“Hometown Foreigner, Global Citizen.” “Made in Germany 🇩🇪 . Designed by China 🇨🇳.” Hamburg born and raised, and local in Shanghai for 10 years, Martin Zhang finds himself straddling between worlds and cultures since a young age. Today, as a cultural strategist building bridges between East and West, he is being the cultural translator. He’s helped Borussia Dortmund break into Asia, built fan communities for Pokémon, Nintendo & IWC, and now bridges Chinese brands like BYD and Xiaomi to the world. Martin’s also lived multiple lives — competitive badminton athlete, model, cultural strategist, and translator between worlds. And here’s the part that stayed with me the most: before we share a language, we share rituals. Spring rolls at the school lunch table. Chinese New Year and Tết. A football chant. A Pokémon trade in the schoolyard. These are the common language that needs no words — how total strangers become a community. The line we keep coming back to: it’s never either/or. ...