 Okay, we're back. We're live. It's the four o'clock clock. Welcome to Think Tech Asia. I'm Jay Fidel. I'm your host, and our show is called Honolulu, A Tale of Two Worlds at the Crossroads of the Pacific. We're going to talk about the fact that Hawaii can no longer rely on federal government spending in Washington. And our guest for the show, I guess our co-host in China, in Beijing, is Russell Liu. So Hawaii is facing a crisis. In a Trump presidency, Hawaii can no longer rely on federal government spending. With the internet, global opportunities and tourism are being missed, as Chinese travelers find other competitive leisure destinations. And with the internet, business investments also are passing overhead for Hawaii. Crisis develops opportunities. So there may be opportunities here for Hawaii. What must Hawaii do? Welcome to the show, Russell Liu, and welcome Lee Tien-Yu and welcome William Ladd. Russell, would you introduce our guests in Beijing? Yes, good morning, Jay. Good morning, fellow Hawaii Hawaiians out there. I'd like to introduce two special guests this morning. I have Lee Tien-Yu, who goes by the name Irene Lee, and William Ladd, who is from Hawaii. And both of them are students here in Beijing Foreign Studies University. This Lee is a majoring in law, which is an undergraduate curriculum. And Bill is majoring in international business, and he's in his third year of business school here. All right. So let's talk about what this all means. I mean, Hawaii has to do something. Hawaii cannot expect to receive the same government funding as it has before. Tourism is a great solution. Hawaii is not, in my view, and I think in your view also, Russell, Hawaii has not really attended to cultivating and developing tourism from China. So what's missing from the recipe and what can we do now to make it better? Well, we have two guests here today. We're going to talk about something very important, and it's about global education, global learning, understanding cultures where this opens opportunities to global business. And this is something solely missed in Hawaii and the United States. And first I'm going to ask a question of Bill Ladd here, who's from Hawaii, and he's going to explain his experiences when he first got here and what kind of doors have opened up here that he foresees the future. Bill, why don't you tell us, how did you get here? Sure. Well, I was born and raised in Hawaii. I went to HBA and made a Punahou school. However, in 2008, when my father was flying for Loha Airlines, Loha Airlines went out of business, went bankrupt, and so my family needed to seek for new opportunities elsewhere. And we landed in China. We went to Shenzhen, China, and my father started flying for Shenzhen Airlines. It was at that point that our journey into China really began. When we first got here, we didn't know any Mandarin. So I figured since I was the young man of the family, I needed to go out and do my best and take advantage of this opportunity. And so that's what I did. I did my best to learn Mandarin, and here I am now, 2017, at Bay Y. Alright, that's the question, Bill. Are there many American students here in Chinese University studying business? Not so many. I just know one other person, a man from Seattle. And so where are most of the students from? You're studying international global business. Where are they from? Most students are actually from Africa, Europe, Latin America, Russia, Central Asia, places like that. We don't really have many American students. So that's very interesting. Not many American students, but tell me about how to converse with students from Africa and Europe if they don't speak English. Actually, that's a rather common place of currents. A lot of these students when they come here, their English is not really at comfortable level for them. And the lingua franca here, when that doesn't happen, is Mandarin Chinese. And that happens on a daily basis. And that's my experience, too. Coming here, when I meet the lawyers and judges from Africa, Central America, Europe, and Korea, I end up speaking Mandarin. That's how we converse. So it's interesting how language is used here. Tell us, how do you foresee that opening opportunities for you? Well, not only can language just make you friends in the sense that just by saying hello to people in their own language, that really gets a smile out of them and makes them trust you all that bit more. But it can also open the way for business opportunities. Starting with friendship, you can then move on to business networks, and those business networks can extend across the globe. So that means global business. And I'll turn the question to Ms. Irene Lee. So, Irene, what do you study here at BFU, Beijing Court of State University? I'm actually currently studying, like, double major degree. It's English and law at the same time. So how are you, Irene, you are back years old. And so have you studied red American cases? Have you studied American law? Yeah, we have towards contracts and the introduction to common law, right here. Like, normally it's like one or two courses every semester in the U.S. system. And we have learned so many famous cases such as Roe v. Wade and Paul's Graph case. How about Roe v. Wade? Roe v. Wade. Because here abortion is not that big of an issue here, but it really broadens our horizon and makes it really shed light on us that whether it's pro-life or pro-choice, whether women have the freedom to choose whether she's going to have an abortion or not. So that's fantastic. I'm hearing from a Chinese student who is not even in a U.S. law school and undergraduate law course being able to talk and analyze like a Western person. So it's very interesting. And speaking about the global, you speak English very well. Tell me how do you learn English? Like everybody else here, I started learning English from ever since elementary school. But I don't know, I just, ever since I was a little child, I really loved learning languages. And I think the secret of learning English well is not to just take it like for a test. I think I really enjoy speaking