The stories behind three of the foreigners who were conferred the Shanghai Magnolia Silver Award this year.

Editor's note: Named after the city flower, the Shanghai Magnolia Award ranks among the highest honors a foreigner can receive for his or her outstanding contributions to the city's economic and cultural industries. This prestigious award has three levels - Silver, Gold and the Honorary Citizen of Shanghai title. Only those who have won a silver are eligible for the gold, and an individual must have won both these titles before being nominated for the honorary citizen accolade. Fifty foreigners from 19 countries were conferred this year's Magnolia Silver Award during a ceremony held on Sept 12. The winners of this year's award, all of whom have spent several years working in the city, come from a wide range of industries, including economy, trade, finance, science and technology, education and health. China Daily talks to three of them.

A Spaniard's quest for excellence in a city that embodies it

When Juan Carlos Diaz Vasquez was a child, he aspired to become an archaeologist who could unravel the mysteries of the world.

The work he does today could be considered vaguely similar, though it does not involve searching for ancient relics or mummified remains of pharaohs. Rather, what this creative specialist in themed showcases unearths are facts from the past which he presents in innovative, eye-catching ways in exhibitions around the world.

One of these exhibitions takes the form of the Shanghai World Expo Museum, the world's first museum which documents the history of such expos since London's Great Exhibition in 1851.

Officially opened in May 2017, the Shanghai World Expo Museum was a result of a collaboration between the Bureau International des Expositions (BIE) and the Shanghai municipal government.

As creative director of the museum's historic section, Vasquez is responsible for all design matters from start to finish, including crafting the philosophy and vision of the space, writing the content plan and supervising the production and installation of the contents.

The chance to work on this project, which the Spaniard ranks among his most memorable, came in 2013 when he took up an offer by BIE to develop the creative concept for the facility. Having been fascinated with Chinese culture for many years, Vasquez jumped at the opportunity.

"My training as an art historian means I feel especially drawn toward Chinese art and culture. I have been very impressed by many of the facilities in the city, including the Shanghai Museum, the Long Museum, the Art West Bund and the Shanghai History Museum," he said.

"In 1984 I visited an exhibition called 7,000 years of China in Venice which left a huge impression on me. It was the first time I saw the terracotta warriors and the jade burial suit which is now in the National Museum in Beijing. Working in Shanghai more than 30 years later is like rediscovering that incredible, revelatory experience," he added.

Because of his job, Vasquez has traveled to Shanghai and other parts of China more than a dozen times over the past five years and has as such gained a keen understanding and appreciation for the country's museums and exhibitions.

He noted that China has since the 2010 World Expo, which was held in Shanghai, demonstrated that it is capable of creating "new technology, equipment, museums and exhibitions that lay the foundations for a cultural offering par excellence".

This quality of the city, he added, also reflects his values to life and work, which suggests why he managed to win the prestigious Magnolia Award.

"What drives me in my career is excellence. Every project becomes my entire life and I put the very best of myself into each one," he said.

"My maxim is to do everything as well as it possibly can be. I thrive on overcoming the challenges that arise as well as meeting, and exceeding, the expectations of those who put their trust in me to carry out the projects."

Another reason why he's happy to continue returning is due to his fascination of the city.

"I like Shanghai's capacity to surprise, its continuous pulse, its cosmopolitan nature and its contrasts. In Europe, there is a great fascination about Shanghai as it symbolizes modernity and the future. When I came in 2013, the skyline made me feel as if I'd arrived in the future. All that was missing were the flying cars," he quipped.

"But when you travel around the city you begin to see all these contrasts between the new and the old and I think that's even more fascinating because you can see the true spirit of the city. I hope China will work hard to maintain this spirit."

For his contributions to the Shanghai World Expo Museum, the Spaniard was on Sept 12 conferred the Magnolia Silver Award.

"This award fills me with happiness. This is the first time I've won an award since I was six years old!" he laughed.

"It's a great honor and I'm incredibly grateful to everyone who has been involved with the World Expo Museum. The award is shared with all of them. I would also like to say a huge thank you to the city."

