[Photo provided to China Daily]   

During his years with the US Air Force, he was assigned to Taiwan instead of Greenland in 1976. He became intrigued by the Chinese mainland and wanted to learn more about it.

Brown later went back to the US to complete his master's and doctoral degrees, and opened his own business.

In 1988, he sold his company and traveled with his wife and two sons to Xiamen University, a rare campus in China at the time that provided housing to foreign students with families. The university employed Brown as a teacher of MBA courses in 1989, and in 1992, he became Fujian province's first foreigner to be granted a permanent residency in China.

Brown says he started writing this series of letters and sharing his experiences because his family and friends in the US did not understand his decision to live in Fujian. These recipients helped the publication of the book by sending such letters and photos back to Brown so that he could make copies.

Over the years, Brown has written more than 1,500 letters. They are his "love letters to China".

Brown has published more than 10 books, recording and introducing the sights and sounds of China. President Xi Jinping presented Brown the award of honorary citizenship of Fujian in 2001, when Xi was governor of the province. In January, Brown sent his new book to Xi, with a letter attached.

In his reply to Brown's letter, Xi wrote: "You said in the letter that you are very optimistic about China's future. I believe that you will witness a more prosperous and beautiful China, one that increasingly benefits the world and mankind, and the stories of China you write will surely be more exciting."

In order to deepen cooperation with Brown, the China International Publishing Group signed an agreement with him for a future book series on March 20. At the signing event, Lu Cairong, deputy director of the group, awarded Brown for his "special contribution" and said the group will provide more writers with a multilingual platform to tell their stories about China to the world.