Blackstone’s Steve Schwarzman built a program to teach young leaders about China. It’s harder to get into than Harvard

Steve Schwarzman has spent his career on Wall Street—but he’s also been on a quieter quest on the other side of the globe, a decades-long journey to understanding China.

That brought him, in late April, to the New Tsinghua Xuetan, the circular, brick-hued auditorium at Tsinghua University in Beijing, an architectural wonder that resembles a totem from another age. There, the CEO and Chairman of private equity colossus Blackstone was hosting some 1300 alums at the 10th reunion celebration for the Schwarzman Scholars program.