Patricia Bjaaland Welch is a former University lecturer in Chinese religion, philosophy and art, and has been a docent for over two decades in prominent Asian art museums in Boston, Bangkok and Singapore. Despite once leaving academia for the private business world to head up regional and global marketing teams for such companies as American Express, Time Magazine Group, ABN AMRO Bank and the consulting firm McKinsey & Company, she remained passionate about Asian art and continued studying, collecting and writing on the subject. Today, she has returned full-time to the field, and is a frequent author and speaker on subjects relating to Chinese art and history. She is the author of five published books and dozens of articles, including a book on Chinese New Year traditions for Oxford University Press, and Chinese Art: A Guide to Motifs and Visual Imagery with Tuttle. She and her husband Mathew have been Singapore residents since 1995 but maintain a condo here in Bangkok, where they once resided in the 1980-90’s.