Cloudy in Beijing Blogging about my time in China

Networking

Apparently, I've become a member of an "illegal" group.

A month ago I joined the Foreign Correspondents' Club of China. Last night the group had a get-together, and I had a chance to meet quite a few members of the foreign media working in Beijing.

"We're illegal," the president of the club said to me, making clear to pronounce the "il" on the word "illegal".

"The Chinese government doesn't really like us," he added.

As I introduced myself to the people there, very quickly I felt like I was becoming known as the "archaeology guy." It made me feel a little embarrassed since I just freelance about it.

I even became a little intimidated as I met some of the others present. The first person I met was an NBC camera man, who was still recovering from jet lag.

"I was working at the Olympics in Vancouver for four weeks," he told me. "Then I was in Chile to cover the Earthquake for three days."

All night, I was surrounded by people who seemed way too cool for me. Many of them had been in the journalism industry for decades. In those three hours I was there, my world felt a lot bigger.