He is by no means a James Hudson Taylor but Ardsley teacher Adam Burd is adopting a Chinese lifestyle in the capital, Beijing.
Adam, 24, is into his second stint teaching in China and decided to head to the capital this time. His mission is to teach English and business, rather than religion, as Hudson Taylor, the Christian missionary from Barnsley did in the 19th century.
"China's always appealed to me because it's unrivalled with any other cultures that we are used to in the Western-world or England. It is completely different over here," explained Adam.
Life in Beijing offers up daily challenges for Adam an the adults he teaches have been educated very differently to the way that he was at Oakhill Primary and Foulstone but he is managing to fit in.
"In China, from a young age children are taught to copy and write in a monotonous fashion until they learn a word or concept but I think in England, we take on board all learning types and try to make learning more interactive," he said.
"It always surprises me that my students do not understand a word when it's spoken but they recognise it when it's written down.
"Teaching in China is easier as they tend to appreciate their education because higher and further education is expensive and they see being well-educated as a literal means of escaping the reality of communist China and potentially moving abroad for a better quality of life.
"It's hard not to adopt to the Chinese lifestyle when you're inundated in it, so I guess I have, particularly in regards to their cuisine. Huo Guo (Chinese hot-pot) has become my new favourite food."
Few people have mastered Mandarin or Cantonese, especially with the Barnsley accent, but Adam has managed it.
"Without sounding too conceited, I'm a natural linguist so I tend to pick up languages quite quickly.
"When I was living in the south of China previously, they spoke Cantonese so when I came to Beijing, I had to learn Mandarin.
"My Chinese colleagues are always good to lend a hand with my Mandarin and I've made quite a few Chinese friends so I always get the chance to practise, fortunately."
