A shared reverence for education lies at the heart of the Chinese and British identities, despite cultural differences between the two nations, said Nathanael Ming-Yan Wei, a prominent social entrepreneur and the only active Chinese peer in Britain's House of Lords.

Lord Nat Wei, the youngest member of Britain's House of Lords and its only active Chinese peer.

 

Wei is the first British-born ethnic Chinese to serve in the upper chamber of Britain's bicameral legislature and its youngest member. He is the son of Hong Kong-born parents who immigrated to Britain.

Wei visited China last month to speak at the groundbreaking ceremony of a new English-language boarding school in Jiangsu province and meet with officials in Beijing to discuss furthering cooperation on educational initiatives.

The Oxford graduate and former McKinsey consultant seeks to bolster Sino-British educational exchanges, in particular bring more Britons to study abroad in China.

Increasing the number of UK students in China, will help Britons better understand the world's second-largest economy, Wei said.

While the Chinese mainland sends 120,000 students to Britain and Hong Kong sends 40,000 each year, just 4,000 British students study in China annually.

"Right now the general perception of China in Britain is not that well-informed, and if you don't go and see it for yourself, you don't realize how massive China is, how much diversity exists," he said.

Further exchanges will reduce misunderstandings, Wei added.

"Brits are cynical, and in the tradition of Shakespeare, we use ridicule and mockery to express ourselves and our culture. But in China, words used too directly can be painful," he said.

Wei first visited China in the late 1990s and since entering the House of Lords in 2010 has traveled to the world's second-largest economy three to four times a year.

Wei rose to prominence over the past decade as he co-founded the charitable organizations Teach First and Shaftesbury Partnership in Britain, garnering widespread acclaim among his peers. Teach First, based on the Teach for America model, places high-achieving graduates who would not normally consider a teaching career in hard-to-staff schools across England. About one half of the graduates go on to become teaching professionals. The Shaftesbury Partnership aims to spur social reform in Britain's disadvantaged communities.

With a record of success in philanthropy, Wei was appointed in 2010 as an advisor to the British government on the Big Society program, a major Conservative Party policy that seeks to reframe the role of government and spur entrepreneurial action.

During his trip to China last month, Wei spoke at the groundbreaking ceremony of The Oxford International College of Changzhou (CZOIC). Operated by the Shanghai-based consultancy BE Education, CZOIC is modeled after an elite British boarding school, with a recognized A-levels and General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) curriculum.

BE plans to develop a long-term partnership with the Changzhou local government in the educational sector said Wei, who serves on BE's advisory board.

Besides managing CZOIC, BE will send teachers to train Changzhou's public school instructors in British educational methodology, he added.

In Beijing, Wei met with Vice Minister Yu Hongjun and education professionals from Beijing Normal University to discuss Big Society and topical issues in Chinese education.

Wei believes the Chinese and different Western education systems have their own unique strengths.

Chinese primary schools excel in teaching students the basics and how to develop good study habits; The British secondary system emphasizes learning's one's individual skills and strengths and the North American university system teaches students how they can contribute to society, he said.

The possibility exists for Chinese providers to develop primary schools in Britain that specialize in Mandarin language learning, he added.

For intercultural inspiration, Wei is studying the works of Dr. Sun Yat-sen, an eminent revolutionary leader who played an instrumental role in ending 2,000 years of dynastic rule in China.

"Sun's ideas can help bridge East and West," he said. "He was able to balance Chinese and Western interests in a constitutional context."

Back in Britain, Wei plays an active role in the 600,000-strong Chinese community, where he works to develop social entrepreneurship programs. With second-generation Chinese immigrants highly mobile and their parents still in the communities they first settled in, there is a need to develop better care facilities for the elderly, he said.

Wei also serves as the chairman of the Parliamentary Group for East Asian Business, which hosts trade missions, events and researches corporate social responsibility.

Global business personalities with whom the West can interact are just beginning to emerge from East Asia – China in particular - and this group aims to help bridge the cultural gap, Wei said.

Ultimately, Wei believes that with China emerging as a preeminent global player, the Chinese people today have an opportunity to define a "Chinese Dream," just as there was an American Dream of upward social mobility in the 20th century.

"I believe education will lie at the heart of it, and not just for academic purposes. China needs more trained graduates – teachers, engineers, scientists and artists. They are all instrumental to the country's future development," Wei said.

In the future, Wei plans to support the work of the Teach for China program, which sends top Chinese and American graduates to teach underprivileged students in rural China.