About the Buzz
All about The BUZZ.
This page has several sections:
- Who We Are, What We Do, and Why
- Contact Information
- Team Buzz
--James Baquet
--Lila Jose Baquet
--D-Ascendant
--Tim Allen
--Martin Juaristi
--Jesse Warren
--Susan Buchanan
--Christopher Lay
--James Fee
--Virginia Fee
Who We Are, What We Do, and Why
Shenzhen is awash in foreigners.
In late 2007, the Shenzhen Daily reported that 17,000 resident expats called Shenzhen home, and 430,000 more foreigners came temporarily for business and study every year.
So why is there not one single website that casts a foreigner's eye on essentials for living here?
We have websites that do a great job of telling us about parties and bar events, and helping people meet friends. The Shenzhen Daily covers government issues, restaurants, and cultural events, as well as some of the legalities (like tax information).
But who tells you where to buy cheese? Or which parks are the most fun? Or where the post offices are? Or what to see in Shenzhen's museums? Or how to use the Metro? Or (to be crass, but very practical) what to do about diarrhea?
So a group of friends decided to join forces to bring you as much information as we can. We are all writers and photographers with a wealth of information accumulated over nearly 20 combined years of living here.
In addition, riding the current waves in technology, we decided to make this site as interactive as possible, allowing comments on pages and posts on the BBS.
You can read about the core members of Team Buzz below, but we hope that you'll Join the Team and help us by sending your questions, comments, and suggestions to shenzhenbuzz [at] gmail [dot] com.
Welcome!
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Our office is virtual: we operate through phones and email.
Email:
Primary email: shenzhenbuzz [at] gmail [dot] com
OR Contact The BUZZ using our handy contact form
See individuals' emails in their profiles below
Contact phones:
English: 158 1749 8707 (Afternoons and evenings. Usually.)
Chinese: 158 1749 8706 (9-12 and 2-5 Monday through Friday)
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Team Buzz
James Baquet (Buzz One) has been digging into Asia for nine of the past eleven years. In his four years in Shenzhen, he has explored lots of corners; led walks; written for magazines; helped newcomers; organized activities; and generally done everything he can to make this an easier place to live or visit. When he's not playing "Mr. Shenzhen," he teaches English (he's a real teacher, with a Master of Education and 26 years' experience), and writes and edits travel and educational materials. Currently, he writes "Buzzwords," an English-learning column, three times a week in the Shenzhen Daily.
Contact: My BUZZ Mail (Registered Users only: Sign Up); nregistered users can use the Contact The BUZZ handy contact form
Phone: 158 1749 8707 (Afternoons and evenings. Usually.)
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Lila Jose Baquet: Shenzhen is Lila’s playground. Working in the communications department in a factory town during the week, she goes to the city to be with "Mr. Shenzhen" on weekends. As a stealth laowai (foreigner incognito because she does look Chinese), she scours the city’s offering of shopping malls, restaurants and other attractions. She loves the fact that Shenzhen has a Metro train now and she doesn't need to talk to a taxi or bus driver in her toneless, almost non-existent Mandarin. As she enters her fourth year in China, though, she vows to wean herself away from her pocket Bertliz phrasebook and start learning how to talk the talk.
Contact: Lila's BUZZ Mail (Registered Users only: Sign Up)
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Lila and James
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D-Ascendant (Cog in the Wheel) is the collective term to describe seemingly disparate multiple personalities of the same individual. He [they?] can be seen dancing on the table at In Club at 4 AM, and admiring the anti-imperialistic art of revolutionary North Korean artists at He Xiangning Museum; he can be seen on the sporting field helping Shenzhen's burgeoning cricket scene and lounging around at home appreciating the best European and Asian cinema on DVD; he can be seen in the most expensive restaurants in town tasting fine cuisine and also sitting at streetside BBQ restaurants till the early hours of the morning. True, some things do happen in Shenzhen without him knowing, but then most of these things are not worth knowing about anyway.