English all the time to talking to different people from all around the world. I think that's what got me here today. Let me ask this question to both of you. True or false? Chinese young people travel abroad. Yeah, definitely, yes. And do you see that as a very significant trend? Where have you gone to travel? You're 19 years old. And where have you visited? What countries have you been to? I've been to Hawaii and Israel and Thailand. Fantastic. And Israel, why did you go to Israel? I went to Israel because back in high school we had this opportunity of an exchange program. So I signed up, got enrolled and that's what I went to Israel. So when you got to travel abroad, did you get a chance to use your English? Yeah, of course, because we don't speak Hebrew, so the only way we can communicate with those host families and the Israeli students is through English. So I see a common thing here, where through language you're able to communicate. You're able to go to another culture. You're able to do business. You're able to communicate. And so is that something that's going to be important in your future for English and Chinese? Yeah, absolutely. In my case it's not just important, it's essential. Because of my Mandarin skills, I was able to land an internship at the World Bank. And in that time I utilized my knowledge of finance as well as my knowledge of Mandarin to study climate change finance and try to help China overcome the pollution. That's fantastic because when I went to school in the U.S. college, I never had those opportunities. So I see that in today's world we are much more integrated globally and you need to have a certain skill and so I see this as being a language. Absolutely. And tell me something. I'm just curious for our audience. We're curious about Chinese students. I mean tell us true or false. How many students study part of the U.S. students? True. How many hours a day do you study? Normally I have six to eight hours of classes each day and besides the classes I also have assignments for each and every subject. So how many courses do you take this semester? This semester is pretty heavy loaded and for me I take 16 courses every week. My god. And each course lasts two hours. And we'll have a two. I take six to eight courses. Okay. I'm just curious now in terms of the language capability what do you see as the advantage of learning language and someday you plan to go back to the U.S.? Absolutely. I want to return to Hawaii as soon as I can. I miss it. But one thing that could really help Hawaii is learning Mandarin. Mandarin of all languages opens the door to one-seventh of the world's population. And for example Shenzhen where I first moved to in China has five million people. That's five times the state of Hawaii all in one city. And just by speaking their language you can open doors to new friends and business relationships. And let me add to that. It's a big phenomenon because Chinese students are going abroad to study. In 2014 alone over 300,000 students went abroad to the U.S. pumped in $10 billion in economy. For example the small Iowa city was receiving $10 million because of students just going to that city. Just alone to study. Imagine what it can do for other places like Hawaii for example. And alone in 2016 we had over half a million Chinese students going abroad to two places. United States and UK. So it's a fantastic opportunity for the U.S. Jay do you have any questions to ask? Yeah absolutely. I'm talking so much. You guys are there over the last couple of years. You're in school. You're observing the way China is moving and everyone knows. Russell can tell you that China is moving faster all the time. And it's not really directly related to its economy. The fact is that China is becoming more global. I think we're going to find that out in the meeting between Xi Jinping and Donald Trump in a few days. We're going to find out how very sophisticated China is about global development and exerting and increasing global influence on many many places in the world. So where do you see it going for you? In your case Irene you're studying law. You've seen other countries. You've seen the development of the rule of law to a certain extent in China. And for you, well you come from Hawaii you understand the relationship of a little wee place like Hawaii and Asia Pacific and a huge place like China and you're studying international relations. So I guess my question is, you know, we have a confluence. We have an intersection. We have China becoming more internationally oriented and we have Hawaii which may or may not have an international view of the world. And what is that intersection like for you? How do you see China developing? How do you see Hawaii developing? How do you see yourself developing at the intersection where maybe you could help participate in the connection? Okay, let's talk to you Irene first. So for me I think it's starting to become a trend that so many Chinese students are studying abroad in the US and we really value the education there and we really love to learn about the US culture and I think US and China is getting more and more integrated and we are more and more westernized somehow and I think it's a really great opportunity for Chinese to actually see the outside world break the stereotypes the shackles that is from the old society and it really broadens the horizon of the people here and brings so much opportunities I think. Yeah, what can China do for Hawaii and what can Hawaii do for China Irene and what can you do to make that happen? How to change Hawaii? I think there are so many communications so many business going on for example I went to Hawaii on a debate tournament which the HPU invited us to participate in and I think being in a place is so much different than learning about some place on a textbook or on a video or by interviewing a person because getting immersed in the environment breaks so many stereotypes and it has shed so much light on you that this place is how this place really is and for me being in Hawaii really it really broadens my experience in life