Speak Up, in a Tender but Powerful Way: My Story Behind the Erhu Performance at WHT’s 15th-Anniversary Dinner

Yiyuan performing with Erhu

Two strings and a bow enable imitating sounds from chirping birds to neighing horses, playing melodies either tender, sonorous or somber, and expressing the grand pageant of China’s history and emotions of its people. This is Erhu, a traditional Chinese musical instrument I have played for 20 years. On July 7th, WHT’s 15th-anniversary dinner at Divinity School, University of Oxford, I had the opportunity to showcase its charm to over 100 WHT scholars, alumni, and guests worldwide. This, in a surprising way, concluded my journey at WHT, alongside a question that I have spent the most time exploring at Oxford this year – “How to speak up?” 

Speaking up is not easy, for an individual growing up in a conservative culture being exposed to an international setting for the first time. Ten months ago, I remember, at a career coaching session in the MBA launch week, while everyone in my MBA cohort approached the career advisor with their polished resumes and structured questions about breaking into consulting or investment banking, I went to my advisor and asked him, in a shaky voice, “How can I survive in this eloquent cohort?” 

Speaking up is also challenging, for a country navigating its unprecedented geopolitical tension this decade. I do believe in the complexity of politics and history, and thus I listened quite carefully to everyone’s voice when they were discussing the ongoing tension from their country’s perspective. This access to diverse ideas and interests enlightened me considerably. However, as a Chinese native with years of first-hand exposure to China’s political and economic environment, I couldn’t help but speak up for my home country on several vital topics where I saw significant misunderstandings. The question became: “How to speak up? From a problem-solving perspective, how to make speaking up effective, rather than causing more conflict?” 

WHT 15-year Anniversary Dinner

WHT inspired me. Before my performance at the dinner, I shared with the guests that “I was amazed by WHT’s magic of uniting people from diverse backgrounds into a cohesive community”. This is absolutely true. Essentially, I learned two critical lessons from WHT’s approach to this diversity – “enable diversity by getting people present” and “realise diversity by acknowledging people’s voices”. 

If you look at WHT scholars’ profiles, you’ll notice that this selective cohort ensures the presence of scholars from nearly every region traditionally underrepresented in mainstream political and economic narratives. Furthermore, under the backdrop of political unrest, WHT continues to sponsor displaced scholars affected by these crises to ensure their access and presence. Inspired by this, I told myself: “Being present in underrepresented areas is the first step.” Therefore, I strived to step out of my comfort zone and be present in key global topics where China’s input is essential but Chinese professionals’ presence has been lacking, such as climate change. There are several misunderstandings about China’s carbon mitigation practices, one example of which is “Why is China still building fossil fuel factories during its ‘so-called’ new energy roll-out?”. Coming from a family working in an energy business that has experienced the challenging transition from fossil fuel to renewables in less developed areas, I truly understand how complicated this issue is, given China’s central-local political system and huge infrastructure gaps across regions. However, refuting the misconceptions on social media wouldn’t work, because people against you aren’t usually interested and patient enough to listen when you are not in the same context. Consequently, I chose all electives related to energy market and climate change. When I showed up in these classes, I was usually the only Chinese face in the classroom and thus still had to overcome the sense of loneliness to speak up publicly. However, I contributed as much as I could. For example, during a group simulation, I was able to address a colleague’s concerns about China’s increasing coal production using stories and facts. When he responded with surprise: “Thanks for telling me this. I didn’t know that before!” I knew my efforts had paid off. My presence was small, but it worked. This is the first lesson WHT taught me: “Be present, in underrepresented areas”. 

The other lesson I learned enabled my performance at the dinner. If you participate in the moral philosophy seminar and enterprise challenge held by WHT, you’ll get to know how true diversity is achieved once getting people present. Unlike most sessions elsewhere where dialogue is often dominated by eloquent groups and mainstream stakeholders, every scholar in this cohort is given the time, patience, and respect to share their thoughts on key challenges faced by our generation. Our scholars have diverse cultural backgrounds and thus express ourselves in different tones and manners, some of whom are confident and outspoken while others could be tender yet still quite powerful. This encouraged me to speak up with my own weapon. As a 20-year Erhu player and a veteran as Chief Player at my previous school’s orchestra, I founded the Oxford Chinese Orchestra with several Chinese students this January. We gave our first street show at Westgate in early July, and a week later, I played my favourite song, “Galloping Horses”, at this WHT 15th-Anniversity Dinner. When guests from around the world came to me for congratulation and more knowledge about Erhu after my performance, I knew my efforts had paid off once again. My presence was small, but it worked. This is the second lesson WHT taught me: “Express your voice, in your own way”. 

Being a WHT scholar has been an enormous blessing in my life. I would love to express my deepest gratitude to Weidenfeld Hoffmann Trust and my joint sponsor, Mr. Karl Yin, Chairman of Hualan Education Group. Throughout this year at Oxford, I usually thought back to my interview for this scholarship. During my two interviews with WHT and Hualan, I was asked the same question: “What challenges did you identify in your sphere? And more importantly, how do you want to solve them?” My MBA year at Oxford has witnessed so many unforgettable moments that were joyful, educational, and sometimes painful. Standing at the crossroads of geopolitical tensions and financial unrest, I can be shocked, irritated, and helpless on some occasions. But the word “more importantly” often returned to my mind - “More importantly, how do you want to solve them?”  

For me, the answer is clear - speak up, in a tender but powerful way. 

Link to Yiyuan’s performance here.