Hopping around the world in search of possibilities of life: how Russia propels Brian Yeung’s unique career
By Ruby Chan
We are living in a big world, and the best way to appreciate it is to travel around and get to know the different cultures and nations. In recent years, many people choose to take a gap year after graduating from university or working for a period of time. Whether they study or work overseas, these people have one thing in common — they want to leave behind a familiar environment to find their own path in life. Millennial Brian Yeung is one of those who took up opportunities and explored the world. His stories in the Netherlands and Russia epitomize his adventures of self-discovery.
Experience foreign culture in the Netherlands
Brian was studying sociology at the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK), and at Year 3, he decided to study European literature at Utrecht University through CUHK’s student exchange programme. Brian jokingly says that he is a rebellious person and likes to challenge himself with things that are non-mainstream. As such, he picked a subject the wasn’t really related to his major.
Living in a foreign environment means one has to prepare himself or herself to deal with clashes due to geographical and cultural differences. “Apart from climatizing to the cold and damp Dutch winter, one also needs to get used to the straight-forwardness of the Dutch people. If they think you are stupid, they will say so directly,” Brian says.
Fortunately, Brian had many good friends and helped him to integrate into a different culture. In doing so, Brian opened himself up to observe and experience the world. By chance, as soon as he arrived at The Netherlands, he met Hong Kong lyricist Chow Yiu-fai who was studying for his doctorate in Amsterdam. As such, Brian managed to build his social circle quickly. And through a referral, he got the chance to intern at a Chinese radio station, where he was responsible for a program about Hong Kong’s pop music.
Brian’s experience in the Netherlands, together with his active involvement in AIESEC, led him to seriously consider leaving Hong Kong and exploring opportunities in Europe. To fulfil his idea, Brian actively applied for all sorts of overseas scholarship programs. Unfortunately, he always lost to other applicants during the final selection stage. “I would be lying to you if I told you I wasn’t disappointed,” Brian admits. As he came from a humble family, having good grades just wasn’t good enough for him to go abroad. The scholarship was essential so that he could afford the expensive tuition of studying at a top overseas university. Graduated with a first-class honour, Brian could have stayed behind in Hong Kong and found a stable job with a promising career path. “I really wanted to do something different,” Brian recalls. In the end, he didn’t want to give up so easily, so the idea of going overseas stayed with him.
Work in Sochi: drinking is more important
Brian eventually seized on an opportunity to work in Russia even though he knew little about the place. In 2011, he set foot in the country. “To promote the 2014 Sochi Winter Games, local media outlets wanted to invite young people from other countries to tag along with the reporters, and observe and report about Russia from a third-person point of view,” Brian says. The internship provided a monthly salary and accommodation. “Every month I got RUB 20,000 or approximately HKD 2,500, which was the same as the average wage of the local residents,” he adds.
Russia is the largest country in the world; its territory covers entire northern Asia and most of eastern Europe. It is also a country that owns a vast amount of mineral and other natural resources. In 1991, the communist Soviet Union collapsed, and the 15 constituent republics, Russia included, proclaimed their independence and started governing themselves in a federal system. To date, the Russian Federation has 22 self-governing republics, 46 oblasts, 9 krais, 4 autonomous okrugs, 1 autonomous oblast and 3 federal cities.
Sochi is a city in Krasnodar Krai. Located at the south-eastern corner of Russia and the Black Sea coast near Ukraine and Turkey, Sochi enjoys a warm winter and cool summer climate and is a popular holiday destination for the Russians.
The biggest challenge facing Brian was language. “It was pretty ok at work, as I primarily wrote stories in English and my co-workers could communicate in English,” he says. However, it was totally a different story in daily life. Generally speaking, the level of English among Russians wasn’t good, and only a few road signs had an English translation. As such, Brian, who knew nothing about the Russia language at that time, felt like he was “illiterate”. “Initially, asking a driver to drop me off was a problem!” During the three months he spent in Sochi, he relied on the translation software on his phone to help to communicate with the local people.
The company was located in Sochi’s city centre, and the accommodation was in a nearby village. Every day, Brian had to commute between the two places on public transport, and specifically, old and rusty single deck minibuses. “There were no stops en route. When the door opened, I still had to push it in order to get into the crowded bus,” he notes. Compare with major cities like Moscow and St. Petersburg, Sochi was relatively backwards in those days. The development of many facilities was stuck in the Soviet era.
Another challenge facing Brian was to adapt to the differences between city and country life. Originally, he wanted to open a bank account, but he then found out his boss and most of his co-workers didn’t have bank accounts. And the company still paid wages in cash! “Apart from wage default, the most memorable moment was on the wage day where we had to line up and receive our wages in cash from the boss.”