and makes me really understand the local culture there and I think there are similar cases going on nowadays many of my friends they have exchange programs in the US also Hawaii included and I think that's really a game changer for everyone here so what I see I read what you're saying is just the actual face to face medium cultures can slowly change a place change perceptions and make people want to engage each other socially, business wise and so it seems to me and I'm going to toss that question now to Will and because he's from Hawaii so maybe he can give another thought to fellow Hawaiians how language changes and understanding culture changes create a foundation for business well on that note being from Hawaii and proud of it in Hawaii a lot of people come over there for tourism and we do have the most beautiful area in the world and we should be proud of that but one way we could really take advantage of our historical western and eastern relationship in the fact that we are the crossroads between the two civilizations we can take advantage of that by learning the language and if we learn the language we can start to provide this business environment not just tourist environment to the expanding Chinese economy which needs to go outside and invest and as we heard from Irene the Chinese love the US they want to invest in the US so why not give them that portal give them that doorway in Hawaii by learning their language and making it even more attractive for Chinese investors so it sounds like what Hong Kong did for the westerners to be the portal to get into China in the early years how they benefited by being the portal gatekeeper so it seems to me Jay that what I'm hearing is through language we need to build a foundation infrastructure and we have a lot of language understanding Russell that's easier said than done isn't it I mean it's not easy to learn Mandarin and I commend you Will on your language skills by the way Irene I commend you on your language skills also you're very good on English you're very good with English in any event take the average young person in Hawaii he has not been in an international business school the likelihood is he has not traveled not only to China but he has not traveled to Asia and you would like him to learn Mandarin will he do that how would he do that how will you encourage him to do that how should the government encourage him how should Russell encourage him to do that it isn't easy to learn Mandarin I'll just add to it at the age of an old age at the middle age I came here I didn't have no language, no culture, no friends, no family I parachuted to Beijing and it's been a 14 year honeymoon I can go to the grocery store I can speak Chinese on a dating level I can buy my groceries I can function in society I can bargain in Chinese so I say it can be done but I'm going to ask Will to question this Will maybe not so much in tune with Hawaii News Will, what do you think about this there's a school in Hawaii called Marinal that is now starting an immersion program in Mandarin, kindergarten to second grade what do you think about that that's great, that's the way to do it because you know what when I was coming here I was only 15 I felt that if I learned some Mandarin in Hawaii that would have made the process that much simpler because when I came here I only knew Spanish and Latin from Punahou but when you started learning Mandarin did it open other portals to you other languages? Absolutely I mean learning Mandarin and after learning how to write the traditional characters that are used in Chinese were also used by the Japanese that were brought over during the Tang Dynasty so I can read the kanji of Japanese you know Russell I have a I have a god son who married a Filipino woman from Hong Kong and they had some kids and they live in Portland now although he has a business in Hong Kong and this Filipino woman decided that she wanted her children to learn Mandarin and there was no place in Portland where they could do that so she got some money I guess federal money, state money and she created a charter school and the charter school is built around an immersion course in Mandarin and you have kids there in Portland, Oregon doing immersion and they're not necessarily Chinese now they're all hapahaui, all that they are learning Mandarin in Portland in an immersion course and I agree with you Will that immersion is the best way to learn any foreign language but especially Mandarin you have to do it all day and the question I put to you was how do we achieve that in Hawaii because I don't think we'll be able to enjoy this international connection this international opportunity I agree with you unless we speak Mandarin how do you create an immersion course in Hawaii outside of Punahou outside of HPA outside of Iolani in the ordinary course in the ordinary student how do we do that? Well, let me ask Will this question because we said except Mario except Punahou but there's a new trend happening once other schools start to define a different way to do it Mario started with an immersion program Kato's second grade and I've just learned Iolani is building a new campus for international students trying to attract Chinese students what do you think about that beautiful idea as you said sir, immersion is the best way and that's how I learned Mandarin so applying that to Hawaii through Chinese students is the perfect way to do it that provides the immersion and the environment as best as you can get but keep in mind it also requires individual effort on the student as well as their families to try and encourage that sort of growth in language learning capacity so it's also we talked about exchanges in Irene you've learned English by immersing yourself in culture so what did you do in China how did you become so conversing in English so fluent? I have so many foreign friends from all around the world and we communicate in English and also when I went to Israel I was so astonished that many of the Israeli kids they can speak 5 or 6 languages they have to study Hebrew as their mother tongue and they