"The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), like a boat of win-win cooperation, will continue its new journey, sailing forward through the winds and waves." Wang Yunzhen made those comments, in Malaysia in 2018, during a speech to commemorate the fifth anniversary of the BRI proposal.

Wang is an overseas member of both the Shaanxi Federation of Returned Overseas Chinese and the Xi'an Federation of Returned Overseas Chinese. Her titles also include: Member of the Standing Committee of the Xi'an Overseas Friendship Association, President of the Shaanxi Chamber of Commerce in Malaysia and Founding President of China•Xi'an New Silk Road Association for the Promotion of International Communication(CN•NSRAPIC).

During the past 31 years, Wang has adhered to her original aspiration of promoting communications and cooperation in culture, the economy and international trade. She is referred to by many as an "envoy" of people-to-people exchanges.

Setting Out

Wang moved to Malaysia for work in 1992. At that time, she often introduced to locals China's achievements since the country implemented its reform and opening-up policy in 1978 and the country's supportive polices in economic and trade cooperation. She has helped promote trade and economic and cultural exchanges between China and Malaysia. Since the 1990s, she has been an "envoy" between the two countries.

During the autumn of 2013, Wang relocated from Malaysia to her hometown, Xi'an, capital of northwest China's Shaanxi Province. That was around the time the BRI was proposed. Xi'an was the start location of the Silk Road in ancient times. Wang realized the significance of Xi'an in building the BRI, so she collaborated with several universities/colleges in Xi'an to establish CN•NSRAPIC.

The CN•NSRAPIC organizes experts from universities/colleges to give professional guidance and service, to help boost the development of industries and enterprises along the Silk Road. The association has built connections with experts in various fields, including the industrial economy, food science and technology, international trade, culture and creativity, big data, artificial intelligence, and agricultural economy and development.

While operating the association, Wang has done her best to promote Shaanxi-based brands and products to the world. For example, she has helped Shaanxi-based agricultural producers of apples and Fu tea (a kind of dark green tea) to sell their products to Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia and Turkey.

Pooling Happiness, Strength

In 2013, Wang established the New Silk Road smart women's club, through which she has encouraged women to play their roles in building the Belt and Road. In 2015, she attended the Fourth International Conference on Poverty Reduction and Child Development, held in Beijing. Wang talked about the responsibilities shouldered by women in families and society. She said if women could play their roles well, they would accomplish good things for families, workplaces, society, their countries, and the world.

Wang also cares about the growth and development of children, who live in rural areas while their parents work in other places. She has contacted coaches and volunteers from Malaysia, Singapore, Argentina, France and Cameroon, and she has invited them to provide training to children in rural China. During International Children's Day (June 1) in 2016, Wang helped a primary school, in Shaanxi Province, establish a football team composed of rural children. "I hope the children can enrich their spiritual world, by developing their interests and pursuing their dreams. They can learn teamwork and hardworking spirit at a young age," Wang says. This, she adds, is part of the reason why CN•NSRAPIC attaches importance to public-welfare activities, such as the development of rural children.

When "The Belt and Road" University Presidents' Forum on Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education was held, in Xi'an, in September 2017, Wang led CN•NSRAPIC, which had invited representatives from more than 40 overseas universities. She has also arranged for CN•NSRAPIC's members to attend overseas Chinese cultural festivals, held in Malaysia, or representatives from Malaysian commercial associations to visit Xi'an, to inspect the city's free-trade areas.

During the past three decades, Wang has worked tirelessly to promote the development of China, especially the development of Shaanxi Province and her hometown, Xi'an, to the world. In May last year, CN•NSRAPIC, in collaboration with Xi'an International Studies University, established an international-exchange-promotion center, in Xi'an. The center serves as a platform for improving opening-up and high-quality, people-to-people exchanges in Shaanxi.

"Every day means a new start. There is never an ending point for my work," says Wang. She is leading her team in its efforts to establish another center for promoting economic and trade development along the Maritime Silk Road.

Photos Supplied by Interviewee

(Women of China English Monthly October 2023 issue)