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Yan Feng was introduced to his first Mac Classic at the tender age of nine. 
It was love at first byte for the youngster who this month celebrates the anniversary of the Beijing Macintosh User Group (www.beimac.com)  he started from scratch two years ago.  
Only 22, Mr Yan, who is  Swiss-educated,  coyly admits the idea for such a group occurred to him a decade ago. 
With a G3 iBook cradled lovingly under his arm, an iPod tucked away in a snazzy backpack and a Sony Ericsson T618 phone with built-in camera and headset on permanent standby, he looks every inch a  young representative of the mainland's new wired generation.
The group of which he is president has about 400 members of 12 nationalities ranging from 'hardcore geeks to newbie switchers that come from from the dark side'. 
In Mr Yan's world, Bill Gates 'is a citizen of the United States who I believe has something to do with Microsoft' and Steve Jobs, the chief executive of Apple, is simply 'the great leader'. 
A student of international finance, Mr Yan has stuck by Apple through thick and thin since the days he lugged his first  7kg laptop everywhere.
 'I was very attached to it; you needed a good reason to get me off it,' he said. 
The Beimac User Group offers a broad church for everyone from switchers to die-hard converts and the usual creative types long won over to all things Apple. 
Informal monthly meetings take in everything from new product and software demonstrations to simple social get-togethers where like-minded souls can troubleshoot and pool their collective experience. Suggest this could be a hacker's paradise and  Mr Yan  scowls back with a look of utter disapproval. Despite the mainland's reputation for rampant counterfeiting of widely available software and DVDs, Mr Yan has no truck with the pirates.
'I'm a hardcore Swiss legalist. We encourage people to post almost anything they like on the site but we won't allow references to pirated software.' 
The shadier denizens of the city's hi-tech hub at Zhonguancun might not be impressed but chances are they could be seeing a lot more of him whether they like it or not.Since hosting the finals of an educational competition at the University of International Business and Finance where he studies, Mr Yan has been bitten by another bug.
'I want to be a TV presenter,' he said, revealing plans to take up a course at Beijing Broadcasting University. 
'That night changed everything for me. Everything just felt right. Now I study the newscasters on Phoenix to see how they present themselves.' 
How will he juggle his many interests? 'I know I'm getting on in age but whatever happens, I'll always stay close to the Mac. I would not reject the idea of working for Apple but the more independent I am the better.' 
Mr Yan keeps abreast of all things Mac through two favourite sites, www.macminute.com for news and www.spymac.com for rumours. 
On tech trends, he predicts 'more switchers and much more Wi-fi access in Beijing and other big cities'. 
What would he say to the would-be switcher twitchy about turning his back on the Gates way of life? 'I'd say go for it. I'll even lend you my iBook just as long as you promise not to break it. I would encourage people to try the Mac experience just the way they want it.'



Diehard China Mac club president was hooked at an early age