By LU NI
Community Correspondent
BEIJING (China Daily Show) — Beijing’s last remaining bars may soon have to seek new customers, following the mysterious disappearance of Tom ”Thumb” Fowdy, a Party-loving expat.
The fun-loving foreigner — who has haunted the city’s restaurant and education scene for years, creeping most people out — hasn’t been seen in weeks, prompting fears he may have “done the decent thing.”
Fowdy, affectionately known to locals as ”Thumb” or ”that guy who keeps texting your daughter,” was last been seen in Beijing Sanlitun in mid-May, approaching a group of teenagers outside the Apple Store.
“He offered to everyone under the age of 16 a drink… the next thing I heard was the sound of glass breaking and people shouting.” said bar manager Dai Peng. ”I saw this chubby guy frantically running away, shirt ripped, belly flopping. That was the last time Tom settled his tab.”
Dai says Fowdy has been frequenting the area, always unaccompanied, since 2016.
“I probably knew him the best,” admitted Dai, “and I didn’t know him at all.”
Information about Fowdy’s work and past is unreliable. Some claim he is married, others say his girlfriend left him last year, and his CV is littered with fictional-sounding gigs such as “chief social strategist for Pyongyang Bugle.“
“I knew he got chased out of UK, then lost his job in China,” chuckled Dai. “Tom must be the first Englishman to fail in both London and Hong Kong.”
Fowdy is described by acquaintances as about five foot five, with a sweaty, flustered appearance, pronounced paunch, and a keen interest in “pro-Marxist nude groups.”
“I wouldn’t say I knew him,” said John Talent, an IT consultant who calls himself a “semi-regular” at a bar near where Fowdy was last witnessed tweeting terrible Ukraine takes.
“Frankly, I sincerely hope he’s fucked off back to wherever he came from.”
But Tom’s hometown of Sunderland has repeatedly told media outlets that it doesn’t want the prodigal Pyongyanger back.
Meanwhile, bar manager Dai told China Daily Show that Fowdy is simply “misunderstood.”
“He is certainly not everyone’s cup of ginseng, but he always settled his tab eventually. God knows how, as he was completely unemployable,” Dai recalled. “I just assumed he received some sort of disability allowance from back home.
“I hope he hasn’t killed himself — but I wouldn’t be too surprised,” Dai added. “Or if someone else has killed him, that would make sense too.”
Friends say if anyone sees Fowdy, they should pretend not to, and quickly cross to the other side of the street.
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