Boston International Business School
(BIBS)
World Speakers Forum
Flushing, New York
By Dr. Jeannie Yi, New York
I. BIBS Hosts a Successful New York
World Speakers Forum
On the evening of September 21, 2026,
Boston International Business School
(BIBS) held its New York World
Speakers Forum at the Four Points by
Sheraton Flushing. Guests from business,
education, technology, the arts, and the
media gathered to share their
entrepreneurial journeys, professional
insights, and reflections on life.
For me, it was an evening of familiar
faces, fresh perspectives, and
stimulating ideas. Professor Gloria
Rong Liya, BIBS co-founder and
executive dean, has been my friend for
more than twenty years. Over those
years, we have pursued careers in
different fields and witnessed one
another’s growth. Our paths have taken
us from Beijing to New York, Boston,
California, and Dubai. Our conversations
have expanded from our respective work
in finance, law, and real estate to
education, business, and the choices
that will shape our lives in the age of
AI.
These are the stories of the first and
second halves of our lives, each
enriching the other. As we continue
forward alongside our contemporaries, we
also hope to help the generations coming
after us.
The international platform Professor
Rong has helped build brings
together people from different
professions and cultural backgrounds.
Entrepreneurs can hear scholars’
perspectives; artists can learn about
business practice; and younger people
can discover the long years of
exploration and perseverance, along with
a little luck,
that often precede success.
The venue also felt especially
welcoming. George Xu, founder of
New York’s Century Development Group,
and Lily are good friends of ours. From
real estate development to hotel
operations, George has spent years
building his business in New York,
turning projects into places people can
see, enter, and experience. Rooted in
Flushing, these spaces gave friends a
place to gather and exchange ideas that
evening.
Dr. Zhao Yunlong served as
co-chair of the event. He is also a
founding co-chair of the World
Collectors Alliance and a mutual
friend of many of us. His presentation,
“From Fighting to Strategy,” began with
a childhood defeat and offered a vivid
opening to the evening’s discussions
about careers and life.
I arrived with my own experiences and
questions. From the university classroom
to Wall Street, from writing The Haier
Way to working in film and television,
every transition has required me to
learn again. Today, AI presents us with
new possibilities: How can we draw on
our experience without being confined by
our former identities as humans and
machines work ever more closely
together?
In that room, I encountered many
different answers,
each compelling in its own way.
II. Old Friends, New Friends, and
Sparks of Ideas
You can know someone for years and still
discover something new when you sit down
and truly listen to their story. Zhao
Yunlong’s
“From Fighting to Strategy” was one such
story.
He grew up in Ordos, Inner Mongolia.
Wrestling and fighting were part of
childhood life, but he was smaller and
physically weaker than other children
and often came out the worse for it. At
fourteen, after losing a fight, a
teacher told him: If physical strength
is not your advantage, you should study
strategy.
That sentence changed the way he saw
himself.
Later, Romance of the Three Kingdoms and
The Art of War opened a new world to
him. He began to understand the power of
wisdom, foresight, and judgment,
gradually applying these ideas to his
education, entrepreneurship, and
international exchanges.
Listening to him, I thought about the
difference education can make in a
person’s life. A child saw his
shortcomings in defeat; a teacher helped
him recognize abilities he had not yet
discovered.
Zhao spoke about knowing yourself
and the other side, acting when there is
an advantage and stopping when there is
none, and winning without fighting. For
anyone who has experienced the ups and
downs of a career, these principles
carry practical weight. Knowing when to
advance, when to wait, and when to
choose another path requires judgment.
Strategy in life ultimately reveals
itself in how we spend our limited time
and energy.
Dr. Jeff Ye Lingyu’s masterclass
on collecting turned our attention
toward a much longer history. A good
friend of mine, he is also dean of the
BIBS Institute of Art and Management and
co-founder of the International
Institute of Art Assets. His interests
have long encompassed porcelain, jade,
ancient glass, and bronze. Through our
conversations, I have increasingly come
to see collecting as a discipline
connecting art, materials, and history.
Behind every object lies an earlier
generation’s understanding of beauty and
mastery of technology. Where did the
materials come from? How were they
transformed by fire? Why did the makers
choose these patterns and forms?
Following such questions leads us into a
world far richer than price alone.
“Let the objects speak” is a principle
he has long valued.
Understanding them requires patient
observation, historical knowledge, and
evidence. Ye’s engineering background
informs his emphasis on combining
aesthetic appreciation with the study
and testing of materials. His approach
reminded many in the audience that
collectors and researchers alike must
remain willing to learn, compare, and
reconsider their judgments when new
evidence emerges.
Zhao Yunlong explored how a
person finds direction in life. Ye
Lingyu invited us to consider how we
understand the civilizations that came
before us. From different starting
points, both addressed questions of
understanding and judgment.
Other guests added further dimensions to
the conversation. Among them was Dr.
Wang Pingxin, CEO and chairman of
Varsal.
