Hopkins-Nanjing Center Blog

Frank Tsai is a 2003 graduate of the Hopkins-Nanjing Center and currently serves as the CEO and Founder of China Crossroads, the largest platform for public lectures in Shanghai. Over the past 14 years, he has organized over 600 talks on "China and the world" across several event brands, hosting academics, business leaders, and other experts.   What led you to the Hopkins-Nanjing Center? What made you choose the HNC?   I traveled to Taiwan a few years before applying to the HNC, and I was excited to speak Mandarin for the first time. That experience sparked my interest, and after that trip, my life became focused on studying Chinese. It made me shift gears in my PhD. At the time, I was doing my PhD in sociology when I first heard about the HNC. I wanted to transition to studying China, but I had no experience. For that reason, the Hopkins-Nanjing Center was a great way for me to experience China. Language programs were my other option , but the HNC was very attractive be...

From April 17-20, three Hopkins-Nanjing Center students stepped away from their academic routines to travel to Hainan for this year's Yenching Global Symposium, themed “Fortitude: Navigating the Tides of Change”. John Steinmetz HNC MAIS '26, Liu Yinuo HNC MAIS '25, and Eddie Witte HNC Certificate + SAIS MAIR '26 were selected from a pool of over 6,000 applicants to be three of the 90 delegates chosen to partake in the event. Launched by students at Yenching Academy of Peking University, the Yenching Global Symposium is a chance for various scholars and professionals to engage in dialogue surrounding current global and national challenges through academic panels and experiential activities. This post highlights John, Yinuo and Eddie’s experiences with the application process, their perspectives on the event, and their recommendations for future HNC students interested in applying. Yinuo, John, and Eddie posing at the symposium (respectively) The Application Process The a...

HNC Career Services Manager Hailey McGleam recently led 22 students to Shanghai for a comprehensive introduction to business development and geopolitical risk consulting. The trek brought together 13 international students and 9 Chinese students for a full day of meetings with international consulting companies in Shanghai. Students had the opportunity to hear from several Hopkins-Nanjing Center alumni about how they have been applying the skills they acquired during their time at the HNC in the workforce.   First up, the group headed to Intralink in the Xuhui District. They were hosted by Daniel Kollar, MAIS '14, who is the current Deputy Managing Director of Greater China and the Global Head of Automotive, Mobility, and Supply Chains at Intralink. Intralink is a global business development consultancy that specializes in supporting international market expansion, particularly for technology companies in sectors like e-commerce, biotech, MedTech, and IT. The firm helps compani...