Interview Series

At UCBRC, we interview scholars and professionals in the field of cross-cultural collaboration and share their inspiring stories with our global audience to promote more understanding between people from the U.S., China, and around the world.

Culture, Education Jackson Barkstrom Culture, Education Jackson Barkstrom

Cultural diplomacy and heritage preservation: An Interview with Brian Linden

In this interview, we discuss with Brian how he became interested in China and what motivated him to set up the Linden Centre. We expand the discussion to talk about China's current cultural diplomatic efforts and how the world perceives China. We conclude our interview by probing into the implications of living and working in China on Brian's identity and having him give advice to young people who hope to contribute to more international cultural exchange.

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Identity, Non-profit, Culture, Arts, Entrepreneurship Jackson Barkstrom Identity, Non-profit, Culture, Arts, Entrepreneurship Jackson Barkstrom

Love and Crossover: A Dialogue with Gabby Gabriel

In this interview, Gabby first shares with us her experience as an American living in China. She talks about how her view towards the city of Shanghai has changed over the past eight years and how she begins to record her everyday life with her camera and poetry. As an active member and influencer in the Shanghai LGBTQ community, Gabby also provides some valuable insights on the development of the community in both China and the United States. Finally, Gabby shares her motivation for founding a local startup to help foreign companies integrate into the Chinese market and talks about some exciting stories during this process.

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Jackson Barkstrom Jackson Barkstrom

Friendship and Friendshipology: Interview with Billy Lee

In today’s interview, Billy Lee shares his thoughts on the importance of global friendship and cross-cultural bonding, along with advice on how to establish these cross-cultural bonds. As an individual who has worked and participated in different projects connected with friendship, Billy tries to promote mutual understanding and tolerance with an emphasis on positivity and goodness of the self and others. The Friendshipology website is one of Billy’s valuable projects where he helps share meaningful stories and insights about friendship with the world.

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