Contact: D's BUZZ Mail (Registered Users only: Sign Up)
Tim Allen (Education Consultant) and his wife have lived in China off and on since 2002. A career educator, he has taught in various teaching environments, including language centers and state and private schools. For the 2006-2007 year, Tim worked as Athletic Director, PE Department Head, and ESL teacher at QSI International School in Shekou. In 2004, the Allens adopted their beautiful daughter from Jiangxi Province. Tim’s experiences in Shenzhen center around the shopping (walking) districts, and looking for places off the beaten path that foreigners might enjoy. He loves to accumulate and share information that will make living in Shenzhen easier.
Contact: Tim's BUZZ Mail (Registered Users only: Sign Up)
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Tim and family
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Martin Juaristi (cartoon artist) was born in Bilbao, Spain, in 1979. He started reading comics in his early childhood and he never stopped loving them afterwards. Drawing is something he always felt good doing even if he rarely considered making a living with it, which is why he got a degree in English. Since 2006, Martin has been working as a Spanish teacher in Shenzhen, a city he has grown to love despite the lack of comic book stores. He enjoys teaching and feels quite competent at it, but he dreams of owning a property as valuable as Snoopy so he does not have to work anymore. He hopes that "Buzz Shenzhen" will be his ticket to a life of leisure and luxury. Martin is also now covering the Shenzhen art scene in our new column, ArteFacts.
Contact: Martin's BUZZ Mail (Registered Users only: Sign Up)
See more of Martin's work at http://martin.deadpool.info/
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Jesse Warren (photojournalist) is the guy with big, crazy hair (its all natural). When he's not surfing at Xichong, he can be seen cruising around town on a skateboard. Otherwise, he loves exploring the nooks and crannies of Shenzhen and countryside villages, getting down to hip hop and reggae, DJing and making beats, chatting over kungfu tea with the locals, and using his camera to capture the beautiful things in life. He has recently taken that passion to a new level as the photographer for the Shenzhen Daily, where he also writes for the Travel and Culture pages. Watch for Shenzhen Faces, Jesse's look into the lives of our Chinese neighbors.
Contact: Jesse's BUZZ Mail (Registered Users only: Sign Up)
See more of Jesse's work at http://photogiving.smugmug.com/
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Susan Buchanan (writer) spent a year in a village in Shandong province before making it down to the promised land. After some happy times teaching and two brief stints at HK Magazine, she's given in to the siren song of Shenzhen's cheap massages and tasty street food. But with family in Shanghai, Hong Kong, and Tennessee telling her to come back home, who knows what the future holds? She's currently content where she is, and between her day job, freelance writing gigs and burgeoning yarn sales, she makes just enough to conduct the research required for the site's weekly shopping column. When other shoppers read her shopping column, "Doing Your Civic Duty," they cry out: "I want to be her new best friend!"
Contact: Susan's BUZZ Mail (Registered Users only: Sign Up)
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Christopher Lay (photojournalist) is a travel photographer based in Shenzhen. You can view more of his Shenzhen photos by visiting the link below, where he has two Shenzhen portfolios (including his night work) and other images from his travels. To learn more about the Foundation for Global Leadership (Chris's "day job"), visit their website. Chris also writes the "Shutter Buzz" column for The BUZZ, with interviews of local photographers.
Contact: Chris's BUZZ Mail (Registered Users only: Sign Up)
See more of Chris's work at http://www.alivenotdead.com/chrislay
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James Fee is a writer and editor currently living in Shenzhen. He's lived in China for going on five years now and has enjoyed every other minute of it. In those five years he has gained some understanding of Chinese culture, a beer belly, and a loving wife--somehow in that order. He can be seen pictured with his wife below or in human disguise to the left.
Contact: James Fee's BUZZ Mail (Registered Users only: Sign Up)
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Virginia Fee is the only Chinese member of the shenzhenbuzz.com team, and thus, much cooler than whoever you might be. She is married to American James Fee. Fortunately for you, her suffering at the hands of her capitalist husband has given her profound insight into the inscrutable needs--or neediness--of foreigners in China.
Contact: Virginia's BUZZ Mail (Registered Users only: Sign Up)
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