China & East Asia Advisory
Stakeholder Engagement | Strategic Communication | Cross-Cultural Collaboration
Working successfully across Denmark and East Asia requires more than market knowledge. It requires an understanding of relationships, institutions, hierarchies, communication and timing.
I help organisations navigate that space.
As a sinologist, former Asia correspondent and former Head of Public Diplomacy, Culture & Press at the Danish Embassy in Beijing, I combine deep regional understanding with practical experience in communication, stakeholder relations, international projects and cross-cultural collaboration.
I can step into a project for a defined assignment, an interim period or a longer engagement, depending on what is needed.
International projects can become difficult when headquarters, local teams, authorities, partners and stakeholders operate with different assumptions and expectations.
I help organisations understand the context, communicate more effectively and create clarity across those boundaries.
How I can help
Mapping relevant stakeholders, understanding different interests and helping organisations navigate relationships with authorities, institutions, partners and local networks.
Helping organisations understand the local context, anticipate how messages may be received and communicate effectively with stakeholders across cultures.
This may include local context analysis, messaging, briefings, preparation for meetings or visits, stakeholder communication and advice on how an organisation or project is perceived locally.
Helping international and local teams navigate differences in communication, expectations, decision-making, hierarchy and ways of working.
The focus is practical: helping people understand each other, identify where expectations diverge and make collaboration work more effectively across cultures.
Providing decision-makers and international teams with political, societal and cultural context relevant to their work in China, Taiwan and Hong Kong.
This may include research, analysis, briefings, preparation for meetings or visits and helping organisations understand developments that affect their local operating environment.
Developing and coordinating complex international projects involving multiple partners, stakeholders, communications, events and organisations.
I can step into an existing project or help develop and coordinate a new initiative.
Working with Chinese and East Asian partners often requires an ability to understand what is not explicitly said.
Relationships matter. Hierarchies matter. Timing matters. Institutional interests matter.
Successful collaboration requires cultural understanding and patience, but also clarity about your own organisation's objectives, responsibilities and boundaries.
My role is to help translate between those worlds: understanding the local perspective without losing sight of the organisation's own interests, and helping people find a way forward that can actually work.
Why me
China and Greater China have been a continuous part of my professional life since I first arrived in the region as a student in 1993.
I have studied, lived and worked in Hong Kong, Taipei and Beijing and spent many years at the intersection of diplomacy, journalism, communication, culture and international cooperation.
My background brings together three perspectives that rarely sit in the same profile:
Academic training as a sinologist, Mandarin at a high conversational level, and many years of first-hand experience living and working in the region.
Experience as an Asia correspondent, analysing political, economic, cultural and societal developments and identifying what matters.
Five years leading public diplomacy, communications, cultural relations and international projects at the Danish Embassy in Beijing.
Selected experience
Head of Public Diplomacy, Culture & Press
Five years leading public diplomacy, strategic communication, media relations, international programmes and partnerships in China.
Worked across Chinese authorities, institutions, media, universities, cultural organisations and Danish and international stakeholders.
Asia Correspondent
Reported from China and across Asia on everything from politics and economic change to culture, everyday life and the people behind the headlines.
Turned complex developments into stories that made a distant part of the world feel closer to Danish audiences.
Communications Consultant
Led communications across programmes focused on innovation, sustainability and urban development.
Produced stories, newsletters, press materials and event communication, working closely with programme teams, members and external partners to turn complex projects into clear and engaging communication.
Founder & Consultant
Founded and ran a consultancy focused on China, cross-cultural communication and professional training.
Developed and delivered tailored courses, workshops and talks for companies and organisations, while managing everything from client relations and sales to planning and delivery.
Selected international projects
A four-day programme at UCCA Beijing bringing Nordic and Chinese voices together through talks and debate on climate, green transition, sustainable development and equality, developed with the five Nordic embassies and Chinese partners.
Then Crown Prince Frederik at the Great Wall of China.
Coordination and communication around senior-level Danish visits and official programmes in China, involving authorities, institutions, partners, media and multiple stakeholders across Denmark and China.
Development and coordination of a large-scale international public art project in China, involving the artist, cultural institutions, partners and stakeholders, and using public engagement to raise awareness of climate and sustainability.
Mathilde Walter Clark, award-winning Danish author.
Development and coordination of an international cultural programme connecting European and Chinese writers, institutions, partners and audiences.
Advisory, project development and international coordination for music and cultural projects in China, including Danish jazz initiatives and consultancy for Danish soul artist Erann DD.
A Danish–Chinese photography exhibition developed for COP15, featuring three leading Nordic nature photographers and created with Chinese partners to engage public audiences around nature, climate and sustainability.
Regional experience
Based in Copenhagen.
Extensive professional and lived experience in China, Taiwan and Hong Kong.
Available for assignments in Denmark and across East Asia, including travel or periods based in the region.
A defined project, assignment or challenge requiring regional understanding, communication, stakeholder engagement or international coordination.
Experienced temporary capacity within a communications, stakeholder, public affairs or international project team.
An extended engagement supporting an organisation, team or international project in the region.
Assignments can be structured around the needs of the organisation and may involve work from Copenhagen, travel or periods based in East Asia.
Let's talk about where I could help.
Hanna Liv Leanderdal
Copenhagen, Denmark
Available for project-based, interim and longer-term assignments in China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and across East Asia.