreational laziness. It’s hard to be bored in Beijing. Beyond the obvious diversions, two of the city’s great charms are that it encourages socializing and that it attracts interesting people to socialize with. But that has lured me into a trap. I have worn a dismal rut between home, my downtown office, Sanlitun, Houhai and the other foreigner-friendly, east side hangouts where I can sink into beer and conversation. Anything else seems intolerably distant. A friend recently invited me to Wudaokou for his band’s record launch. I hemmed for a minute before breaking under pressure and admitting that I was unlikely to come to Wudaokou for anything short of briefcase full of gold bars. He suggested that might be more than my company was worth.

If you want to read the rest, flip to the last page of the April That's Beijing. Or wait until they post it on their website.

Language note: Imagethief last studied German in 1983, and is unsure of the correct placement of the "auch" in German syntax to suggest "I too am..." as opposed to "In addition, I am...". Corrections will be entertained.

Update: The complete article is now online here.