Imagine starting the first chapter of your professional life amid a pandemic. That is the harsh reality faced by students graduating in 2020. Recently CGTN Host Tian Wei met up with a group of Chinese students with prestigious overseas diplomas in Beijing. Be it starting their own businesses or stepping into the corporate world, the young elites share how they navigate it all in an uncertain time.

Taking a gap year from Harvard Business School, Tony Gao is running a financial startup called EasyTransfer in Beijing with his business partner Jesse Yang, a recent graduate from Cornell University. While their company of around 200 staff is expanding, the young entrepreneurs admit that the pandemic has completely changed their business model; almost bringing things back to ground zero.

Chinese students studying abroad, the target customer group for EasyTransfer, have had their plans turned upside down due to the pandemic. Those who wish to go abroad cannot obtain visas, while others are stranded on foreign land. Founder Tony Gao says the company has already shifted its strategy last year, expanding to 17 countries instead of focusing on America, due to escalating tensions between the U.S. and China. Yet this year, things have forced them to redraw the map even more.

Haotian Cui, a fellow entrepreneur leading a company called QG Group, thinks while the drastic changes in the past a few months have been very difficult (he joked that he needed to find time to cry), it also provides a time to recap and wait for the rebound. Cui found a way to live with the uncertainty by focusing on perfecting his product, pooling resources into one product so that when the business cycle gets past the rock bottom, he would be ready to capture the market.

Peter Wan recently graduated from London Business School and stepped into the world of investment banking. However, having the coveted job at China International Capital Corporation comes with demands – a typical day at work starts at 9 a.m. and ends at 4 a.m. the next day. Then after some sleep, the cycle restarts. As an avid fan of basketball and electronic music, Wan laments the "Work hard, play hard" culture is only half true for him. But the young banker says the path he has chosen is worth the pain because it is his dream to help companies grow through financing.

Even under normal circumstances, graduates find what they have learned in school don't always apply in the real world. Felix Xiao, a new graduate of Columbia, flew home in full protective gear and found himself in a totally new life. Now an analyst at Cyanhill Capital, Xiao says he has found a new appreciation for life and is inspired to make investments that would make the world a more beautiful place.

Cecilia Zhao says she has also been doing some soul searching. Zhao joined a social enterprise called China Youth of Tomorrow (CYOT), which links up mentors like Zhao with mentees who might come from less privileged backgrounds.

For some internet users, Zhao is a familiar face. In 2018, a video of Zhao's speech during a debate at the Oxford Union went viral on social media. The image of the Chinese girl in a glittering black cocktail dress laying arguments to her British counterparts was hailed as the example of someone who has got the look and the diligence. Riding on the exposure, Zhao is now creating content on social media, hoping to use her influence to break down information barriers.

World Insight with Tian Wei is an international platform for debate and intelligent discussion. It is the meeting point of both the highly influential and rising voices, facilitated by host Tian Wei. It provides nutrition to form your own thoughts and ideas through a 45-minute live debate and interviews.

Schedule: Monday-Saturday

Time (GMT): 1415, 2015

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