Bill Brown served in the U.S. Air Force in Taiwan from 1976 to1978, never dreaming that in 1988 he and his family would becomeFujian's first foreign Permanent Resident. He said he movedhere “Because Chinese food is too expensive in America.” Sincethen, Dr. Bill has eaten lots of Chinese food, and between mealshas taught MBA, written 10 books, dozens of articles, and written,produced or appeared in TV programs and documentaries. He alsoacted in 7 TV mini-series. He says he’s a bad actor but sincehe always played a “bad guy”it did not matter. Premier Li Peng gaveBill the Friendship Award in 1993 and when asked his thoughts aboutBeijing, Dr. Bill said, “I like Beijing Duck.” After driving theirvan, “Toyota”, over 40,000 km around China in 1994 to Tibet andback, Bill and his family concluded there really is no place likehome－especially when that home is Xiamen!

潘维廉在1976至1978年间，效命于台湾的美国空军基地，那时的老潘还是个毛头小伙儿，从不曾想过十年后自己一家会成为第一个在福建省取得永久居住权的老外。问其来华诱因，答曰：“美国中餐太贵。”这些年来，老潘已“饕餮”了各式佳肴美味。大快朵颐之余，亦传道授业解惑于厦大MBA中心，还得暇摇摇笔杆，先后撰写了10本书和很多的文章，还撰写、制作、拍摄了不少电视纪录片。老潘还在7部电影、电视剧中出演了许多角色。他说自己演技较坏，不过演的也全是“坏蛋”，所以并无大碍。 1993年，*总理授予老潘国家“友谊奖”。问及其对北京的印象，他说：“我爱北京烤鸭。”1994年，老潘率合家老幼驱车４万公里几乎踏遍中国，以厦门为起点，直抵西藏后返回。经此跋涉，老潘一家深悟：“世上只有家最好”，更何况，这个“家”就是厦门！

《商业老厦门:现代中国商业与工商管理教育的摇篮》是在作者给厦门大学MBA学生讲授老厦门商业及商业教育的讲义基础上编写而成。收录了大量在国外出版的描述厦门在16世纪至20世纪三四十年代前的商业及商业教育的书籍资料，按内容进行了编排。