Ann Liu, China Prep Director of Program Administration in China

Ann is a Shanghai native and has worked in a range of consumer industries from import-export to qualitative research for leading international companies.  She has produced a number of ethnographic films focusing on the challenges and triumphs of modern China. 

You were born in Shanghai, and you say you were at the bottom of your English class in high school.  When did you get serious about learning English?

When I was in college.

Why did you suddenly devote so much time to studying it?

Partly personal reasons, but I think the main reason was the pressure to find a job after school. 

How has learning English changed your life in China?

I can talk to a lot of people from different backgrounds, experiences, and cultures from all over the world and I am able to read a lot of articles from different point of views.  And all these different information about the world, life, and people make me think differently and inevitably change the way I view things as well as do things.  Changed my life, for sure!

You worked on a Chinese documentary film that brought five teens from rural areas to Shanghai to learn hip-hop.  How did the teens react to this experience?

Hip-hop make these kids understand life, learn to grow.  And one of the kids told me, “If there is no hip-hop, I will be on the street or even in the jail now.”

Did the show lead to new opportunities for any of the teens, or did they all return to their rural lives?

This show definitely gave every kid something useful: they grew up with this program.  They made friends and also learned a lot.  I heard one of the kids was accepted by one of the top high schools in Qingdao.  They still call me or message me sometimes, even their parents.  One sponsor was interested in one of the kids to become the brand ambassador to the young consumers. 

What did their parents think of their experience?

When these parents saw their kids grown up as an adult in terms of mentally and emotionally, they are very happy and changed their original, resistant thinking.  

Do urban parents and rural parents have different views of hip-hop and other youth trends?

	Ann with a young student in Inner Mongolia.  The girl’s drawing was inspired by the trees Ann planted with Roots and Shoots.

I think so.  Even kids have different concepts of hip-hop.  But overall, urban parents are more towards accepting hip-hop style of clothing, music.  Rural parents, I will say, don’t really know or understand it yet. 

How would you describe the relationship between Chinese high school students and their parents?

They both have one goal: to have better score at the final exam to get into better college.  And all other things are served under this purpose.  To help the kid to get better score is the major relationship they have.

Chinese parents like to watch Korean soap operas.  What do you think is the appeal?

The fundamental fact I think is these shows give people emotional balance.  They can find so many emotional moments in the show and they will laugh and cry with these show.  People needs emotional expression, but in China are not too expressive in terms of the emotional side.

One of the projects you have worked on was a video on Tibet.  What did you discover in your travels there?

The sky and the water can be so, so, so blue for real.  And the people can be so environment friendly.  For example, they use the yak fur as the waterproof tent material and yak poo can use to build a wall and fire fuel to boil the water.  

As China becomes more powerful, do you think young people will take a leadership role in preserving the environment?

Ann (third from left) after planting 2,000 trees with Roots and Shoots in Inner Mongolia.

Young people definitely will become the leadership role of preserving the environment.   I won’t say every young people will become the fighter, but young people are the hope and the powerful source for taking the task in China.

Have you seen recent changes taking place in young people’s attitudes or actions towards preserving the environment?

Yes.  More and more people, not only young people, start realizing the environment problems and taking some actions to change the old way of doing things.  I am not sure they act on everyday.  But they all know the problems.  And some are trying hard to put on the actions. And some are less involved.  But overall, more and more actions are being taken by the people and government.  

How do the lives of young people in Shanghai today differ from the lives of their parents?

Totally different.  Much more resources than the parents’ generation.   All the aspects of lives are kind of different.  They also have different styles of clothes, cell phones, computers, and access to English education programs.   But one goal again for all the parents, since when they were young, they don’t have the good education, and right now the only thing they expect from their kid is to pass the college exam and go to the good college.  

What do you and your friends in Shanghai do for fun?

	Ann sporting an army coat at a shop in Shanghai.

Karaoke, shopping, play cards, online gaming.  Travel sometimes, if the money situation allows.

What are the aspirations of young women like you who are living and working in Shanghai?

Have a job I like with good pay and have a boyfriend I like with good money. Very honest answer!

Copyright 2007. Interview conducted by Heather Clydesdale.

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Tibetans
Manchus
Naxi
Mongols

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Buddhism
Confucianism
Daoism

China is a country of immense variety in its terrain and geography. Explore:
China's Cities Introductions to fifteen of China's most important cities
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Prep Talk: Hear from China Prep team members who give American students a first-hand look at today’s China:
Meet Brantley: Discovering China through Youth
Meet Ann: Approaching China through the Generation Gap
Meet Joshua: Unmasking China through Theater
Meet Adina: Uncovering China through Rural Life
Meet Samm: Exploring China through the Experiences of Migrant Workers

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Qingdao 青岛 : A large, industrious, seaport city in northeast China.