Karen Christensen, the publisher and acting editor of Guanxi: The China Letter, explains:

Berkshire is a small independent publishing company with a special focus on global issues and interest in China. We work with experts and scholars to develop educational resources that have won many awards. Guanxi is our first monthly publication, and we are proud to be working on project that will contribute to greater understanding and improved partnerships between companies and individuals.

Our company’s focus on China goes back to 1998, when we began creating the six-volume, 2.2-million-word Encyclopedia of Modern Asia. Our goal in creating it was to present Asia "from an Asian point of view." To do this, we enlisted 700 contributors in sixty-five countries, an unusual feat for any publishing company. We continue to work with many of those experts, and some of them are contributing to Guanxi.

When we began working on the Encyclopedia of Modern Asia, I also began planning a trip to Asia with my son and daughter, who were then twelve and nine. My husband and I wanted them to experience Asia for themselves, and you can read about the trips we took and our experiences in China in the first issue of our quarterly magazine, the Berkshire Savant by clicking here. We attended conferences, met scholars and publishers, and visited major cities as well as the distant western provinces. Tom is now 22, a Chinese-speaking graduate of Grinnell College who has studied and worked in Beijing as well as in a law office in Shanghai one summer.

Please write to me after you've received your first issues of Guanxi. We welcome your ideas and comments, and also the suggestions (and contributions) of Chinese friends and colleagues around the world. A project like this is the work of a large and varied network, and we look forward to your becoming part of it.

Karen Christensen

karen [at] berkshirepublishing [dot] com