'25 to Watch' recipient continues to showcase the value of language learning
In 2019, Wesley Harfield was named one of the Foundation’s 25 to Watch - an initiative to mark the Foundation's 25th anniversary and celebrate young New Zealanders leading New Zealand-Asia connections. Acknowledged for his contribution to research in the New Zealand-Asia space, we catch up with Wesley five years on to see what he's been up to.
Wesley spent his first 20 years in Auckland, following a typical path as a University of Auckland student in computer science, finance, and economics—until he felt restless.
During his second year, feeling a little bored and with no plans for winter break, he discovered Universitas 21, a global network of universities hosting an annual student conference. So, he applied, despite the conference's focus on food security, far from his academic background. To his surprise, he was accepted.
“I thought, let’s just see what happens,” he recalls.
The experience took him to Jiao Tong University in Shanghai for an intensive 10-day programme. While learning about food security was of interest, Wesley's key takeaway from the visit was recognising the limitations of being monolingual.
“Coming from an English-speaking country, that was the first time I’d noticed that not speaking another language was a real disadvantage”, he reflects.
"I just knew if you want to do anything in life... having that second language can get you a long way."
With his recent taste of Shanghai, he settled on learning Chinese for his general education course.
Learning Chinese instantly became the highlight of his university experience.
“It almost felt like you weren’t studying, just having fun and learning with friends” he explains.
Wesley did one year of Chinese study and then in the summer of 2015, went to Taiwan to immerse himself in a Mandarin-speaking environment.
He was staying with a host family and volunteering teaching English through the AIESEC international volunteer programme at a local primary school in the southern city of Khaosiung. “I just really enjoyed it — the food, the people, everything”.
This was only the beginning of Wesley’s Taiwan and Mandarin language journey.
He returned the following summer to study Mandarin full-time, as a recipient of the Taiwanese-government issued Hua Yu Enrichment Scholarship, and a year later he undertook an internship in Hsinchu at the Industrial Technology Research Institute.
Now having certifiably caught the Asia bug, Wesley applied for and was awarded the New Zealand China Scholarship to study at any university in mainland China. He chose Fudan University in Shanghai and completed an additional one-year language programme there.
While wrapping up the language programme in Shanghai, Wesley felt lost. It wasn’t until he discovered a master’s program at Peking University in Beijing that a path crystallised for him again.
In 2018, he became a prestigious Yenching scholar, embarking on a Master of Economics. His research was centred around China’s social credit system and the role of machine learning and data analytics in the Chinese online lending industry.
Shortly after starting his master’s, Wesley received the 25 to Watch award from the Asia New Zealand Foundation. “It was a super proud achievement. I’m always telling people about the Foundation’s work, so it was a real privilege”, he says.
A few months after receiving the award, China had its first reports of a new disease emerging out of Wuhan: Covid-19. 2020 was Wesley’s last year of his degree — and it was certainly a year to remember.
The international students were given two choices: either leave the university which equates to leaving China or stay in the campus without leaving for six months.
At the time, Wesley was doing an internship, writing his thesis, and doing a teacher assistant role. It was too much to leave behind. “So, I made the tough decision to just hold out for those six months,” he recalls.
There were only 10 International students left in their expansive university dormitory. In Wesley’s words, “It was super sad. But we became super close as a group, just trying to get each other through that hard time.”
Wesley completed his hard-won master’s degree halfway through 2020. After nearly relocating to Dubai to take up a job there, Covid restrictions on travel made coming back to New Zealand the safest option for him.
After three months back on home turf, his job seeking took him to Sydney, Australia. In 2021, he took up a job at PwC Sydney, ironically after just being turned down for a job at PwC Auckland.
With two years completed at PwC, he began yearning for the pace of Asia again. And with a new skillset built up, Wesley found himself on a journey back to China.
A job came up at the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, a multilateral development bank and international financial institution. He would be working as a quantitative risk analyst based in Beijing again.
A full circle moment, Wesley is now living out the dream he had after his master’s degree — working a truly international job.
In his words, “working at this place it doesn’t feel like you’re working just in China, it feels like you’re working at this international company which happens to be in China.”
Having been in Beijing for nearly a year this time round, Wesley is happy to have made the journey back to the Far East. “If you can speak a bit of Chinese and you know how to use your cell phone, living here is pretty easy,” he says.
In 2023, four years after being named a 25 to Watch recipient, Wesley joined the Leadership Network.
As an offshore member, he’s been grateful to connect with people as they pass through Beijing.
“I’ve had people need stuff in China and then I’ve been able to help connect them to my networks and resources”, he says.
Looking to the future, Wesley can see himself eventually looking beyond China to the broader Southeast Asian region. “I’m interested in the powerhouse Southeast Asian markets like Vietnam, Singapore, Indonesia — India too,” he says.
What’s most important for Wesley, however, is the ability to go out and see the world. In his words, “I’m super grateful to be born and grow up in New Zealand, but I’m very strongly of the opinion that young people should get offshore. And the options shouldn’t just be Melbourne or London.”
He adds, “sometimes in New Zealand we get a bit closed-minded to the world out there. So, take the plunge, go overseas.”
The Asia New Zealand Foundation Leadership Network equips the next generation of Kiwi leaders to thrive in Asia. We provide members with the connections, knowledge and confidence to lead New Zealand’s future relationship with the region.