Whether you have already locked in an internship, are still cranking out applications, or are hoping to get a peek into the places your Asian Studies degree can take you, you’ve come to the right place! In this year’s Alumni Features series, Beyond the Books, join us in exploring career possibilities and advice from folks who were once in your shoes!
In this installment, we’ll hear from Richard, who graduated with a major in Asian Area Studies in 1993. He currently works as a Senior Advisor for Panda North America.
Skip to:
- What did you study at UBC and what do you do now?
- What has been your favourite or most memorable experience in your current position?
- What was your first job after graduation? How have other jobs you held previously lead you to your current position?
- How has your time with Asian Studies helped you in your career?
- What is something you wish you knew or did during your undergrad that would have benefited you post-grad?
- Any final remarks you would like to share?
What did you study at UBC and what do you do now?
My name is Richard N. Liu, and I graduated with a major in East Asian Area Studies. My experience with Asia began when I was quite young, but was only exposed to the notion of Asian Studies after I had gone to Beijing right after high school. I met many international students majoring in Asian Studies at universities from around the world which drew my interest and curiosity.
My interest in Asian Studies peaked when I returned home after June 4, 1989, having been evacuated right from the turmoil that spring. Being exposed to historic moments further galvanized my interest in the Asia Pacific region. That pathway lent itself to my inevitable return to China right after graduating by the fall of 1993, and would provide the most memorable 20+ year career from diplomacy and trade, to the Olympics, Paralympics, Special Olympics, education, and everything in between.
What has been your favourite or most memorable experience in your current position?
I currently advise companies and organizations on trade and cultural exchange in Asia. It’s not glamorous, but perhaps one memorable example was successfully advising a Canadian company to join the City of Burnaby’s municipal trade delegation to South Korea during the Winter Olympics in 2018. With my Games volunteer experience, I was able to liaise with Team Canada to help host our municipal delegation visit, which included athletes taking us around Canada Olympic House, and then treating our delegates to some poutine and Molsen Canadian out on a sundeck on the sunny east coast of Korea. It was a simple gesture, but everyone on the delegation was beaming. To top the day off, we attended an Olympic hockey game as Team Canada played Team Korea for the win, which made it an even more meaningful and an unforgettable start to the trade mission.
What was your first job after graduation? How have other jobs you held previously lead you to your current position?
Interestingly, I landed my first job after graduating from UBC because I happened to know a Canadian working at the Canadian Embassy in Beijing. He was my friend and schoolmate from Peking University just 5 years earlier. He knew of my keen interest in joining Canada’s Department of Foreign Affairs (today’s Global Affairs Canada), so when we reconnected during my return, he simply asked “do you want to work for the Prime Minister?” and I answered with an enthusiastic “yes”! That’s how I ended up as the Media Office Manager for our very first Team Canada Trade Mission to Beijing led by Prime Minister Jean Chrétien in 1994.
I met some interesting people, particularly Canada’s interpreter for our PM, Mr. Jean Duval, also known as “Lao Du”, a French national. This man with a handlebar mustache calling me “Xiao Liu” right off the bat honestly caught me off guard, since he greeted me as a fellow Chinese as a non-Chinese looking person, but it was truly awesome and left a lasting impact. In the following decade, he accompanied our PM during all the official visits or trade missions to China, and I had the sincerest privilege of observing his craft from afar with great admiration on the three major visits that I worked.
How has your time with Asian Studies helped you in your career?
From language to history, Asian Studies gave me the tools I needed for a firmer understanding and appreciation of Asia. My final year gave me a lasting memory on the importance of community building. The Class of 1993 was quite a proactive group in establishing the Asian Studies Undergraduate Society (ASUS) in the Fall of ‘92, with the sole purpose of gathering together our grads via the old landline, while fundraising to cover costs for a legacy graduating class photo—the composite—and making sure it was a good sized one.
For some reason, I ended up as the Grad Committee Director, probably because I had the most time with only 4 courses left to complete. I even recall contributing and donating a bunch of little panda dolls which my father had imported from China for his business. In the end, we raised enough to cover the composite and some of the cost of a graduation dinner, where we unveiled our grad composite with our fellow grads, staff and professors. It had been a team effort from the students, faculty and staff of the Department of Asian Studies, with a show of respect to our teachers and department — and yes, that was a very Asian gesture! It was a truly memorable year, and I am proud that the 1992-1993 Asian Studies Graduation composite still hangs in the halls of our Asian Centre to this day.
What is something you wish you knew or did during your undergrad that would have benefited you post-grad?
To be quite honest, I found out over a decade after graduation that I could have flourished with a career as an international teacher with an additional year at UBC to get an Education degree. One of my work experiences was in the international education sector for a number of years, where I met incredible educators who made it their life’s work to teach around the world. With today’s UBC Asian Studies students, they all have access to Co-Op and Career Nights, so you can take advantage of these tools before graduation. However, I learned very early on that everyone’s career is like a winding road, and is never a straight line.
I also encourage you to create your community, find an organization to volunteer with where you meet new people after work. Volunteering has always been at my core, and it’s always amazing to build and connect with people, and to make a difference in our global and local community. I found the world becomes a much better place when it’s interconnected, and that you somehow become the one who connects others when the time calls. Having been engaged with alumni UBC, I also proudly volunteered as the UBC alumni representative in Beijing from 2007 to 2014, volunteering and engaging our alumni in the region, as well as kickstarting our BC Alumni group for the Canadian Alumni Network in China during the 2008 Summer Olympics. I also had the incredible experience of meeting my hero, Rick Hansen, a fellow UBC alum, during my time with Team Canada at the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics. As a result, I was invited to support his 3-day visit to Beijing the following year to celebrate the 25th anniversary of The Man In Motion World Tour given my knowledge but also the Canadian alumni community I had built. I was so very proud to also honour Mr. Hansen as the Honorary Co-Chair of the Canadian Alumni Network in China, which is now on its 22nd year with volunteers supporting our alumni offices from across Canada in China.
Any final remarks you would like to share?
After graduating, and even after moving back to Canada, I continue to stay connected with my alma mater, which always warmly welcomes me back to campus, like a second home. It’s more than just the cinnamon buns. My time with Asian Studies has resulted in many unexpected positive moments in my own life even decades later. For example, it has been wonderful getting to meet the next generation of alumni, many of whom I’ve had the chance to meet at Asian Studies Career Nights, becoming friends, and getting to watch their own careers flourish, some with various professions related to Asia.
I was surprised and honoured to receive UBC’s Alumni Builder Award in 2019, and earlier this year, I had the distinct honour of becoming one of 30,000 recipients across Canada to receive the King Charles III Coronation Medal as a result of my long standing civic engagement, along with a large number of UBC Alumni that serve their respective communities! Building that connectivity for the next generation is truly a wonderful thing. Tuum est!
Enjoyed this article? Read our other Alumni Features!
