Can you talk a little bit about what you’re doing now? What exactly is the Linden Centre and what inspired you to establish it?[My wife and I] came to China with the hopes of creating a social enterprise--more specifically, a values-driven business that could serve as a model for more socially responsible development in rural China. The goal was to preserve China’s national heritage, demonstrating its economic value and ambient meaning to the community, while incorporating the region into our projects via sustainable tourism, intangible heritage preservation, education, and microfinance. We want our brand to stand for these values, to embody integrity and reverence, and we used our restored hotels as the social enterprise upon which we pursued this mission. We were not hoteliers, we had no experience in tourism, but we felt that developing a more balanced approach to tourism was the best way we could start our efforts.
We came with passion, patience, and respect. We had limited personal financial resources.
By engaging with perplexing, tangible assets like national heritage sites and incorporating the local community in our projects via restoration, planning and management, we have demonstrated to the government that value-driven businesses can have long-term impacts. It takes time to build friendships and relationships in the community. The government put us in a very good position because we demonstrated right from the start that we were able to achieve our sustainability goals. Nobody can question our success in preserving and revitalizing the tangible. That is clearly manifested in our historic complexes that will live for centuries after we have gone. The intangible was kind of icing on the cake. We did not realize how closely we would be embraced by the government, media and local community. They inspired us to do more. Clearly the Chinese government sees how much [we’ve done for] the community, how much buy-in and support we’ve had, and how values-driven businesses can make a difference in rural areas.
How did you become interested in China and end up at the Hopkins-Nanjing Center?
China should never have been on my radar...I was cleaning carpets and doing other odd jobs as a high school student, 30-40 hours a week. Then I went to community college because my family had never had anyone who went to university and we did not have the financial resources to go immediately to a four year school. My father didn’t have the opportunity to finish high school. In 1983 I was cleaning carpets in a University of Chicago professor’s home. He asked me to put a pin in China because he had just returned from China, but I didn’t know where it was on the map. He pulled me over and said, “Is this all you want to do with the rest of your life, clean carpets?” I told him I [didn’t] have many options and he said, “Why don’t you consider China?”
The next day I went to the night school international office and saw there was an opportunity to study in China through the Ministry of Education. I applied and figured China didn’t want me. Yet three months later, I received the opportunity to go to China. I asked, “Why did you choose me?” I was told I was selected because I was from a working-class family and that this was seen as a great opportunity for me.
The second day I was in China, I was stopped and recruited by the head of the Beijing Film Studio. I was out jogging and [the studio head], a movie director, and an actress saw me. They said they were making the first movie to star a foreigner since 1949. They want[ed] me to play the role. I didn’t speak a word of Chinese, but they said they’d dub the movie.
I filmed for four months, made the movie, and CBS came and interviewed me. After getting a one-month internship opportunity at CBS, I transferred over to CBS [full-time]. From then on, I met with many Chinese leaders, including Deng Xiaoping. Suddenly, I’m the carpet cleaner who’s a leading actor who has met famous Chinese people, including Chinese leaders. China changed my life. The idea of pursuing my dream in China happened more quickly than I imagined it could. After further study and completing a master’s degree in Asian Studies in the U.S., I went to the Hopkins-Nanjing Center mainly because I wanted to come back to China and continue my education. The Hopkins-Nanjing Center gave me a wonderful scholarship to come back.
How did your experience at the Hopkins-Nanjing Center prepare you for your future endeavors?
The Hopkins-Nanjing Center provided me with the real education, the history, economics, and political science knowledge that I needed to function effectively and long-term in China. Language is not enough. China respects familiarity with its history and culture. The Hopkins-Nanjing Center provided this. My interactions pre-Hopkins-Nanjing Center were all in the workplace. I really didn’t have a strong feel or understanding of China. Studying in Nanjing gave me that foundation. By doing things in Chinese such as writing papers and attending classes, I realized that China could be a place where I could function as effectively as I would be able to in the States. I am forever grateful that during my time at the Hopkins-Nanjing Center I also had the opportunity to meet my wife. It’s so important that I’ve had a partner who is equally passionate about China. Without the Hopkins-Nanjing Center, none of this would have happened.
What was your most memorable moment while you were in Nanjing?
I think that my most memorable moments at the Hopkins-Nanjing Center revolved around the interaction with the professors. 1980s China was still fairly closed, but I remember how open the professors were. They inspired me through their curiosity in us as students and their willingness to share their stories at a time when very few local people had interacted with foreigners. Their willingness to open themselves personally to us inspires me to this day. That type of genuine interaction, between professors and students, between students and students, is the soul of the Hopkins-Nanjing Center.
What advice would you give to current or future Hopkins-Nanjing Center students?
I want to remind future students that Hopkins-Nanjing Center graduates will return to their home countries and share their views about China. They will be the cultural ambassadors that inform many countries about the values of China. Unless we gain a well-balanced understanding of this vast country, we are limited in how much we can objectively share. Many of us focus on certain subjects like finance or business or, in other words, how to monetize our time spent studying. We do not venture beyond the network-building activities in the big cities. China is so diverse and inspiring outside of its coastal, urban veneers. I want to encourage more students to take their skills and passions to areas that may not lead to immediate monetary gains, but will provide them with unmatched social and spiritual rewards. Get out and see China beyond the walls of a classroom. The Hopkins-Nanjing Center provides students with the platform to fully immerse themselves in China’s noble culture and promising future.
Interview by Cady Deck, Certificate ’19
