Alumnus Links Foreign Service Success in Chengdu to HNC Experience

Christian Burstall, HNC Certificate '17 + SAIS MA '18, links his success serving as a Foreign Service Officer in Chengdu to his Hopkins-Nanjing Center experience.

Tell us a bit more about your career and your current role.  

I'm a Foreign Service Officer, or diplomat. Exactly what that means is elusive, but a large part of my job is explaining the United States to the rest of the world and explaining the rest of the world to the United States. My most recent assignment was providing consular service in Chengdu. The majority of my time was spent interviewing visa customers. When the novel coronavirus pandemic broke out, I provided emergency services, including working with the Embassy to coordinate emergency flights for U.S. citizens stuck in Wuhan. 

What got you interested in studying Chinese and what drew you to the HNC? 

I studied French my first year of college and the professor made some offhand remark that competent French required about 600 hours of study, while competent Chinese requires more than 2400. For some reason, I decided to interpret that as "you have to be four times smarter" rather than "it takes four times as much work." Eager to prove a point to exactly nobody, I immediately signed up for Chinese. Four years of college Chinese passed, two of them in China, and I still somehow didn't have the full 2400 hours, proving that I absolutely was not four times smarter than anybody. When I was preparing for grad school, I looked for a program that would permit as much Chinese language immersion as possible. There is no program more immersive than the Hopkins-Nanjing Center.  

How often do you use your Mandarin skills and understanding of China developed at the HNC in your current position?

I think it would have been impossible for me to be as successful as I was without what I learned at HNC. In Chengdu, I spent four hours a day interviewing visa applicants in Chinese about their lives in China and their plans for visiting the United States, which required knowledge of Chinese social structures and technical vocabulary. After the interviews were over, I worked with Chinese nationals employed by the Consulate to fulfill my other duties. I was well-liked and trusted by the team—that would have been more difficult without learning about Chinese etiquette and humor. 

What advice do you have for HNC students aspiring to work at the Department of State or as diplomats?

Right now is a very exciting time in the long, rich history shared by the USA and the PRC. If any HNC student is interested in diplomacy, I truly hope you'll explore that interest! I can only speak to my experience in the State Department, but HNC alumni are scattered across the several posts in China, as well as the China desk at Main State in DC. Your HNC experience won't automatically move you ahead in the hiring process but will give you meaningful overseas experience and training that you can use to make yourself a promising candidate. For specific advice, I welcome anybody to contact me on LinkedIn, or to reach out to [their nearest] Diplomat in Residence.

Interview conducted by Grace Faerber, HNC MAIS '22.