Brief Introduction
Richard N. Liu was born and raised in Canada. With Chinese roots, Richard was taught to speak Mandarin at home as a kind reminder of his rich heritage and culture. Richard came to China for the first time in the late 1970's to tour with his parents, as his father was developing cultural exchange and tourism at the time between North America and China. So his family travelled to China at least once a year, providing Richard with view of developing China.
In 1988, after high school graduation, Richard decided to study at Beijing University, with encouragement and support from his father and mother. He was planning on staying for one year, but unfortunately his studies were disrupted and was forced to leave China.
However, his strong connection to China made him realize the importance of continuing his studies on China's language and culture, so he majored in Asian Studies at the University of British Columbia. After graduating in 1993, he immediately set off to China again to continue his studies where he witnessed a new start of an amazing growth and vitality in a country he had left 4 years prior. Richard has since then not left Beijing for almost 15 years and plans to be around for a very long time to be a part of the growth and vitality of a country with over 5000 years of deeply rooted culture and history.
"China and I"
2008 will be Richard's 15th year in China, and wants to help build towards a better China through volunteering. Richard wants to run for our "unsung heroes", the volunteers that are unable to attend the Beijing Olympic & Paralympic Games. He knows the importance of volunteerism since he has volunteered with many important causes in China for the past decade, especially the Beijing Terry Fox Run for cancer research and awareness; and the Special Olympics for intellectual disablities in China. Richard also hopes to build a special bridge between China and Canada and the two Olympic cities, Beijing and Vancouver, through volunteering.
Richard is also the Canadian Team Attache for the Beijing 2008 Paralympics Games, one of his most important volunteer roles in his lifetime, where an estimated 4,000 athletes from over 150 countries and regions will take part in the 13th Paralympic Games in Beijing from September 6 to 17, 2008.
As a Chinese-Canadian, it would be the greatest honour to carry the Olympic torch to build the bridge for all volunteers and encourage everyone to volunteer, as the volunteers are the very spirit of the Olympic and Paralympic Games.
