Pan Qingzhong: the caretaker for future global leader

In what sounds like the beginning of an unlikely adventure story, Pan Qingzhong started his first trip to the Big Apple with 30 U.S. dollars in his pocket. After moving to the United States, Pan earned a Master's degree, married the woman he loves, and started a family. He also started a company that he floated on the stock exchange.

Pan Qingzhong, Executive Dean of Schwarzman College of Tsinghua University, takes an interview from China Plus. [Photo: China Plus]

Life was good. But that didn't stop him from making the decision to return to his alma mater Tsinghua University. What was it about China that drew him back? Pan shared his story with China Plus for our new series "Deep Dive: Talks with Chinese Internationals".

You can also find the shows on Apple Podcasts.

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A Caretaker for Future Global Leaders

by Manling, host of China Plus

You’ll find a lot of details about Pan Qingzhong’s background online, because of his role in helping to establish and lead Tsinghua University’s Schwarzman Scholars Program, which is part of the university's new centennial plan and one of its most high-profile programs. But there’s nothing about his personal life, so before we turned the camera on, I suggested that some soft questions and personal stories were a good way to catch the listener’s ears. And with that, we slipped into a lengthy but fruitful talk that lasted almost two hours. His English is better than I had expected, admittedly having prejudged it from the one video I could find of him delivering a speech. It wasn’t what I’d call an eloquent performance, but it was definitely expressive.

When Pan was a young adult, he followed the herd when it came to his education, summed up by the slogan at the time: “Study math, physics, and chemistry, and you’ll never fear to travel to any part of the world (学会数理化走遍天下都不怕).” He got himself enrolled in a bachelor’s degree at Tsinghua University majoring in applied mathematics and computer science. He switched his focus to economics for his master’s degree, and finance for his Ph.D. degrees, both of which he also did at Tsinghua University. China was desperately in need of talent in these fields as it steered itself away from a planned economy towards a market-based one. Pan is lucky, as he proved capable of shifting into these in-demand majors. Many members of his generation struggled to change track after the reform and opening up started and they were faced with the task of creating opportunities for themselves in the new boom economy.

Pan Qingzhong, Executive Dean of Schwarzman College of Tsinghua University, takes an interview from China Plus. [Photo: China Plus]

Pan’s decision to go abroad to study was in line with the growing trend at the time for high performers. It was also a pragmatic decision for more personal reasons. When I asked him whether he had any regrets in life, he answered, "The only thing I regret in life is that I started to date girls too late." Tsinghua has always been a paradise for men, who tend towards science and engineering majors over the humanities and liberal arts. But it means opportunities for romance on campus are slim; clever boys often go to neighboring Peking University, which is stronger in the humanities and social sciences, to look for a date. Pan was lucky to have found his other half there, where she was majoring in Spanish language and literature. She pressured him to gain experience studying overseas. He relented, and chose to pursue a master's degree in economic systems engineering at Stanford University. Pan arrived in the United States with only $30 in his pocket, the maximum amount that a Chinese mainlander was allowed to carry out of China.

The taxi fare used up $18 of those dollars, and he used what he had left to survive until he could earn an income.

Besides money, he also needed to be able to speak English. But whenever he opened his mouth, nobody understood him, and when people spoke to him, he understood them just as well. At first, his exam results reflected his English level. Any spare moment outside of class was spent earning money and practicing English. It was a steep learning curve, but after two years he got his master's degree. He decided not to return home to China – salaries in the United States were about 20 times what they were on the Chinese mainland, and that was too much of a temptation to resist. He settled down, had a daughter, and enjoyed the conveniences that a modern and wealthy society had to offer.