When the former mayor of Xiamen city, Hong Yongshi, gave Brown the Key to the City and said, ”This opens any door in Xiamen,” Brown asked, “How about the door of Bank of China?”

The mayor replied, ”Except for that door.” But the key has indeed opened widely the door Brown’s heart and reinforced his deepseated feelings for his second hometown.

As a witness of Xiamen’s three decades of rapid development, Brown recalls vividly the good old days as well as the less convenient lifestyle. In 1992, as Brown became Fujian Province’s first foreigner to receive permanent residency, his success in navigating Xiamen’s life map found him immersed in two important missions: introducing Xiamen to the world and helping bring the world to Xiamen.  

Bill fondly recalls how hard it was to buy his first pedicab in a city that only had three bus lines. He was sold the pedicab on the condition he did not use it for profit, but just as he pedaled it out of the bike shop, a young man with his girlfriend yelled, “How much to take us to Zhongshan Park?” Brown laughed and said, ”I guess I really could have done it for a business if I’d failed at Chinese study!”

In the early 1990s, Bill began writing books to help other expats survive. “They always asked me the same questions—like where to buy the best cheese or the softest toilet paper. So I just wrote a book and said, ‘Here, read this!’”   

A few years later, he expanded the content of the books to cover the entire province, with additional chapters on each region’s culture and history.   

As the chief presenter in helping Xiamen win the award of International Garden City in Stuttgart, Germany, 2002, William Brown was a bit shocked at the judging committee’s lack of knowledge of the changes in China. When a European mayor said, “I didn’t know China has such tall buildings,” Brown realized the world should really know much more about not just modern Xiamen but he rest of the country as well.  

“Even at the beginning of the 21th century,” Bill said, “people outside China—including well-educated European political leaders—could not believe that a Chinese city could be this modern.”  As Xiamen’s spokesman, Brown help the city win the gold in the international "garden city" contest. One judge said, “Xiamen was not only number one, but number two was far behind.”

Today, Brown and his family enjoy weekend getaways in their own garden city. “People from all over the world have to spend money to fly here, but we live here year-round!” So Bill often ditches his permanent resident persona and becomes a tourist, spending a weekend in a seaside local hotel with his “Made in Taiwan” wife. “It’s easy to take familiar things for granted, so touring Xiamen reminds us of why it is a top tour destination in China, and why we’re so lucky to live here.”

Once a successful businessman in the US, Brown is now a true ambassador of the city, and sees Xiamen’s doors opening ever wider to the world.