November 21, 2013 - Brian Hoyt, now serving as an Economic and Commercial Officer in the The United States Embassy in China, visited the Institute for Human Rights and gave a lecture to 8 first-year master's students. The lecture gave a brief overview of his favorite American cities - New York, Los Angeles, Miami, San Francisco, and how they represent the United States’ cultural and economic diversity.

His personal experiences are introduced at the beginning of the lecture. Having experienced a shaft in his career, Brian Hoyt worked for the World Bank Group writing their blog on the 2008 Financial Crisis after the years serving  as a professional chef in Italy and California. He now has been in the Foreign Service for more than three years, spending his first tour in Port-au-Prince, Haiti serving as an Economic and Commercial officer.

When talking about his favorite American cities,he first mentioned the New York City and described it as a energetic 24-hour city. As a global power city located on one of the world's largest natural harbors, New York exerts a significant impact upon commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and entertainment.Many districts and landmarks in New York City have become well known to its approximately 50 million annual visitors. Times Square, iconified as "The Crossroads of the World",is the brightly illuminated hub of the Broadway theatre district,one of the world's busiest pedestrian intersections,and a major center of the world's entertainment industry.

Los Angeles is often billed as the "Creative Capital of the World," due to the fact that one in every six of its residents works in a creative industry.It is also home to Hollywood, globally recognized as the epicenter of the motion picture industry. Mr.Hoyt also mentioned the three public universities located within the city limits: California State University, Los Angeles (CSULA), California State University, Northridge (CSUN) and University of California, Los  Angeles (UCLA).

Miami is a city located on the Atlantic coast in southeastern Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County. It is a major television production center, and the most important city in the U.S. for Spanish language media as it is a mixed city with a large population of Spainish,Cubans and Columbians.

  The last city Mr Hoyt introduced was San Francisco.Since the 1990s, the demand for skilled information technology workers from local startups and nearby Silicon Valley has attracted white-collar workers from all over the world and created a high standard of living in San Francisco.The international character that San Francisco has enjoyed since its founding is continued today by large numbers of immigrants from Asia and Latin America.

  Although not majored in Law,Mr.Hoyt was interested in the daily research of our Institute.He,with the students present,talked warmly about the birth control policy,environmental pollution,food safety in China and the right to hold a gun, Gary Faye Locke’s resign,Obama’s Health Care Reform and the presidential election in the U.S.

    The meeting ended in a warm and harmonious atmosphere. The students took a picture with Mr. Hoyt.