In August this year, Shannon Goldsmith was selected to attend the Asia New Zealand Leadership Network’s North Asian Hui in Xi’an, China.
The leadership network is a global professional network aimed at developing and maintaining strong links between New Zealand and Asia. The North Asian ‘Hui’ (hui has a similar meaning in both Māori and Mandarin), consisted of a three-day lecture, discussion, networking and team building conference, with a focus on North Asia.
Guest speakers included Kiwi ex-pat, Jamil Anderlini, Financial Times Beijing Chief de Bureau, who provided an insight into the restrictive nature of China’s communications; John McKinnon, the New Zealand Ambassador to China; and Corey Wallace, Japanese foreign and security policy expert.
The city of Xi’an, with its population of eight million-plus people, was chosen as the backdrop for the hui because of its significance as the start/finish of the original Silk Road and because it symbolically reflects China’s recently announced ‘One Belt One Road’ expansion project.
Xi’an also features China’s famous Terracotta Army and the conference included an excursion to visit the 2,200 year old necropolis. Other highlights in Xi’an, included visits to the Great Mosque, the City Wall and the Muslim Quarter Food Markets.
In addition to the hui, Shannon took time to acclimatise and familiarise himself in Beijing where he frequented the more popular tourist haunts of the Forbidden City, Tiananmen Square, Wangfujing Snack Street and the Juyongguan Pass section of the Great Wall.
“In all it was a fantastic opportunity to immerse myself in a non-western culture and to gain a greater understanding of the waking dragon, which will play an increasingly important role on the international stage,” says Shannon.
Shannon eating a tarantula at Wangfujing Snack Street.
Shannon on the Great Wall of China.