Translator: Rhonda Jacobs Reviewer: Ellen Maloney
The year is 1418.
On the horizon, a shimmering vision under the blazing sun.
This is not a cloud,
or anything you've ever seen before.
It's an enormous ship
followed by dozens and dozens more.
Strange men come towards you in their white robes
carrying with them knowledge and treasures from a distant land.
This unimaginable assemblage was led by Admiral Zheng He
who established the first-ever sea route
connecting the western Pacific to the Indian Ocean.
The influence of this voyage was so profound
that it changed the local cultures wherever it landed.
With navigation skills, shipbuilding techniques,
Chinese etiquette and social practices on display.
Even today, the impact of Admiral Zheng's armada
can be traced from Africa all the way back to Asia.
I'm here to tell you that another invasion is happening 600 years later
and this one will impact you.
This one is also led by Chinese,
but this time, it's Chinese millennials.
(Laughter)
I know a ton has been written and said about American millennials -
it's all you guys talk about!
You're trying to study them, label them,
define them,
and most importantly, you're trying to cater to them.
(Laughter)
I'd like to suggest that you might be looking at the wrong group of millennials
on the wrong continent.
Because whether you're ready or not,
we Chinese millennials are about to take over the world!
(Laughter)
But luckily, I'm here to help you.
(Laughter)
Here are five things you must know
for surviving the impending Chinese millennial invasion.
(Laughter)
Number one: We are many!
(Laughter)
Do you know how many American millennials you have today?
90 million.
That's a lot.
Now, imagine that times five.
That's how many of us there are.
With a population of around 400 million,
we Chinese millennials are proud to be the third biggest country in the world.
Most of the talk about American millennials is related to the workplace.
With almost five times the amount of American millennials,
Chinese millennials are an enormous labor pool.
And we're being completely overlooked in the U.S.
Who would you rather hire?
A new employee who is the best out of 100 people?
Or a new employee who is the best out of 500?
And since there are so many of us,
you'll be seeing more of us in places you never thought of.
Don't believe me?
This guy seems pretty popular here.
(Laughter)
He might look old; he's actually one of us millennials.
20 years ago, who would have imagined
that a seven foot-plus tall Chinese athlete
would become the only non-American player to lead the NBA in all-star voting.
Number two: We're well educated and super motivated.
Because of the high population density and limited resources,
labor is easily replaceable in China.
We are required to work harder and be more motivated
just to compete with our peers.
We're surely not all of the labor pool in China.
I contacted Dx Consulting.
Today, 57 percent of Chinese millennials have a bachelor's degree;
23 percent of us have a master's degree;
and 20 percent have an associate's degree.
And of course, we're not just educated in China.
In the U.S. in 2014 and '15, 42 percent of Chinese students were studying STEM -
science, technology, engineering, mathematics -
versus 12 percent for American students.
27 percent of us were studying business and management
versus 16 for all students studying in the U.S.
We are choosing majors that can give us a competitive edge,
and in turn, higher exposure and impact in Western society.
Are you having a hard time motivating your American millennial employees?
(Laughter)
Well, Chinese millennials don't need you to spend a dime on a Foosball table
or an in-house coffee shop.
(Laughter) (Applause)
We are already super motivated and qualified.
(Laughter)
And we're more than happy to take on the tough jobs.
In fact, we've been preparing for it.
Number three: We are the Bruce Lee in Levi's
with a smartphone who shop online every day.
Chinese millennials are multicultural.
I even used chopsticks to eat Georgian barbecue
when I was interning here in Atlanta.
And I was more devastated at this guy's death
than my best scores on my Chinese exam.
We are really digital.
In 2017, smartphone penetration rates is almost 100 percent
for those of us who are ages 18 to 34.
We are also shaping mobile payment as well as the economy.
According to a 2017 survey from Labbrand,
86 percent of Chinese millennials use mobile payment in physical shops
at least once a week, versus 45 percent for American millennials.
And according to Dx Consulting,
we spend four times what American millennials spend for mobile purchases.
The U.S. is the center of the digital universe.
But for how much longer?
If you want to buy the best digital real estate
in the virtual world of the future,
I suggest that China is a prime location.
The good news for foreign companies
hoping to capture part of the Chinese millennial market
is that my cohort is extremely mobile and adventurous.
Here's my personal travel map for the last couple of years.
The desire to see the world dominates our consumption habits.
We aren't just spending money at home,
we are also making purchases and using web services
from foreign companies like Airbnb and Uber
when we travel overseas.
Sure, you buy things from us, and we buy things from you.
(Laughter)
So next time you have a meeting on how to exploit millennial markets,
keep in mind that Chinese millennials - not American -
are the biggest emerging consumer demographic on the planet.
Number four: We're big picture people.
Do you know how big China is?
It's around the same size as the States.
But we all know that there are four time zones
across the contiguous United States.
In China, we've got one.
In China, everything is perceived as one.
One time zone,
one official language,
one party,
despite diverse ethnicities and cultures.
Our thinking always starts from the overview to the specific.
The Chinese way of writing an address is country, city, and street.
And we write the date: year, month, and day.
And because we are such big picture people,
we focus much more on growth and the future
than Americans in the workplace.
We tend to look at a company as a whole and see how we fit into it.
And number five: We're still Confucian individualists.
Granted, we Chinese millennials are acting more and more individual nowadays,
but ten years of iPhone and online dating apps
cannot wipe out thousands of years of Confucian cultures.
A sense of hierarchy is still deeply entrenched
in our understanding and construction of social relations.
In my mind, a child is supposed to show respect to his parents
just like if I'm a subordinate.
I'm expected to show respect to a senior manager.
I don't think we should disagree with our bosses or criticize them,
at least not directly or publicly.
(Laughter)
My American friends are more likely to challenge authority and power,
and I think that's a good thing.
We might learn a little bit from American millennials on that,
but I do like our respect for hierarchy and experience,
and I don't want to see that go away.
In 20 years, we'll all still be millennials,
but we'll be 40,
we'll be in bigger positions of power,
and we'll have much more opportunity to change the world
like we insist we know how to do right now.
And I really hope we do.
Everybody knows the Great Wall of China.
Even those ancient walls were crossed by Admiral Zheng He 600 years ago,
and our new border, if we even had one, is far beyond the old one.
Whether you're trying to build your own walls,
keep out what you don't want, keep in what you do,
hold in your pride,
keep out competition,
all those things are going to happen anyway.
The world is flat.
It's flat!
But it's tilted toward China now.
(Laughter)
And I can assure you,
we Chinese millennials are ready to be the explorers in this new adventure
from the Far East.
Thank you.
(Applause) (Cheers)