How to build a "private window" for exchanges between Britain and China? ——Exclusive interview with Lisa Teng, co-CEO of the British “Chopstick Club”

China News Service, London, October 4th. Question: How to build a "private window" for exchanges between Britain and China?

——Exclusive interview with Lisa Teng, co-CEO of the British “Chopstick Club”

China News Service reporter Ouyang Kaiyu

The British non-governmental organization "Chopsticks Club" is committed to promoting cultural exchanges and understanding between China and the UK. Its co-CEO Theresa Booth is a well-known promoter of non-governmental exchanges in the UK. She has been paying attention to the cross-cultural cognitive differences and non-governmental exchanges between China and the UK for more than 40 years. Recently, Lisa Teng accepted an exclusive interview with China News Service's "East-West Question" and talked about how to build a "private window" for Sino-British exchanges.

The interview transcript is summarized as follows:

Reporter from China News Service: The name "Chopsticks Club" is very recognizable. How did it come about? What are the original intentions and core features of the club?

Lisa Teng: The "Chopsticks Club" was founded in 1993. Its original intention was to build a social network for Chinese people who first arrived in the UK and make local friends. For British people who have lived, worked or studied Chinese in China, the club also provides a channel for them to continue their connection with China and make Chinese friends after returning home. Our core feature is that we have 50/50 members from both the UK and China. This is still our advantage that distinguishes us from other China-related organizations.

The club also holds various activities on a regular basis to help members understand China's development trends and deepen their understanding of China. When it was founded, every event would be paired with Chinese meals, which is where the name "Chopsticks Club" came from. The relaxed dining atmosphere allows everyone to communicate freely. In the early years, many business cooperation and cross-border marriages were formed here.

China News Service reporter: Based on your many years of observation, how do ordinary British people understand contemporary China?

Lisa Teng: Only by visiting a country in person and mastering the local language can we truly establish objective understanding. Currently, the number of Chinese tourists visiting the UK is higher than the number of British people visiting China. The Chinese are generally fluent in English, but very few British people are proficient in Chinese. As a result, British society's overall understanding of China is still relatively limited.

With the idea of ​​making up for the shortcomings in British society's understanding of China, H-J Colston and I founded the educational charity "Connect China" in 2018, dedicated to popularizing China-related knowledge in British primary and secondary schools. We went to schools to conduct courses and intuitively grasped the current understanding of China among young people aged 5 to 18 years old. A distinctive feature is that younger children have a higher favorable impression of China and a more positive understanding of China. The situation is gradually improving. "Connect China" uses small but solid actions to stimulate young people's curiosity about China and guide them to actively understand and explore the real modern China.

China News Service reporter: What outstanding problems have you encountered in the process of building a non-governmental communication platform?

Lisa Teng: The participants in the "Chopsticks Club" are interested in China, are willing to take the initiative to resolve and understand cultural differences, and have less communication resistance. However, "Connecting China" faces greater challenges. It is very difficult to raise public welfare funds and persuade schools to pay for relevant courses.

At present, corporate budgets continue to be tightened. Compared with public welfare projects such as cancer and mental health, funding communication and popularization work with China is often not listed as a priority by companies. In the same way, schools’ applications for funding to offer Chinese-themed courses and organize study tours to China are often rejected due to funding issues, with schools often treating them as unnecessary additional projects. If we could make the course free, participation would increase dramatically.

China News Service reporter: Which Chinese cultural carriers are most likely to impress ordinary British people and are suitable for local promotion? How does "Chopstick Club" do this?

Lisa Teng: Different Chinese cultural contents are suitable for different audience groups. Chinese historical relics touring exhibitions have a wide audience and are very popular. The special exhibitions of the Terracotta Warriors and Horses held by the British Museum and Liverpool are typical examples; the Spring Festival delicacies and dragon dance activities have a huge audience base, as evidenced by the success of the London New Year Celebration; the Chinese Acrobatic Troupe's tour in the UK can also attract family audiences of all ages...

"Chopsticks Club" has continuously innovated its activity formats over the years to adapt to the needs of different groups of people. Club members are mostly professionals and can only participate in evening activities. We have held English-Chinese bilingual job fairs for recent graduates, business seminars for young entrepreneurs, adult Chinese classes, national online calligraphy classes, talks with authors of new Chinese-themed books, Chinese wine tasting, cooking classes and other activities. In short, we continue to follow up on the changing needs and interests of our members, and at the same time link up with multiple partner organizations to enrich the supply of activities.

China News Service reporter: Youth are the backbone of bilateral exchanges. What do you think of the value of people-to-people interaction between the youth of the two countries? How does "Connect China" do this?

Lisa Teng: "Connecting China" is our core carrier to popularize Chinese knowledge among young people and stimulate interest in China. On the one hand, we visit primary and secondary schools across the UK and carry out special "China Discovery Day" activities to cultivate students' global perspective and curiosity about China; on the other hand, we set up special scholarships to help British teenagers go to many international schools in China to complete the last two years of high school. Since its launch in 2023, this project has sent nearly 60 British students to China. We look forward to this group of young people becoming civilian envoys of relations between the two countries in the future.

We also collaborated with British and Chinese schools to hold an online annual climate change conference. The event required participants not to speak from their own country’s perspective in order to understand the climate challenges faced by all countries. In addition, in recent years, we have continued to open summer study camps in the UK, and launched university preparatory study tours, English-specific study and other projects for Chinese students.

China News Service reporter: In your opinion, compared with official communication channels, what role can non-governmental exchanges play in international relations? Currently, China and the UK are developing a long-term and stable comprehensive strategic partnership. What are your prospects for people-to-people exchanges between the two countries?

Lisa Teng: Official diplomacy is an interaction between governments based on the strategies and interests of each country; while exchanges between people and business circles can break each other's stereotypes and inherent prejudices from a more nuanced perspective, allowing both sides to see commonalities, and are an indispensable part of bilateral relations.

Interactions between people are based on long-term trust, common interests and sincere friendship. Sometimes even if bilateral relations become cold, people-to-people ties of friendship are still maintained. Nowadays, social media has become popular and cross-border communication has become more convenient. Non-governmental friendship does not depend on the political situation. The core lies in the common emotions and life pursuits of human beings.

China has rich development achievements and unique culture. In many British universities and international schools, young British and Chinese students study together, forming sincere friendships and exchanging knowledge. Relying on such people-to-people ties, I firmly believe that the relationship between the two countries has a bright future.