Cyrus Janssen has spent nearly two decades moving between China and the West, building a life that has given him a close-up view of both sides.

For Jackson Ewing, curiosity was what drew him deeper into China. While living in Southeast Asia, he began to see how much China’s choices on energy, development and the environment mattered far beyond its borders.

From her farm in Iowa, April Hemmes has watched American agriculture change, while seeing firsthand how farmers’ fortunes can be shaped by markets and people halfway around the world, including in China.

What happens when you stop wondering what China is like and decide to come and see for yourself? Zechariah Werner Levi, an American student at the College of Applied Chinese Studies, BLCU, did just that. He left Las Vegas, learned Mandarin, moved to Beijing – and found a country, a relationship and a life he never expected.

Brantley Turner and Xiaofeng Wan took very different journeys across the Pacific. Brantley came to China in 1994 and found a life in education, while Xiaofeng left China for the US and built a career helping students find their way to American colleges. Together, they share what those journeys taught them about education, opportunity and seeing the world from the other side – and why staying connected still matters.

For Chinese environmental scientist Li Binbin and American photographer Rob Green, a China-US national parks exchange brought them together in the wild – and led to an unexpected friendship. Working side by side, they discovered how much they could learn from each other, from protecting wildlife and ecosystems to finding new ways to tell the stories of nature.

Mark Atkeson arrived in Beijing on an almost empty Boeing 747. What he saw was a quiet, unfamiliar country of bicycles, few cars and little neon — but also a place he believed was on the cusp of something big.

In 1984, 22-year-old American student Brian Linden came to China on a scholarship, looking for a new direction in life. More than four decades later, China has become his home. He has raised a family here, restored historical buildings in rural Yunnan, and built the Linden Centre into a platform for cultural exchange.

Jonathan Gragert came to China thinking he might stay for a year or two. Instead, he met Penny, settled in Nanjing, and built a life that brings together two families, two cultures and two very different ways of seeing the world.

China and the United States have a complicated relationship — shaped by cooperation and shared interests, but also differences and disagreements. But beyond the headlines are millions of people whose lives connect both countries. In "Hello from the Other Shore," we meet Americans whose journeys take us from business and education to wildlife protection and family life — revealing the personal stories that bring people together across borders.