Introduction to GVB

Sheri Xiaoyi Liao

President of Global Village of Beijing, China

Environmental Advisor of the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Games of the XXIX Olympiad

Brief Biography

With her Master Degree of Philosophy from the SUN YAT-SEN UNIVERSITY in 1986, Sheri Liao worked as a researcher with the China Academy of Social Science for five years, then became a visiting scholar on International Environmental Politics at the University of North Carolina in the United States. Committed to developing environmental education in China, she returned to Beijing to found the Global Village of Beijing, a non-governmental, non-profit environmental organization in 1996.

Sheri Liao independently produced the “Time for Environment”《环保时刻》, an environmental program that was broadcasted weekly by CCTV for five years. She also filmed large-scaled TV series including “Environmental Protection in Our Life”《生活中的环保》and “Global Environmental View”《全球环保之旅》 etc.; published the thesis of “China’s Industrialization and Environmental Lost”《中国工业化和环境代价》(over 400,000 words); wrote and edited environmental books, such as “Citizen Environmental Guide”《公民环保行为规范》 and “Green Community Guidebook”《绿色社区指导手册》. Through various media and presentations all over the world, she has advocated the idea of Green Life and integrated environmental protection with grassroots and people daily life. Moreover, based on community education, she has insisted in promotion of refuse classification and construction of green community; stimulated the establishment of mechanism of community participation in public environmental safety; called for “Citizen Forum on Environmental Protection”; and launched grassroots environmental campaigns including “Green Olympics and Green Life” and “Earth Day · China”. Sheri and the Global Village of Beijing have been widely concerned by more than 100 Chinese media, many international mainstream media such as CNN, Newsweek and Reuter as well as some global heads.

Recognized internationally for her efforts, Ms. Liao was awarded the 2000 Sophie Prize in Norway and the 2001 Banksia International Award in Australia. In 2002, she was awarded one of the “Ten Outstanding Women in China” by the magazine Chinese Women; and became an environmental advisor of the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Games of the XXIX Olympiad. She was honored the “Green Guider” by China National Planting Tree Committee in 2003 and became one of the “Ten National Outstanding Women” in 2004. In 2005, Ms. Liao won the “Annual economic figure Social commonweal Award” by China Central Television (CCTV). In 2006, she was hornoured Green Chinese Annual Figure.