Guang Zhou, China, is a long way from here, but for native Milwaukeean Harvey Sernovitz, it’s the first stop in the career of a lifetime. A foreign service officer for the U.S. Department of State, he will begin a two-year post there as political officer next June.
Located in south China, about 90 miles from Hong Kong, Guang Zhou, formerly called Canton, is home to a consulate and part of a four-province area of 200 million people that Sernovitz will call his “turf,” he explained in a recent telephone interview.
As political officer, Sernovitz will “report on political developments … to Washington.” He will also relay U.S. government positions or requests to the Chinese government, and will create reports on human rights and religious freedom, which are “two of the big issues we have with China now,” he said.
“Part of my job is to meet with Chinese officials, dissidents and others and to give accurate, non-Chinese information,” Sernovitz explained. He will meet with the contacts already established by the current and previous political officers there while trying to develop new ones.
Sernovitz, 28, was quick to point out that he’s not a spy. “What I do is open. I am a foreign service officer. I represent the U.S. government and report to the U.S. government.”
Sernovitz, his wife Jo Ann, four-year-old son Jack and 10-month-old daughter Zoe moved to the Washington, D.C., area last summer after an 18-month-long process that included written and oral exams, background checks, medical clearances and wait lists.
He is currently studying intensive advanced Chinese (Mandarin) at the Foreign Service Institute in Arlington, Va., where Jo Ann will soon also begin to study. He spends five hours each day in class and up to three hours daily doing homework.
Sernovitz has also completed diplomatic preparation, including functional classes like public diplomacy and international negotiations, and area-specific classes.
Hooked in high school
Sernovitz, the son of Mequon residents Seema and Neal Sernovitz, said he got “hooked on Chinese language and international relations” during his years at Nicolet High School.
“At Nicolet I had the opportunity to do some model United Nations [sessions] and really enjoyed it. Also, at the time, Nicolet offered Chinese. I had to take a foreign language and that one sounded kind of exotic,” he said. “I liked how unique it was and over time what the Chinese had given to Western culture. I thought it was fascinating.”
Sernovitz earned a bachelor’s degree from University of Wisconsin-Madison in international relations and East Asian area studies. He also earned a law degree there.
During his undergraduate years, Sernovitz spent a semester in Beijing, which gave him a chance to make Chinese friends and do “non-touristy things.”
After law school, he came to Milwaukee and became an estate planner and tax attorney. While researching tax treaties, he thought, “I can interpret them, but wouldn’t it be better to try to make them? Let’s give this one more shot.
“So, I took the exam and I passed.”
The downside to his new career, Sernovitz admitted, is that it’s difficult for a non-officer spouse to get a job, especially in Washington. Jo Ann, who was director of various programs (Interfaith, Youth and Chaverim) at the Harry & Rose Samson Family Jewish Community Center from 2000 to 2002, currently volunteers at the Northern Virginia JCC. In China, she may pursue distance-learning options for a master’s degree and, if she doesn’t find paid employment, will probably volunteer her time.
Sernovitz is pleased that they’ll be near Hong Kong, where there are “four or five synagogues. It’s important to us to give our children a Jewish education,” he said. Four-year-old Jack will start school at the American International School of Guang Zhou.
Sernovitz said that this transient lifestyle has to work for all members of his family. “The moment that we decide that it’s not best for us is the moment it ends,” he said.
For now, however, he is looking forward to the opportunities that lie before him.
“I want to be able to say I make a difference to as large an audience as possible…. If, somehow, what I do, my reporting, changes the Chinese position, even better. That’s the goal. I want to make sure that here in the U.S. we can be safe and secure and conduct our business and get along with everybody.”
On the whole, he concluded, “This is the experience of a lifetime.”
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