Australian language expert leading volunteer team

With the G20 summit set to be hosted by Hangzhou in September, the role of volunteers is increasingly in the spotlight.

A volunteer ceremony will be held in the city on Saturday and one of the keynote speakers will be Australian multi-linguist Tom Clancy. The 30-year-old was nominated as a representative for the G20 international volunteers by the city government two months ago, after he was named as the first official foreign volunteer shortly after Hangzhou was selected as G20 host at the end of 2015.

It was an apt choice. Clancy, whose wife comes from Jinhua, Zhejiang province, is fluent in both Mandarin and Cantonese. He can also communicate in Japanese, Korean, Italian and Turkish, as well as his native English.