Ms Patricia Bjaaland Welch is a former Lecturer in Chinese history & art (at Boston University and the University of Oslo, Norway) and after a career in Asia in the private sector as regional head of marketing for American Express, the consultancy McKinsey, ABN AMRO Bank and others, returned to her academic love: Asian studies. Today she is an independent art historian and author of several books including Oxford University Press’ Chinese New Year and Tuttle’s Chinese Art: A Guide to Motifs and Visual Imagery, and is a frequent contributor to Arts of Asia magazine, as well as a frequent speaker on cruise ships as well as here at the Siam Society. She and her husband resided in Bangkok in the late 1990s when Patricia was also an active member of the British Library and guided at the National Museum. Today, they live in Singapore, but still maintain a home here on Soi Thonglor, and return as often as work and other commitments allow.