Elyse Ribbons Pt. 2 | Navigating Philanthropy, the Arts, and the Corporate World in China

Topics Discussed and Key Points:

● All about the highest-rated nationally syndicated show, Laowai Kandian

● What is Peking Opera

● The world of philanthropy in China

● Being a board member of the China Pacific Construction Group
● The eating and drinking culture of doing business in China

Episode Summary:

Today on The Negotiation, we continue our conversation with Elyse Ribbons, CEO and Founder at GeiLi Giving, which has built a WeChat app connecting charities to Chinese netizens through engaging challenges to encourage giving.

She is also the Founder of Cheeky Monkey Theater and host of the nationally syndicated news-talk show Laowai Kandian, the success of which she goes into in today’s conversation.

The show invites people of different nationalities to come together and speak candidly about difficult topics—a practice that Elyse notes may just be that elusive key to achieving world peace.

“At the end of those conversations,” she says, “you can always find that human element. Even if you agree to disagree about little details, you can always agree on the important basics.”

Elyse then describes her experience in the Peking opera scene, describing the art form as “the crystallization of so many Chinese values: aesthetic, artistic, moral”. She also speaks on an interesting connection between the classic 14th century historical novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms by Luo Guanzhong, and the culture of business in China.

Finally, Elyse describes the world of philanthropy in China as well as the nature of business unique to the country, drawing from her own experience as a former board member of the China Pacific Construction Group.

Key Quotes:

“[Peking Opera] is the crystallization of so many Chinese values: aesthetic, artistic, moral.”

“When you have a passion for something, you study it, you learn it, and you hold it much more dearly than people who just sort of passively have to accept it. They didn’t choose to learn Chinese; they had to. I choose, on a daily basis, to continue learning Chinese.”