See also: Who is Imagethief? and the Chinalyst interview with me, which is a good overview.
See below for site policies.

Imagethief was started in early June, 2004, days after I first arrived in China. It started as typical "expat blog" chronicle of my early experiences in China, and was suitably unremarkable. Over time I developed a somewhat more distinctive voice and, based upon my work, a tighter focus on public relations, communication and technology in China. I still write about the experience of living in China but, I hope, with a touch more sophistication than I once did.

Imagethief's evolution took place over a year, with the blog really hitting its stride in the summer of 2005. (August of '05 remains my most prolific month by far, with 79 posts.) Although I commented on PR once or twice in the early days, the modern incarnation of Imagethief probably dates from November 26, 2005, when, in response to a prod from Roland at ESWN, I wrote a lengthy PR analysis of the Songhua River benzene spill crisis that was widely read. Since then I've had the perils of US Internet firms in China, CNOOC's  failed attempt to buy Unocal, Hu Jintao's visit to the US, Starbucks in the Forbidden City and the rolling Chinese food and drug scandals to keep me going. I don't look like running out of material any time soon. And in between crises you can be assured of the usual stream of random idiocy.

As Imagethief has evolved, so has the China blogosphere. Today there are so many good China blogs that it's scary. Even the "foreigner in China" blogs are coming with entirely unique approaches. The number of blogs that walk between the Chinese and English languages is also growing. Despite all the competition, I think this is great. China is big enough, lively enough and fascinating enough to accommodate us all.

There is a great conversation going on here and I look forward to being part of it for years to com.

If you've just discovered this blog, collections of some of my favorite and most widely read posts can be found under the annual restropectives for 2004-2005, 2006 and 2007. Sitemeter stats are public and can be viewed by clicking on the sitemeter bug at the bottom of the blogroll. There is also a link to the Technorati stats and reactions.

Contact Information

The best way to reach me is via e-mail: imagethief -at- gmail -dot- com. I try to reply to all legit mails. 

Posting Policies and Disclaimer

Imagethief is a personal blog. The opinions within are solely those of the author and not those of his employer.

As a matter of general policy, I do not post about the specifics of my company's client work, my own client work, or about my company's clients in China. I may mention clients that my company serves in other countries, either intentionally or unintentionally. Where I do so intentionally I will include a disclosure.

This blog is not affiliated with the "ImageThief" software application.

Comment Policy

This site welcomes comments. Comments are not usually moderated (although there is a slight delay before they publish) although I reserve the right to implement moderation from time to time based upon commenter behavior or spam outbreaks.

I welcome all points of view and do not filter for disagreement or dissent. Readers are encouraged to post their own thoughts and opinions, and to disagree with the author if they wish. There are, however, limits. Imagethief is a supporter of free speech. That means you have every right to a blog, and I support your freedom to post whatever you want on it. But you don't necessarily have a right to this blog. No right to publish is granted, and all comments remain online at my discretion. The following behaviors will not be tolerated :

  1. No ad hominem attacks on me, other commenters or my family members. Disagree and argue if you like, but no insults or personal attacks.
  2. No soap-boxing on unrelated topics, especially if they are political screeds. While comment threads are welcome to diverge into different topics, random editorializing that bears no relation to the topic at hand will be deleted. Get your own blog, or e-mail me (see below).
  3. No more than two external links in any one comment. Any more than that triggers my spam filter. This setting is not subject to debate.
  4. No advertisements or comment-spam.
  5. Posts close to new comments after two weeks. I may change this from time to time.

If you are in doubt, have any questions, want to comment on an old post, or want to raise something unrelated to a post, please e-mail me at the address above.