But Vasquez has made it clear that winning the award does not represent the closing of the Shanghai chapter in his life. In fact, he hopes to unearth more knowledge of Chinese culture in the coming years.

"Winning this award is like a warm embrace, one that fills me with enthusiasm and drive to continue working on new and interesting projects here in China," he said.

"I would be delighted to continue working here on new projects; those that have a positive impact on society. And I would also be delighted if I can continue learning as I have done up to now."

The passionate educator

During his growing up years, Mark Ecklesdafer was gifted with a seemingly boundless curiosity. He had a knack for the sciences and everything that had to do with outer space. He aspired to be an astronaut. He wanted to explore the unknown.

Things didn't change much when he was in college. In 2004, he was presented with the opportunity to visit Shanghai for a study abroad program with his peers from Grand Valley State University in the United States. Ecklesdafer didn't think twice about participating.

He was in Shanghai for only six weeks, but that was enough to get him hooked on Chinese culture and the city's effervescent nature. He loved the experience so much he even returned the next year to participate in an extended 12-week program.

He bought a one-way ticket. He was convinced that Shanghai was where he wanted to be.

Following his graduation, Ecklesdafer went on to begin his career as an educator in Shanghai. He worked at two educational institutions before joining the prestigious Soong Ching Ling School in 2009.

"I was born in a small town near Grand Rapids in Michigan that has a population of only about 200,000 people. It doesn't have a lot of diversity. Here in Shanghai, I get to work with people from different parts of China and all over the world, and the challenges this brings is exciting. I don't think I would feel as challenged at home. In fact, I'd probably feel bored," said Ecklesdafer.

"This is a place where I get to learn new things and meet new people every year. There are opportunities here that I would never get if I were back home."

Today, 14 years after first setting foot in the city, the American has much to celebrate about. Besides being appointed the vice principal for the international division of the primary school at the private education institution in early August, Ecklesdafer is also a newly minted Magnolia Silver Award winner. Launched in 1989, the Magnolia Silver Award is one of the top awards for foreigners in Shanghai conferred in recognition of their outstanding contributions to the city.

Since 2007, Ecklesdafer has been helping to promote Chinese culture and history through his interactions with students from Grand Valley State University who visit the city to participate in the same program he was in.

His efforts in promoting cultural exchange has even gone beyond China's borders. In 2016, Ecklesdafer led a school project that involved using donations by students to procure 228 solar powered flashlights that were sent to the Katwe Martyrs' Elementary School in Uganda to help solve learning and living difficulties caused by frequent electrical outages.

But despite his success, the 35-year-old points out that his greatest career achievement is simply helping children who face behavioral or family problems improve. He is also coy about winning the Magnolia Silver Award, saying: "I'm surprised. I work with a lot of amazing people and I feel that we all work very hard. I'm happy that I got it but I'm not sure if I necessarily deserve it."

A self-confessed geek who plays the Nintendo Switch while on the bus to work every day, Ecklesdafer has leveraged his passion for tech and games to help his students learn better. In fact, he was the teacher who first pioneered the use of iPads in the classroom. The initiative was so successful in making learning more engaging that the school will soon add another 25 iPads to the classrooms.

The key benefit of using technology, he explained, is that it makes the learning process more interesting for the children.

"Using technology makes learning more interactive and fun. This iPad initiative has demonstrated that technology and games can help children expand their vocabulary quicker and more effectively," he said.

"When you get the kids engaged, there are no limits to what they can learn."

This focus on making learning engaging, he said, stems from Mrs Maggie, the teacher who taught him in fourth grade.

"I was one of those students that most teachers might not like because I was always restless, talking to people and fidgeting all the time. Mrs Maggie was someone who treated me differently. She saw me as an individual who had potential to thrive if I was engaged a different way. And I take this approach in the classroom today," he said.

While the Chinese education system has at times drawn criticism from the Western world for its focus on rote memorization, Ecklesdafer explains that it is all about finding a balance. In fact, that is exactly why he loves working at the Soong Ching Ling School, which uses both Chinese and Western learning approaches in its curriculum.

