AMERICAN William Coon has been to more than 100 countries and has lived in Germany, Argentina and Brazil, among other places. He has six university degrees, speaks five languages and has worked in a variety of professions. Now he calls China home.

Coon's earliest connection with China was through his father, a fighter pilot in China's war against the Japanese.

"My father always told me good things about China," said Coon, 64. His father always played music from China, Japan or Korea.

"We loved listening to his stories of his six years living in this part of the world, and his stories were very colorful," Coon recalled. "They excited my brothers and sister and me."

Coon, who has worked as an engineer, a sales manager and a university professor in international business, is now a consultant specializing in business-related affairs. He assists the Shanghai CIIC Education International Co with its educational programs.

Born in California, he lived 20 years in St. Louis before heading abroad. "My eyes were always on Asia," he said.

"In America, it seems that the people who live in New York look to Europe. The people in Florida and Texas look to South America," Coon said. "However, I grew up in California, and we definitely looked to Asia as the opportunity center of the future."

Coon made his first trip to China in 1974 as an international sales manager for a California computer company. He visited trade fairs in Guangzhou, Guangdong Province, to sell computers.

By the time he met his Chinese wife in 2005, he had visited China 81 times.

He describes meeting his wife Fu Qizhi as a "romantic experience." She was working at the time as an assistant chief executive for an American medical company in Shanghai. He was teaching MBA classes at Washington University in St. Louis.

Every year, Coon's class in the global management program would travel overseas for field work. One year they visited Tokyo, Shanghai, and Hong Kong as part of their study of Asian hospitals. Fu was their host on the Shanghai leg.

"It took only about eight seconds to fall in love with her," he said, with a warm grin.

The couple was married a year after meeting. Coon said Fu's parents accepted him from the first time they met.

"They know that I love their daughter and that I care about them as well," he said. The couple has no children. Fu is now working as the area manager of Southeast Asia and China for California-based STAAR Surgical Co.

Coon and Fu chose to live in Shanghai. "The city has a lot of energy," he said. "It's a wonderful place, and I can teach anywhere."

The couple chose the Hongqiao area of Minhang over the Jinqiao area of Pudong because they liked the environment and a multi-ethnic neighborhood filled with Koreans and Japanese - a sort of Asian melting pot.

"My home is where my heart is, and I don't consider any place my home except where my family is," Coon said.

Living in Shanghai is easy for Coon, he said, because he has lived in so many countries and understands the need to adapt to a new culture.

"However, I see so many foreigners who stick with their own cultural groups when abroad," he said. "That's a shame. China is vast and you have so many incredible places of beauty to see."

Coon said their social life includes many Chinese, and those relationships enrich his life.

They bought their apartment in 2006, when traffic was much lighter. Coon said it's hard to believe how packed the streets have become.

"Minhang is becoming very busy now," he said.

Still, he said he thinks the air quality there is better than in other parts of the city.

Coon drives the family car around the city, shopping in different areas. At home, he likes to cook pancakes. When dining out, he chooses among the array of restaurants located on Guyang Road, one of his favorite places.

Weekends are for excursions to different parts of Shanghai. Sometimes he gets lost driving because his GPS is a year old and street changes haven't been programmed in yet, he said.

Coon has a soft spot in his heart for the local community, where he has helped edit English articles in a monthly newsletter for four years.

Often finding himself on Metro lines to get to consulting jobs, Coon said he loves people-watching in China. Or, for that matter, anywhere.

Coon has two bachelor's degrees, three master's degrees and one PhD. He studied at the University of California and at Washington University.

During his undergraduate years, he earned a double major. One was in engineering. Another in languages, because he wanted something that didn't involve numbers. When he returned to school years later, he found that he could apply one course to three different master's programs, so he finished three more degrees as he worked for his PhD in International Studies.

"My mother was a teacher and she always impressed upon us that education was very important," he said. "When I was in school, I always took as many courses as possible, and that is how I ended up with so many degrees."

Despite his scholastic background, he finds learning Chinese difficult.

He has a Chinese teacher who visits once or twice a week, but he admits his recognition of Chinese characters is limited to 23. He would like to get that up to at least 200.

"Westerners don't have tones in their language, which is difficult," he said.

He has read many Chinese books in English translation, including all of the Four Great Classical Novels. He said he has read "Romance of Three Kingdoms" three times. Song Jiang, the leader of an army of rebels during the northern Song Dynasty (960-1127) and a major character in "Water Marsh," is one of his favorite literary figures.

During the Spring Festival, he drove his wife and her parents to a village in Shaoxing that was the hometown of the famous Chinese author Lu Xun. He went at the invitation of his ayi (domestic helper), who was from the same place.

"Everybody wanted to meet me because I am a foreigner," he said.

They stayed in his ayi's home, which gave him a unique perspective on Chinese life.

"We were just another member of her family, and we liked it that way," he said.

He even learned how to dig up the young bamboo sprouts, and how the fresh meat on the table came from animals the family raised.

"People of her village were hospitable, kind and friendly," he said. "Life is much simpler there, but that is refreshing."

China has a bright future, he said. The people of China are extremely smart, and he said he trusts the younger generations to make good decisions.

As for his own future? "I have a good life, and China is one of my favorite countries," he said. "My wife and I will be here for at least the next eight or 10 years."