Irishman James McGeough speaks what he calls "survival Chinese" -- enough to get by and avoid trouble. Suzhou has been his second home for seven years. He works for a US-based company and has also established two bands in the city.

He can instruct taxi drivers in standard Mandarin "yizhizou (go straight)," "zuoguai (turn left)," "youguai (turn right)," "kuaidian (speed up)" and "mandian (slow down)."

He says he can speak "yidiandian (a little)" Chinese, which helps him "survive" in the city, and his learning of the language comes with some humorous experiences.

When McGeough first came to Suzhou in 2004, he tried out his "Chinese" on a cabbie, instructing the driver to go to the train station. The driver promptly took him to Tiger Hill (a famed scenic spot in Suzhou); in Chinese the pronunciation for train station and Tiger Hill are similar.

"When I arrived, there was no train station, just a big hill!" McGeough says, laughing. It was not until he pulled out his train ticket that the cabbie grinned and took him to the right place.

He can speaks some simple Suzhou dialect, like "zaihui (byebye)."

The most useful Suzhou dialect he said he has learned is "fiao," meaning "buyao (I don't want)" in Mandarin.

McGeough travels to Shanghai often for business and also with his band in which he is the lead singer.

Returning to Suzhou he always encounters street vendors at the train station who try to sell him a map or a tour. "I simply say 'fiao' which has an immediate effect. They all laugh and shout 'Ha, Suzhou ren' (Suzhou native); then quickly clear the way respectfully and everybody has a big laugh."

Even in Suzhou's downtown shopping area where there are many street hawkers, the word "fiao" has the same effect.

"They all stop in their tracks, wide eyed with surprise, just this one word has such a great effect," he says, with a grin.

McGeough, from Dublin, describes himself as "adaptable." He has lived in many countries including Australia, New Zealand, the US and Vanuatu in the South Pacific. He has been based in the US for many years, but also in many cities; "Four years here and four years there," he says, but now Suzhou is the one city, outside of his native Dublin, where he has spent the longest time.

His university major is mapping. However, after many years of mapping expeditions in Australia's outback and in the jungles of Papua New Guinea, he changed his career direction to computer software and traded in the rugged expedition life for the comfort of large cities such as San Francisco and Washington DC. Yet, another 10 years later, tiring of city life, McGeough and several of his brothers purchased a small hotel in Vanuatu.

"It was a challenging business venture," he says.

"I mostly appreciated the change from a technical career to a 'people-focused' business where I could face customers directly and satisfy their expectations."

After five years in Vanuatu, McGeough moved to Auckland, New Zealand, where he worked for a management consulting firm. Another five years later he returned to the technology industry in the US where he was assigned to several projects in Ireland.

He first came to China in 2002 while working with an Irish software company. When the project finished at the end of 2003, he returned to the US but was soon drawn back to China.

"When I returned to the US, I very quickly missed the energy of China," he says. He then called up an Irish colleague in Shanghai and asked for his assistance to see if he could find some additional projects there for him.

"I came to Suzhou because my colleague introduced me to a Suzhou client; I never heard of Suzhou before August 2004."

"I just thought it was so interesting," he says, recalling his first impressions. "Suzhou is an amazing city of contrasts; ancient and advanced, energetic and calm."

For McGeough, Suzhou is also a city of style where the people value their culture, music and a quiet life of relaxation and chatting with their friends.

Since 2004, McGeough has worked for Cathay Asia Inc, a company based in the USA with clients in China, mostly in Suzhou. He provides business consulting services in the fields of professional development, communications consulting, soft skill and cross-cultural training; looking at problems, fixing problems and assisting companies boost the morale of their staff to improve their performance.

McGeough is now very familiar with the layout of Suzhou. In his free time he rides an electric bicycle around the city, "I have never got lost because my major is mapping," he jokes.

He says he feels at home in Suzhou; from his perspective the cultures of Ireland and China have some strong similarities. Chinese people care for their friends, enjoy chatting with each other, enjoy going out, having a drink and singing songs "just like we do in Ireland," he says. He also has seen that Chinese people have a sense of community, which he feels is missing in many Western societies today.

"There is a strong connection between Irish people and Chinese people, I feel that," he says.

McGeough is also a committee official with the Irish Chamber of Commerce and is active in promoting business opportunities between China and Ireland. The chamber is quite active in Shanghai with regular monthly professional events, consular briefings and social gatherings.

McGeough has set up two bands in Suzhou with musicians from England, Scotland, the US and Ireland. All of his musical friends have regular jobs during the week and play gigs on evenings and weekends. They all met in Suzhou.

They play a variety of music with Dash Band playing American country music, blues and rock while Boxty Rebellion plays traditional Celtic and Irish punk music. They perform three or four times each week in neighboring cities of Suzhou like Wuxi and Shanghai.

James McGeough
Nationality: Irish
Self-description: Curious - learning every day
Q&A
? Impression of Suzhou:
Amazing contrasts of ancient and advanced, energy and calm.

? Motto for life:Be prepared.

? How to improveSuzhou:
Suzhou is a watertown - the quality of the water in our rivers and lakes has improved in recent years and I hope this work continues. The environment should be a high priority.

? Strangest sight:
Overloaded bicycles with 50 plus boxes piled together, very skillful.