David Moser works as a keyboarder at CD Blues Club in Beijing, capital of China, March 10, 2012. David Moser is an American who has lived in China for almost 20 years. Someone listening to him speaking Mandarin, especially for the first time, would never doubt that he was a native Chinese. Indeed, Moser has a good command of the Chinese language, and he holds a Ph. D. in Sinology from Michigan University.

However, at the very beginning of his university studies, Moser's major was actually music, not Chinese. He loved music when he was a boy, and he thought his lifetime career would be composing and playing music. What later attracted Moser to study Chinese in China were some tapes of "xiangsheng", or crosstalk, a kind of Chinese comic dialog. He listened to the tapes with growing fascination. In 1991, Moser came to China's Peking University (PKU) as a visiting scholar to collect materials for his Master's thesis on "xiangsheng". Life at PKU was very smooth for Moser, where he was taught by Professor Wang Jingshou, a renowned "xiangsheng" expert, who later introduced many popular "xiangsheng" performers to this foreign student. In Wang's opinion, Moser is gifted in performing, and thus he recommended him to famous crosstalk performer Ding Guangquan, whereupon Moser began to study with him. From then on, Moser followed Ding to participate in many performances around China, and started to be known by Chinese audiences. In addition to "xiangsheng" performance, Moser has many other jobs including college teacher and translator. Also, this versatile American sometimes composes music or plays piano in various jazz groups.

At present, Moser works for a U.S. academic program at Capital Normal University in Beijing, teaching American students politics and history. His courses involve many student activities like visiting the 798 Art Zone and historic locations in the capital city. Meanwhile, the American teacher is often invited to participate in CCTV's talk shows, commenting on social affairs and English learning. Life for him is busy and full of fun. Along East 3rd Ring Road in Beijing, there is a club named CD Blues Cafe. Every Saturday night, visitors can find a foreign keyboard player on the stage, engrossed in the music -- that's Moser. Music, which used to be his major and occupation, has become a hobby for him. But he hopes that, one day, he puts out an album of his own songs, and makes his childhood dream come true.