Author
about
Victor de Lange was born and raised in the Netherlands.
At the age of twenty-two, he moved abroad to study and work in the Caribbean, the United States and China.
An immersion with different cultures and people enriched him with a million experiences and inspiration to write about.
To better capture those memories, he followed a Travel Writing and a Creative Writing Course at the Centre for Continuing Education at the University of Sydney.
Today he lives in Sydney, Australia with his Chinese wife and daughter and works for Dutch Multinational Lighting Corporation Signify, formerly known as Philips Lighting. He enjoys meaningful interactions with professional end-users architects, engineers and interior designers while helping them to realise their sustainable project ambitions. Throughout his career, projects under his responsibility helped save over 54,000 tons of CO2 in Australia, China and Southeast Asia. Victor is passionate about IoT lighting and specialises in commercial, industrial and street light applications. His interests beyond work are spending time with his family, running, electric guitars, reading, writing, coffee and the beach.
The Shanghai Expat is his debut memoir.
Picture edited by Jacco Leijdekkers
the shanghai expat
Engaging and revealing, this chronicle of Victor arriving in Shanghai with the global economy in a slump and nothing more than a suitcase and a pocket full of dreams is a story about opportunity, determination, pursuing love
and finding your way in the Pearl of Asia.
It’s September 2008, and Victor is an International Business and Management graduate with study and internship experiences gained on four continents. With the global economy in a slump, the job market for graduates is doomed. Where powerhouse China is still delivering substantial economic growth, Shanghai might provide him with the best opportunity to establish a successful career. He has only one objective though; rejoining Philips, the company where he did his graduation internship.
But moving from a village with three-thousand people to Shanghai with its twenty-four million people is quite a significant change. And thereby his height, blue eyes, and long eyelashes provide him with a high profile presence. Join Victor on a journey of starting over in China’s biggest city and a global financial hub. A city where the gap between success and failure is extremely close and family traditions weigh heavier than love. A part-time teaching job can open the door to a billionaire’s office, and a random Shanghai subway ride can lead to a meet and greet with your favourite British rock band in Beijing.
Can Victor resist the temptations of a city that never sleeps and pursue his dreams?
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