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How the Team of 1990 Institute is Bridging the Gap
Between Cultures
Cultural differences can get extremely complex, especially when it comes to Eastern and Western worlds, whereas essentially we are all people, who care about very similar things in life. The focus on building the knowledge about this common thread between us, lies at the core of the series of the videos, produced by 1990 Institute. Packed into short-form video cliff-notes, these visual bites tell about various aspects of Chinese life that not a lot of people are aware of.
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Dan Chao, Grace Yu, Susana Liu-Hedberg and their team of talented producers and program managers create evergreen video content, encouraging Chinese studies, making this knowledge approachable and balancing serious subjects with edutainment. With people to people approach, the videos help to bridge the gap between two
different cultures.
lifting the fog around china & asian americans
“Equipping our next generation with knowledge about China
is key to understanding the very complex but important relationship with the U.S. ”
Lisa Hsu, Executive Producer
The 1990 Institute
meet the team
>>>
Dan Chao
Lisa Hsu
Sandra Pan
Grace Yu
Lewis Liu
Executive Producer & Vice Chair of 1990 Institute’s Board of Directors
Dan oversees the content of a select number of our videos and has developed and written scripts. He is most proud of the video “Mrs. Wong’s Purse”.
Executive Producer & Member of 1990 Institute’s Board of Directors
Lisa provides creative and logistical oversight and has written and directed a select number of videos. One of her projects include
“US and China Seek Relationship Counseling: Technology
in the Crosshairs”
Executive Producer &
Corporate Secretary of
1990 Institute’s Board of Directors
Sandra oversees content as well as provides strategic and creative guidance to the video program. She is proud that our videos cover a wide range of genres and are filled with engaging and interesting information like “A Tale of Two Countries: China and US Demographics” and “Chinese Millennials: Reflections on
Life and America”
Executive Producer & Chair of 1990 Institute’s Board of Directors
Grace supervises content for the video program and is particularly adept at weaving multifaceted stories together. Some of her projects include
“Ping Pong Diplomacy” and “What is GaoKao:
The World’s Toughest College Admissions Test”
Producer and Program Manager
Lewis manages the video production process from conceptualization to distribution and supports the team to create original, educational short-form content.
Favorite video:
“Chinese & Western Zodiacs:
So Different. So Similar”
>>>
video-series eco-system
fostering cultural
understanding
Chinese & Western Zodiacs:
So Different. So Similar
The Chinese zodiac is a cultural artefact that has continued to thrive for thousands of years. Many cultures throughout history have created their own unique-yet-similar celestial systems for predicting the future…while observing the exact same stars and planets. We will look at the Chinese and Western zodiac systems. Why so different? Why so similar?
29K views on YouTube
plogging
Trash Running in Shanghai
The rise in rapid economic growth, increased wealth, purchasing power, and consumption in China has had an impact on its environment. Trash, especially plastic waste, is a common problem in Chinese cities as well as other cities around the world. Chinese urban millennials are becoming more aware of the litter on their city streets and the connection between consumption and the environment. This video is about the Chinese millennials in Shanghai who are embracing a worldwide movement that combines running and trash pickup.
41K views on YouTube
quick overview
China by the Numbers - If China Were a Country of 100 People
Our video series, “China in Perspective,” is designed to expose you to interesting and insightful information about contemporary China to better understand this complex and intriguing country of 1.4 billion people. This video is a primer for the series, providing a general overview of the demographic breakdown of the Chinese population, from wealth distribution to education, to social media and video game usage, and more!
31K views on YouTube
>>>
Executive Producer
sandra pan
What do you feel most passionate about working on this Project?
We love the fact that we are providing opportunities to view a new perspective about China and U.S.-China relations - much different to the information that is currently filtered through mass media.
What was the biggest challenge you had to find a way to tackle?
One of the biggest challenges for the team was being mindful of the length of the videos. Many of the topics we cover have so much rich information that it is sometimes difficult to convey in less than ten minutes and in a visually entertaining way. We spend a lot of time in the cutting room deciding what is crucial to keep to drive the story forward. We have rallied around our Advisory Council, Teachers Advisory Group and teacher partners to provide feedback and invite them to participate in how to use the videos as starting points for classroom discussions.
Would You Like to Know More
About the Project?
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