About Me & Why SortaMedia Exists#

Hi, I’m Bill. I was born in Wuhan in 1976 and moved to New York at 16. Professionally, I’ve spent my career as a Systems Engineer, building corporate networks and IT systems. Personally, I’ve spent decades navigating the cultural realities of both the US and China.

The idea for SortaMedia started out of sheer engineering pragmatism: I wanted to stop typing out the same long emails to my American friends. They always had the same questions:

• “Where are the best off-the-beaten-path places?”
• “What does authentic Chinese food actually taste like?”
• “Does everyone in China really know Kung Fu?”

I needed a permanent, living FAQ.

Recently, this project became more urgent. Sensationalized and incomplete media reporting has only pushed the US and China further apart. I built SortaMedia to cut through that noise.

I built SortaMedia to cut through that noise. As an engineer, I care about how things actually work under the hood, not just what the marketing brochure says. No grand political theories, no media filters. Just a pragmatic, unofficial blueprint to how modern Chinese society actually operates, based entirely on what I’ve seen with my own eyes.

My ultimate vision for SortaMedia is a two-way bridge: introducing the real China to the West, and eventually, the real West to China. But we have to start somewhere. For Phase One, my focus is on decoding the Middle Kingdom for you.

Questions? Drop me a DM on Twitter.