The inconveniences in living didn’t stop Brian from establishing friendships with the Russian people. Sometimes people might perceive the Russians, with their strongman style, as a fighting tribe where they are not easy to get along with. However, Brian thinks that Russian people are warm and hospitable: “The average folks don’t have much money, but they are very generous. In particular, they enjoy entertaining friends with food and drinks.” As he was on his own, Brian’s friends often asked him out for gathering and meal. A country with a vast territory, Russian cuisine is deeply affected by neighbouring countries. He explains: “Borscht is probably the most recognizable Russian food in Hong Kong, but it actually has a link to the Ukrainian cuisine.” Yet, traditional Borscht is made primarily with beetroot, and the soup has a magenta colour and tastes a bit sour. This is unlike the Hong Kong version which looks orangey-red. The taste of the stuffing in Siberian Pelmeni is similar to dumplings from north-eastern China. Also, Russians like to eat with sour cream rather than seasonings like soy sauce or black vinegar.
“To make friends with Russians, it is essential that you can hold your liquor,” Brian explains. For Russians, drinking alcohol is like drinking water. Vodka’s alcohol content usually reaches 40 per cent, and the pronunciations of vodka often mix with water. Unwittingly, Brian has become pretty good at holding his liquor. The Russian way of toasting reflects the Russians’ straightforwardness. “After the host gives his toast, everyone has to drink up, followed by having a bite of pickle to cleanse your throat.”
Diverse Development: Becoming a Moderator in International Summits
Ever since the Sochi experience, Brian has forged an indissoluble relationship with Russia. After returning to Hong Kong, he started learning Russian while at the same time working at The Economist. His job was planning for events, where he had to connect and invite heads of state or industry leaders to be speakers at summits. The experience he earned at Sochi not helped him to develop his network in Russia but also bought him development opportunities in various fields.
One of the things he did was becoming an independent contributor or a guest editor for local and international media outlets. For example, he was once an editor for Russia Beyond the Headlines, where stories were published in the South China Morning Post as monthly supplements. Brian’s writings were multifaceted. He wrote about Russia’s contemporary art and the Russian Orthodox Church’s history in Hong Kong. He also wrote about Russia and the world through the lens of politics and socioeconomics. Moreover, he also participated in a media tour organized by the Russian government, where he went to Crimea for a field study. “At that time, the people in Crimea had voted in a referendum, and a majority had decided to leave Ukraine, become an independent nation and join the Russian Federation,” Brian says. Politically, Russia’s relationships with neighbouring countries are complex, and issues like territorial dispute and ethnic conflict are unavoidable. “So, when the flight arrived, and when we turned on our phones, we saw a text message that said, ‘Welcome to Ukraine!’ and everyone started laughing.”
In 2014, Russia and China signed a 30-year natural gas export contract. This had a rippling effect — many Russian businesses were interested to explore and develop the Asian market. As a result of his experience in Russia, Brian became a corporate consultant and organized tours for business delegations. Over the years, he has travelled back and forth between different places and helped businessmen to conduct business visits in China and Singapore so that they could meet and exchange with relevant officials and trade organizations.
Furthermore, he has frequently attended relevant meetings and forums as a speaker or moderator, so to help more people understand the current situation in China and Russia. In 2017, he was invited to attend as a moderator in the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum under the auspice of Russian President Vladimir Putin. The forum saw the gathering of heads of state and business leaders from around the world, and Brian was one of the few Hongkongers presents. Brian was responsible to facilitate discussions according to the agenda and ask questions: “I not only had to be well-prepared but also couldn’t make mistake on the stage. It was challenging yet memorable.”
Postscript
How does Brian see Russia? “The Russians are more spontaneous. When they say ‘maybe’, they really mean it. There are always exceptions to the rules, and they have a habit of confirming just before the deadline,” Brian answers. When working with Russians, Brian frequently had to finish work within a short period of time. “Well, I like their flexibility, and the fact that Russia is such a vast country means that it is easy to run into interesting people and things, and that gives me lots of unique experiences.” Brian’s experience in Russia also landed him with a publisher’s invitation to write a book. Apart from writing about sights and places of interest in cities, he plans to tell stories about some of Russia’s iconic individuals he knows. In addition, he will review and re-interpret recent major events in Russia with an alternate, non-Western media angle. “One particular chapter is about operational rules of underground casinos as divulged by intelligence officials.”
Profile
Brian Yeung
Brian is Hong Kong-born and bred millennial, and currently, he is the founder of a consultancy. He has multiple identities, including freelance writer, guest editor, public relations professional, corporate consultant, and forum speaker and host. By chance, he forged an indissoluble relationship with Russia. He is now writing a new book, Stepping Inside a Foreign Land — Russia, scheduled to be published in next year’s book fair.
Website: www.brianstormcontent.net/
A Word for Hong Kong
We might not be able to change the big environment, but we can choose how to live our lives. The world is big; why don’t go away, take a look, and think about the possibilities for yourself?
This article was translated from the original news appeared in Ming Pao on December 24. URL: https://cutt.ly/crrrQc8
