One of the goals of VSFS-Shenyang is to promote cross-cultural understanding through interviewing people from other parts of the world.  The American VSFS members will interview Chinese everyday diplomats and the Chinese VSFS members will interview American everyday diplomats.  I am particularly excited about this arrangement because being a Chinese-American, people assume that I don’t have to understand Chinese culture, that I can weave between the two cultures seamlessly.  Although I grew up speaking Chinese at home with my China-born-Taiwan-raised parents, I have retained only a sliver of an ever-changing, ever-expanding Chinese culture.  With each Chinese everyday diplomat I will interview, I will have the opportunity to learn about the different facets of China and different perspectives on public service.

虚拟学生外事服务（沈阳）目的之一就是通过采访不同地区的人来增进对多元文化的了解。在美国的项目成员采访中国日常外交家，而中国成员则采访美国日常外交家。对于这样的安排，我十分感兴趣。因为我是一名美籍华人，人们认为我不必理解理解中国文化，并能很好地融合中美文化。但事实是，虽然我的父母在中国出生，台湾长大，我从小也一直说中文，但对不断发展壮大的中国文化，我的了解却是十分有限的。所以，通过对日常外交家的采访，我将能够进一步了解到中国的各个方面以及对公共服务的不同理解。

Fellow VSFS member, Colleen, introduced Song Lailong to the team as a Young Everyday Diplomat who is an engineering student at the Harbin Institute of Technology (HIT).  Song Lailong helped found HIT International Communication Association (HICA), which emphasizes multicultural experience and awareness at HIT.  Lailong also helped introduce and hold the first Model United Nations at HIT. 

宋来龙同学，是受我们的成员张宇欣的邀请，成为我们十一月份的日常外交家的。他在哈尔滨工业大学主修工程专业，同时有帮助建立了哈工大国际交流协会。该组织强调让同学们区亲身体验多元文化。宋来龙还帮助建立了哈工大首个模拟联合国协会。

During the interview, I took special notice of his ability to transform his curiosity about other cultures into a platform to encourage multicultural interaction and cross-cultural understanding.  The HIT International Communication Association (HICA) hosts lectures about international hot topics, notifies students about study abroad opportunities, and serves as a social forum for Chinese and international students.  Having been an international student in Munich and a friend to an American Fulbright Student Fellow in Harbin, Lailong found that culture gaps often frustrate students abroad.  These experiences compelled him to want to “make a difference to students interested in studying abroad starting at home.” 

在采访中我注意到，宋来龙对各种文化抱有很大兴趣，而且他特别善于把这种兴趣转变成促进文化交流的平台。哈工大国际交流协会针对热点问题举办各种讲座，为全校同学提供出国信息，又为中国学生及留学生们提供了一个社会性的论坛。他曾以交换生的身份留学慕尼黑，并且在哈尔滨有一名得过美国福尔布莱特奖学金的朋友（American Fulbright Student Fellow），宋来龙发现正是文化上的差异经常使在国外的学生受挫。这些经历使他去帮助那些怀抱出国梦想的中国学生们。

Before Song Lailong and 29 other students founded HICA, few students from HIT knew about the CSC scholarship, a national government funded study abroad program.  After HICA held talks about various study abroad opportunities, HIT now ranks third in the highest number of students sent to study abroad on this scholarship.  In addition to HICA, Lailong was determined to bring Model UN (MUN) to HIT after the neighboring Heilongjiang University hosted MUN.  Lailong and HIT students initially encountered various administrative and logistical obstacles to organizing MUN at HIT.  Lailong and the students finally gained the support of faculty members and convinced HIT to support the students’ call for hosting MUN.  

在宋来龙和他的同学创立哈工大国际交流协会之前，很少有人知道CSC计算机科学奖学金一个国家资助的留学奖学金项目。但在哈工大国际交流协会成功地举办了关于出国留学的讲座后，哈工大的学生迅速成为该项目的受益者。除了哈工大国际交流协会，宋来龙还继黑龙江大学之后成功地使模拟联合国落户于哈工大。起初，为了建立模拟联合国，宋来龙和他的同学遇到了各种管理及后勤上的阻碍，但最终他还是得到了校方的支持，使哈工大顺应学生号召成立模拟联合国。

We recognize Lailong’s efforts in promoting cross-cultural exchange between Chinese and international students in China as the work of an everyday diplomat.  Lailong offered another take on the term.  He explained that the word, “diplomat” connotes importance and influence, while the word “everyday” implies common and daily.  Combined into one term, these two words mean that everyone should be able to participate in some act of diplomacy regularly. 

我们认为宋来龙为增进中国学生与留学生之间多元文化交流作出了重大贡献，能够被成为一名“日常外交家”。他认为“外交官”一词体现出了重要性和影响力，而“日常”一词有暗示出“平常，普通”之意。因此，这两个词合到一起便表示：每个人都应该积极地参与一些外交活动。

I admit that I have a habit of trying to guess someone’s character from their Chinese name.  Lailong’s name means “approaching dragon.”  I found Lailong’s name intriguing in its unusual directness and confidence.  When I asked Lailong for his thoughts on President Obama’s first visit to China, he jokingly said that if he were the Chinese president forty years from now and that I were the American president, we would have a great bilateral relationship because we initiated a dialogue with each other today.  The practicality of this light-hearted comment surprised me.  This VSFS project has brought two strangers together in an hour long conversation, in which we discovered our similarities and differences and shared our thoughts in Chinese and English 30 years into the U.S.-China diplomatic relations.

我习惯于通过人的姓名来猜测人的性格。在我看来，“来龙”的意思是：即将到来的巨龙，这其中包含了一种非凡的直接与自信。但我问他对奥巴马总统访华的感想是，他开玩笑地说：如果从现在到今后的四十年，他是中国领导人，而我是美国总统的话，我们将会催生一个十分良好的双边关系，因为我们已经开始每天对话了。多门轻松幽默的回答，但话中却不乏实际效应。正是学生外交虚拟外事服务项目使两个陌生人走到一起，进行了一个长达一个小时的对话。此间我们发现了许多相同与差异，并且用中文叫选了彼此对中美建交三十年的感想。

The People’s Republic of China and the U.S. have had a tense relationship since the founding of the PRC 60 years ago.  Lailong’s comment rides on how the two countries commit to their current emphasis on building a relationship based on cooperation. 

中国60年前建国以来，中美之间就建立起了紧密的外交关系。宋来龙的评论也反映出了两国为了实现通过合作建立外交关系这一目标所做出的重大贡献。