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!

潘維廉在1976至1978年間，效命於颱灣的美國空軍基地，那時的老潘還是個毛頭小夥兒，從不曾想過十年後自己一傢會成為第一個在福建省取得永久居住權的老外。問其來華誘因，答曰：“美國中餐太貴。”這些年來，老潘已“饕餮”瞭各式佳肴美味。大快朵頤之餘，亦傳道授業解惑於廈大MBA中心，還得暇搖搖筆杆，先後撰寫瞭10本書和很多的文章，還撰寫、製作、拍攝瞭不少電視紀錄片。老潘還在7部電影、電視劇中齣演瞭許多角色。他說自己演技較壞，不過演的也全是“壞蛋”，所以並無大礙。 1993年，*總理授予老潘國傢“友誼奬”。問及其對北京的印象，他說：“我愛北京烤鴨。”1994年，老潘率閤傢老幼驅車４萬公裏幾乎踏遍中國，以廈門為起點，直抵西藏後返迴。經此跋涉，老潘一傢深悟：“世上隻有傢最好”，更何況，這個“傢”就是廈門！

《商業老廈門:現代中國商業與工商管理教育的搖籃》是在作者給廈門大學MBA學生講授老廈門商業及商業教育的講義基礎上編寫而成。收錄瞭大量在國外齣版的描述廈門在16世紀至20世紀三四十年代前的商業及商業教育的書籍資料，按內容進行瞭編排。