Reshma Patil learnt to speak Mandarin and made the move from a newsroom in Mumbai to her one-woman office in Beijing to launch and run the first China news bureau of Hindustan Times in April 2008. For three-and-a-half years she travelled alone across China (on a vegetarian diet) to report on the country’s economic, political and cultural transitions and the strategic relationship between India and China. She has over a decade’s experience covering current affairs in India as a journalist with the Indian Express and Hindustan Times.