Michael Kahn-Ackermann, Stiftung Mercator China Special Representative

Columnist and political commentator Yan Lieshan was born in the village of Shaling in Hubei province in January, 1952. Yan graduated from the Chinese Department of Beijing Normal University in 1982. After graduation, he was assigned to the government office of Qingshan District, Wuhan, where he served as deputy chief of the General Section. In the spring of 1986, Yan became an editor at Wuhan Evening News. Ten months later, he joined Yangtze Daily, where he served as deputy director. In October 1995, Yan joined Southern Weekly as the main editor of the “Newsline” column. Using the pseudonyms “Liu Youde” and “Liu Yudeng,” he worked as a comment editor at Southern Weekly for several years, later becoming a member of the editorial board and assistant to the editor-in-chief. Yan retired in 2011 and is now the editor of the magazine In Black and White. An author and essayist since 1984, Yan classifies his work as “citizen’s writing.” Yan has published 22 books, such as Unpopular Topics, Individual Cases in China, China’s Anxiety, among many others.

Ines Pohl was born in 1967 in Mutlangen, Germany. Pohl became editor-in-chief of Die Tageszeitung in July, 2009. Before working as a political correspondent in Berlin for the Ippen Publishing Group, she headed the political section at German daily Hessische/Niedersächsische Allgemeine. She spent 2004 to 2005 as a one-year fellow at the Nieman Foundation for Journalism, Harvard University. She holds a Magister degree in Scandinavian and German studies from the University of Göttingen, where she also worked after completing her studies as a women’s representative for all gender concerns. She found her way into journalism through working as a freelancer for Radio Ffn and various local newspapers. In 2009, she received the “Newcomer of the Year” media award from the jury of Germany’s Medium-Magazin. Since 2010, Pohl has been a board member of the non-governmental organization “Reporter ohne Grenzen” (Reporters sans frontières).

The Mercator Salon is a series of Beijing events run by Stiftung Mercator. The salons provide a platform for Chinese and Europeans to exchange ideas and opinions on topical issues relevant to culture and society. The inaugural Mercator Salons were held at UCCA, first in October 2012 with the theme “Cultural Metropolis – Metropolitan Culture” and then in June of 2013 with the theme “Money and Happiness.”

For more information on the Mercator Salon, please visit www.mercator-salon.com.

Stiftung Mercator

Stiftung Mercator is one of the largest private foundations in Germany. It pursues clearly defined objectives in its thematic clusters of integration, climate change, and arts education. The foundation achieves these objectives through a combination of socio-political advocacy and practical work. Stiftung Mercator implements its own projects and supports external projects in its centers for science and the humanities, education, and international affairs. It takes an entrepreneurial, professional, and international approach to its work.

China is the most important new political and economic actor in the emerging multipolar world and a country with extraordinary potential. Simply put, international development is no longer conceivable without China. This demands a better and more nuanced understanding of the realities of China, especially in Germany. Therefore, the foundation hopes to establish long-term partnerships and cooperative ventures. Stiftung Mercator funds several different projects in China: school and youth exchanges, cross-cultural encounters, and fellowship programs for young managers in civil society, politics, academia, and business.

Visit www.stiftung-mercator.de/en for more information.