On hearing that I was planning to accept a job offer in Beijing, China, in early 1996, most of my friends and colleagues in Romania thought I was crazy.

But I decided to go to China anyway, not only to work as a physician in one of Beijing’s expat clinics, but also to satisfy a craving I’d had for years — to see Asia.

During my five years in Beijing, I discovered the beauty of Beijing, of places like the Temple of Heaven, Summer Palace and Fragrant Hills with its famous red leaves.

When I was furthering my medical education in Canada in 2001, I missed not Romania, but China, where I had lived for five years.

I started to religiously watch the weekly Chinese-language programs on Montreal TV, feeling it would somehow be like a link between me and China.

I was excited and proud when Beijing was awarded the honor of hosting the 2008 Olympic Games.

I felt hurt when I heard some acquaintances speaking in less-than-nice terms about Chinese people. I slowly began to realize that China had become more of a homeland for me than Romania.

That, and my Chinese girlfriend, were the two things that brought me back to China last year, this time to Guangzhou.

I had never before lived in a place with no real winters, a place with lush vegetation all year round, so I was eager to see how life was in such a place, especially after coming from Montreal with temperatures of 20 degrees Celsius below zero.

After spending almost two years between Guangzhou and Beijing (where I worked for another year), I and my girlfriend decided to move to Shenzhen before leaving again for Canada.

I have been in Shenzhen for too short a time to get to know the place.

What I can say so far is that Shenzhen is No. 1 on my list of beautiful cities, together with Qingdao.

I am still getting accustomed to living here, but so far everything looks good.

I will be leaving China again in a few months with the knowledge that no matter how far, I go one day I will come back, because this is now where my heart is.

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