interview

Just like our sister publication the Beijinger, Alexandra Pillsbury was born in Beijing ten years ago and she’s lived here all of her life. She was kind enough to talk to the Beijinger and tell us what a real 10-year-old thinks of the capital.

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Those of you who keep a good China blogroll have probably heard of Chinageeks.org, where founder Charles Custer works to provide a community of people interested in China with deeper analysis of the country’s here and now.

For the last year or so, Custer’s also been hard at work on a new documentary film, Living With Dead Hearts, which takes a close look at kidnapping in China and how affected families cope or try to fight back.

If you want to know more about the kidnapping issue itself, check out Custer's recent article on Foreign Policy, as well as case studies of missing children and their families here. As for the documentary, I for one am nervous. This is the kind of subject that makes me want to cry like a baby and kick someone in the groin repeatedly - very strange mix of emotions. We’ll have to wait until Custer and his team finish shooting and editing before we can actually see it, but for now the director himself is taking questions.

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How's the view from your perch at the Bookworm?
Fantastic! I have top billing this year so I’m sitting pretty on the roof. It's a great view and I get to keep an eye on all the shenanigans underfoot in Sanlitun.

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When Guillaume and Delphine Gauvain founded Bethel China Foundation in 2002, they little suspected that nine years later, their dream of providing visually impaired orphans with the care and skills to help themselves would include an organic farm, foster homes and schooling for over 70 children in Beijing, as well as a China-wide project that provides training for orphanages. We asked Bethel’s program coordinator, Matthew Terlunen, about inspiring hope in the kids and being inspired by them in turn.

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Hair salons abound in Beijing, but for the past years, Eric Paris Salon has been a favorite among expats. At the helm of the operation sits CEO Katy Sinnott, who left a career with an international bank to join her husband in Beijing. Now, the working mother balances her home and work life around the clock, and managed to squeeze in some time to tell Agenda how she got started in the hair industry, and how she found balance in her life.

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