Claire Yang (b. 1970s), a former physicist turned cross-cultural entrepreneur, has dedicated her career to bridging global markets with China. After earning a physics PhD through a Wuhan-Norway joint program on an experiment in a national laboratory in the United States, she continued contributing to fundamental research in an international collaboration on an experiment at CERN in several European countries. She transitioned from academia in 2015, driven by a vision to simplify global collaboration.

Her journey began with creating Alibaba mini-sites for foreign businesses targeting Chinese market and providing translation services. She became the sole English-Chinese translator for a British in-flight magazine, producing globally distributed Chinese editions until the pandemic halted operations. Simultaneously, she translated commercial content for a Shenzhen video company, including Jiangsu museum artifacts, and connected European startups with Chinese suppliers, attracting partnership proposals from German entrepreneurs.

As COO of a British trading firm for several years, Claire showcased operational excellence, managing end-to-end supply chains: sourcing materials in China, coordinating process from artwork to sample production, to and production, and overseeing logistics with a Philippines-based back office team. Her multilingual fluency and leadership earned her this role, solidifying her concept for PontaChina—a virtual office platform enabling seamless China collaboration without physical presence in China for foreign businesses.

The Covid-19 pandemic disrupted her plans, prompting a return to China. Joining a hosting company, she swiftly mastered IT infrastructure and helped the business to enter the Chinese market, innovating beyond company norms. Promoted to COO/manager of an affiliated brokerage company in IT sector, she established legal and HR frameworks, designed remote-work policies, and created training programs for teams, revitalizing operations. Her impact led to a return as General Manager of the hosting company, where she partnered with the CEO to work on a major upgrade of its hardware and internal restructuring for driving its growth.

Post-pandemic, Claire revived her vision for PontaChina. In 2024, she was invited to join Lian Group as its co-founder, integrating her PontaChina concept into its business model. By late 2024, she stepped down from the leadership roles at two IT companies to relaunch Lian Group, positioning PontaChina as a subsidiary offering market-entry strategy, supply chain optimization, IT services, and cross-border cultural and language support to both local and foreign businesses in the global market.

Claire’s success merges academic precision with entrepreneurial agility. Her 15+ years across Europe and Asia cultivated trust with global partners, while her analytical rigor optimized workflows in diverse sectors. Now focused on Lian Group, advancing her mission to bridging China and the rest of the world.