study Arabic and they study English of course and besides those 3 languages they also have optional courses such as Spanish, Russian, Chinese and like friends like many of them speak 5 or 6 languages on average it just like blows my mind and when I ask them isn't it hard to understand all those languages they say that they really enjoy learning languages and they don't see learning a new language as a burden to them instead they see it as an opportunity as something really valuable to them that can bring them so many benefits and I think that's one of the secrets why the Jewish population is so successful nowadays I think learning a language is not that hard because with the development of technology it's easy for one for example you can just type how to learn English on YouTube and you can get a video on how to learn the basic grammar or basic vocabulary there's a world as a way and especially in modern times when everything becomes so easy and so accessible so I think learning Chinese may not be that difficult compared to foreign now suppose I do this here in a school maybe a language school maybe a high school or a college and I become conversational in Mandarin and I also I've watched this show I've watched you guys I've watched Russell I listened to you and I say gee I have to use my Mandarin I have to go to China so I take off I get on a plane I go to China I go to Beijing I get right there in the room with you what can you do for me in terms of getting me placed in a job with my Mandarin do I have a career can somebody help me what would I do it's interesting that you bring that with your skills as a lawyer understanding law and your excellent command of English you'll probably be very highly sought to work with maybe some of the Chinese state-owned enterprises that are going abroad we're seeing a phenomenon because many Chinese companies are going abroad so we'll probably hire you as first a teacher you'll teach a contract course in a state-owned enterprise then they'll hear it in English and then they'll understand oh you speak Chinese as you improve your Chinese you become trusted you're working with the CEO and the management team on how to go abroad so there's infinite possibilities but I think the most important thing is you have to start this crossroad with language culture when you both share language and culture you come to a crossroad where you can share a friendship and have a shared vision don't forget food by the way don't forget food Russell don't forget food yes food and I'm sure that many Americans coming here will find the Chinese food it's probably a lot different than in the US one last question I have to ask you guys so Irene and Will at some point you're going to finish school Irene you're going to finish you're going to have a law degree maybe you'll want to take a master's who knows what and Will you're going to finish international studies you're going to understand international studies which to me is so important and well positioned what will you do if anything to come to Hawaii what role do you see in building the bridge is there a bridge to be built Russell feels there is is there a bridge to be built and how will you guys as a lawyer and as someone skilled in international relations how will you participate in building the bridge building the bridge that is the challenge of the future well how I would do it would be we already have so many Chinese tourists coming over to Hawaii and on Hawaiian Airlines unfortunately there's no business class in the aircraft from Beijing to Hawaii and one way we could encourage them to change that to provide that business class to encourage the business seeking class to come from China to Hawaii would be to as Russell said start learning the language and open the door literally using the language is building the bridge and when you're building that bridge then the rest of it falls into place you start getting more materials you start getting more capital coming in just because of the language the door that is essentially the blueprint for the bridge Irene how do you feel about this so Irene how do you feel about this personally I'm going to study in US law school for my the JD program and I think there are so many people nowadays they want to expand their business in foreign soil but just because they don't know the local culture or they don't speak the language they're afraid of doing so because they might get into trouble and they don't know how to solve it I think studying law is actually helping me to actually help them in the future because when they are getting into some trouble or in a last two I can just because I know that US culture and Chinese culture I can combine those two and actually help them to deal with the situations they are in and with that like afraid mentality gone I think it will be so much easier for anyone to invest or to expand their business in foreign soil and I think international law it's like so important nowadays and they are like really in desperate demand I hope you join us again Irene we want to talk more about international law but for now I'm going to ask Russell to close Russell you're the co-host this is your opportunity to close you have one minute I've said this for about 20-30 years we need to make Hawaii familiar to the Chinese and the tourists are coming but what we're doing to wrapping up capabilities we need to have more language we need to have more Hawaiians being able to speak Mandarin it opens culture, friendships if we did it with the Japanese we can do with the Chinese the second largest economy in the world we need to get out to the global standard we need to get up in the global stream of doing business this is the only way to do it as you say the best way that Hawaii can remain relevant is to learn the language and stay in touch with China and I hope that in our lifetimes we will see a great bridge and we're looking to you two guys you two charming guys Irene Lee and Will Ladd to help us do that we're counting on you we want to talk to you again thank you so much Russell thank you Irene thank you Will Aloha