Ian Morrison, his wife Yang Yanxia and their son Yang Yuhe
A lot can change within three-and-a-half years. I can truly say that this has been the case both for China Daily and for me China Daily has expanded to 16 pages, while my family has "expanded" to three members with the birth of my son in December 2004.
Arriving in China in December 2002, I really felt I was making a journey into the unknown. It was the first time that I had travelled so far, my first time in Asia and the first time that I was going to live in a foreign land.
So many changes and so many challenges were facing me.
Before coming to China, I worked as a reporter at a small-circulation daily paper in London, so it was quite an amazing experience for me to come to work at a paper which is quoted on a daily basis in the world's major media.
The role of foreign staff remained quite limited when I started working at China Daily. We were "polishers." This basically meant we had to improve the quality of the English as much as we could, but not much else.
Now we are "copy editors," an indication of far greater input we have in the overall production of the paper. The role played by foreign staff has also greatly diversified during these three-and-a-half years with foreign staff working at many more levels, including reporters, a writing coach, designers and high-level editorial staff.
All of this makes me feel that we Chinese and foreign staff are working more effectively as a single team, pooling our skills to make China Daily the best possible paper.
The winds of change blowing through China Daily have truly changed it in so many ways.
But for you, as readers, obviously the most important is the paper's content, and I think that this really is the area where the most remarkable change has taken place.
Even in 2002, China Daily still felt like a paper that placed far too much emphasis on serious and weighty "important" news.
I now find it difficult to believe that it is the same paper, with its lively human-interest Spotlight pieces, sometimes humorous and sometimes through-provoking bottom strip pieces on Page One, the interesting snippets of China Scene and greatly expanded international news coverage.
China Daily has certainly become a much more reader-friendly newspaper.
In that time, it's also true to say that China Daily has become a much busier workplace. Not surprising, given that the paper has expanded and greater demands are being placed on all of us.
I feel that a greater sense of professionalism now prevails, with the atmosphere feeling more like a newsroom and less like a traditional Chinese "danwei" (work unit) in which there seemed to be a little too much interest in office table tennis championships and long lunch hours.
Personally, I think that the experience of working at a paper going through so many profound changes has been a very valuable one.
I feel that I was previously a little too focused on "significant" and "political" news, and failed to understand the importance of carrying a broader range of more "readable" stories.
Working with my colleagues Liu Weitao, Zhu Ping, Shi Pengyun and Su Qiang for the past year on the international news pages has particularly helped me in this regard.
More changes are in store and I look forward to being part of them.
(China Daily 05/31/2006 page4)