"I think there are good things from both styles. For topics like math and science, rote learning helps with building the foundation. And when you've built a solid foundation, you can go on to do more creative things," he explained.

"I feel that there's room for more memorization. There's also room for more collaborative and creative learning. Combining the best of the two styles would lead to a better learning experience for the kids."

Tinkering his way to success

Born in the city of Oshawa, an automobile manufacturing hub in Canada, Ronald Ball has always been exposed to all things engineering.

The fact that his father ran an automobile repair shop also meant that his childhood was spent tinkering with tools and running around with a wrench in search of things to fix.

Like many of the residents within his community, Ball worked at the General Motors plant in the city after graduating from high school. He left after a year to pursue higher education in mechanical engineering at Ryerson University before working as a maintenance foreman at a manufacturing plant that made steel springs for cars and trains.

But it was his subsequent stint at the renowned tire and rubber company Goodyear that proved to be his springboard to success.

"The Goodyear facility I worked at produced industrial rubber products instead of tires. One day, a company approached us to buy raw materials so that they could make escalator handrails. That was when I got the opportunity to learn the manufacturing process for such a unique product," said Ball.

"When I left Goodyear in 1976, I studied the market and was convinced that I could make a business out of selling handrails. That company I used to service has since became my competitor."

A year later, Ball founded the Escalator Handrail Company (EHC). Over the past four decades, EHC has grown to become a leading supplier of handrails as well as a host of other rubber and plastic components for lifts and escalators. It counts major companies such as Schindler and Otis as its clients, and has branches in 21 countries including China, Germany, Japan, Spain and the United States.

The company's foray into China started in 1996 when Ball established the EHC Shanghai company. The move to have a presence in China, said Ball, was one of necessity, as most of the world's manufacturers of escalators and elevators had already set up facilities in the country.

"It was a simple decision. We simply followed our customers to where they went so that we could continue to be their major supplier. Today, everyone who makes escalators and elevators have a base here, and these China-based plants account for about 75 percent of the global supply of escalators and elevators," he said.

Having lived in Shanghai for the past 22 years, Ball has witnessed the rapid development of not just the city but the nation's manufacturing industry. The change, he said, has been nothing short of phenomenal.

"No country has ever developed as quickly and to the degree of prosperity that we now have in China. There are so many things that China is now excelling at and they could soon become leaders in automation and artificial intelligence," he said.

But it was not just his expertise in this niche product that Ball brought along with him to China - the Canadian is also well-known in business circles for being a passionate facilitator of economic, trade and investment exchange.

Some of his roles outside the company include being a board member of the manufacturers' business council within the American Chamber of Commerce, a consultant to the China-Canada Trade Council, and the vice chairman of the Shanghai Chamber of Commerce's Industrial Association. Ball also plays an integral role in the strengthening of technological and cultural exchanges between his hometown of Oshawa and Jiading district in Shanghai.

Last year, Ball was awarded the prestigious Governor General's Medallion by the Canadian government in recognition of his efforts in promoting relations between China and Canada.

The latest addition to his trophy cabinet came on Sept 12 when Ball was conferred the Magnolia Silver Award, one of the highest honors a foreigner can receive in Shanghai.

Ball's eagerness to help others extends beyond the commercial realm, too. The Canadian is a fervent supporter of blood donation and has constantly been encouraging his employees to do so. He has also been an ardent supporter of the Shanghai government's Love Under the Blue Sky charity project.

"I'm delighted to have won the Magnolia Award. I think it's wonderful that Shanghai can reach out and recognize that there are foreigners out there who have performed to the benefit of the city. I am very proud of the fact that I have managed to make a small contribution to the progress of the city," he said.

"We just want to make the world a better place. If we can help other people, companies, China or Canada, we're willing to do so. We don't mind going out of our way to help promote multiculturalism, trade and commercialism around the world. To me, this is an obligation. We need to reach out and look beyond our own needs and help the world."