He moved from chemistry research into
entrepreneurship, translating
specialized knowledge into products and
a business. The event materials
introduced his company’s plans to go
public. What interested me most were the
more than thirty years behind those
plans: How does research reach the
market? How does a scientist take on the
responsibility of running a company? His
company is scheduled to ring the bell at
Nasdaq and go public next week.
Architect Raymond Chan has
devoted many years to architectural
design and real estate development. His
experience reminded me that good design
must balance beauty, function, cost, and
long-term use. A space must ultimately
serve people’s lives, just as a business
must respond to real people and their
needs. This helps explain the strong
buyer interest already surrounding the
modern apartment building he recently
completed designing in Flushing.
Media professional, director, and
producer Joseph Cirnigliaro,
together with attorney and former New
York City Council member Allan W.
Jennings, Jr., brought experience in
media, law, and public affairs. They not
only hosted the evening but also shared
lessons from their own lives. Their
open, professional, and punctual
approach kept the program moving. People
from different professions could examine
the same question from different
perspectives, share their knowledge
freely,
and connect learning with practice.
Three media figures also deserve special
recognition:
Ji Xiaohua of U.S. Wall Street TV, “First Live,” and
Mary Yang.
In the age of AI, each person’s phone
can become a source of audience reach
and engagement. The cost of taking and
sharing photographs has fallen to almost
nothing, while AI makes organizing,
translating, and producing content
easier. Yet showing up, listening
carefully, and conveying people’s
meaning accurately still require someone
who cares.
Ji Xiaohua, “First Live,”
and Mary Yang are precisely such
people. Across countries, communities,
and ethnic groups, they champion what is
good, stand against wrongdoing, and tell
meaningful stories about Chinese
people—stories that both Chinese and
American audiences want to hear.
Watching them work tirelessly throughout
the event, I thought about how
individuals, communities, and cultures
continue to grow across generations,
centuries, and even millennia.
Professional experience can become a new
starting point, and a personal interest
can develop into influential work. But
caring for others and looking beyond our
own interests remain the foundation on
which we, as Chinese people living
overseas, build our lives and our place
in society.
III. On the Eve of a U.S.–China
Summit,
the Meaning of People-to-People Dialogue
As this forum took place, U.S.–China
relations were once again drawing
international attention. Media reports
indicated that President Xi Jinping
and President Donald Trump would
soon meet in Washington. How the two
countries would maintain dialogue and
stabilize their relationship was a
matter of keen interest to business
leaders and society at large.
(Reuters; Associated Press)
With that high-level dialogue
approaching, our gathering at BIBS gave
me an even deeper appreciation of
people-to-people exchanges.
For those of us who have lived in the
United States for many years while
maintaining ties with China, this
relationship is part of everyday work
and life. It affects business
partnerships, students’ education, and
family visits. It also shapes how we
tell one another our stories and explain
our cultures.
That was one reason Diana Peng Dan’s
participation
meant so much to me.
The actress Diana Peng Dan has
been my friend for nearly twenty years.
She came to New York at fourteen to
study at Juilliard. From a young student
abroad, she grew to become chairwoman of
a major multinational group in health
and wellness. Her many roles and
experience across different fields
prompted the scholars, entrepreneurs,
and cultural professionals present to
reflect on how talent, ability, hard
work, and a kind heart can enable a
person to participate more fully in
society and in wider exchanges and
dialogue.
Diana’s gratitude keeps her mindful of
the human dimension of U.S.–China
relations. Artists and cultural
professionals have a real opportunity to
turn an abstract relationship between
nations into personal connections people
can feel, appreciate, and cherish
through stories and direct encounters.
She puts that belief into practice.
Gratitude is at the heart of it.
We need encounters like these. Our
opinions and experiences may differ, but
a willingness to sit down and listen
creates room for understanding. Film is
one form of exchange I particularly
cherish.
Under Chairman Tang He’s
leadership, the Golden Statuette
International Film Festival has now
reached its tenth year. According to the
current schedule, its tenth-anniversary
celebration will take place on October
10 at Junhao in Flushing.
Ten years of sustained commitment have
created opportunities for children to
discover film, perform, and walk the red
carpet, while bringing together families
from different backgrounds. As a film
and television producer, Chairman Tang
cares deeply about children’s confidence
in front of the camera. He also cares
about their learning to listen through
collaboration and to understand others
through stories. These experiences can
shape their understanding of the world
and benefit them throughout their lives.
U.S.–China relations matter enormously.
Within that larger relationship, each of
us has practical work we can do: run a
business well, organize a meaningful
exchange, tell a story clearly,
and nurture a friendship.
Looking back on that evening, I remember
Zhao Yunlong’s turning point at
fourteen, Ye Lingyu’s close attention to
ancient objects, and the sight of
friends talking together and raising
their phones
to record the moment.
Friends of more than twenty years and so
many people I had just met—please
forgive me for not being able to recount
each of your journeys and the stories
that touched my heart—shared the same
time and place, offering one another
experience and the light of new ideas.
That is why I wanted to write about this
forum. The world is changing rapidly,
yet one sincere gathering can still help
us understand another person, recognize
another possibility, and create one more
shared memory that we can understand and
call our own. |