BRIAN WONG

Brian Wong is an entrepreneur and innovator whose career has spanned e-commerce, education, and digital media. He was the first American and 52nd employee to join Alibaba Group in 1999; today, he is the founder and chairman of RADII (www.radiichina.com), a leading digital media company dedicated to bridging understanding between youth in the East and West.

Show notes:

3:30 Third-generation American-born Chinese, whose family was among the earliest group of Chinese immigrants
5:10 The different periods and different types of Chinese people who immigrated to America
7:40 How policy and war shaped the future of immigrants
9:50 The experience of Chinese immigrants searching for their cultural roots
12:11 First impressions of the motherland
16:10 Different immigrant experiences and influences on identity
22:30 Early aspiration to achieve the greatest good for the greatest number of people possible
30:00 The first time meeting Jack Ma and Joe Tsai
33:00 How Alibaba started and became what it is today
41:54 Requirements of being special assistant to Jack Ma
45:20 Upcoming book ‘The Tao of Alibaba’
47:200 Reasons for creating a media platform that covers China
51:50 The state of American media and the China threat narrative