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Shreveporter who studies Chinese cities for work fits in sightseeing along the journey

Warner Brown

A Shreveport native who has been living in China for the past several years works in commercial real estate and blogs about the people and places he encounters.

Warner Brown, 31, a graduate or Caddo Magnet High, lives in a city with 24 million people -- more than five times the population of Louisiana.

“My dwelling in Shanghai isn’t nearly as big as my house in Shreveport. That said, the houses in Shanghai are not shoeboxes the way you’d expect to find in Hong Kong,” Brown said.

Brown studies Chinese urbanization and is an expert on the country’s real estate markets. He started learning Chinese intensively 11 years ago during his first study abroad experience in Beijing. Today, he travels around the country looking at how American firms can expand their presence in China.

He was most recently in Hefei, the capital of Anhui Province in eastern China, evaluating shopping malls for one of his clients.

“I’ll be going into a shopping mall, for example, walking into the leasing office and extending my hand and saying in Chinese, Hi, nice to meet you. I’d like to have a conversation about the performance of your mall and what kind of tenants you’ve been leasing lately. I can usually do those conversations in Chinese pretty well,” Brown said.

Brown’s blog entries evolved into freelance writing assignments and have appeared in The Atlantic. He says expatriates need to have an open mind and be patient with the so-called “Great Fire Wall.”

“The Internet situation is tough. Particularly, if you’re a foreigner, you can’t use Facebook or YouTube. Since the start of this year, you can’t even use Google or Gmail, which has been really tough. Most expatriates, like myself, use special software (a virtual private network), which allow us to get around the Chinese system,” Brown said.

Brown continues to hone his language skills, picking up idioms by taking weekend cooking classes in Chinese. His web site is wbchina.net.

Chuck Smith brings more than 30 years' broadcast and media experience to Red River Radio. He began his career as a radio news reporter and transitioned to television journalism and newsmagazine production. Chuck studied mass communications at Southern Arkansas University in Magnolia and motion picture / television production at the University of California at Los Angeles. He has also taught writing for television at York Technical College in Rock Hill, South Carolina and video / film production at Centenary College of Louisiana, Shreveport.