<aside> 💡 A place for me to document, track, and appreciate key moments of my life, which contributes to a continuously growing list of learnings and takeaways
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Early Childhood in China
May ‘02
I was born in Ganzhou, a tier-3 city in the Jiangxi province of Southern China. Being a 3rd tier city means that most people likely have never heard of the place, despite its rich history and ~1.5m population. I don’t remember much about my early childhood in Ganzhou, other than a vague picture of my neighborhood and the delicious (and spicy) local cuisine 🌶
Jun ‘06
When I was 4, my father, Jack, decided to move our family to Shanghai. He did well as a real estate developer back home and decided to give it a shot in the big city. My mother, June, was working for the Chinese Customs, so she couldn’t leave her post to come with me. Instead, my grandpa joined us and largely raised me by himself during my early years 🏙
Sept ‘06
In China, education is highly valued. I enrolled in a musical kindergarten established by the famous Chinese pianist, Liu Shikun. A musical kindergarten is just like any other kindergartens, but everyone must learn an instrument alongside the normal curriculum. I picked piano, and with a love-hate relationship, it continued to be a part of my life over the next 12 years 🎹
Aug ‘08
I grew up as a sickly child. I distinctly remember running halfway around the school track and completely running out of breath, accompanied by a coughing attack. It turned out that I had asthma. Concerned for my health, my mom quit her cushy government job and moved to Shanghai. To increase my appetite, my mom and grandpa made me a steamed apple soup every single day for 2 years. It worked magic and taught me the power of consistency. 🍎
Sept ‘08 - Jul ‘13
I attended Jincai Elementary School from grade 1 - 5. These years were bit of a blur, but I remember spending a lot of time studying, going to the park and science museums, and playing board games with my best friend. My mom began a career designing high-end jewelry, and my dad worked hard to break into Shanghai’ guarded real estate market. With them busy at work, I spent a lot of time reading by myself. During those years, I fell in love with reading and particularly enjoyed Greek mythology and Chinese martial arts fiction 📕
Aug ‘13
My parents decided that education, food safety, air quality, and career opportunities are better overseas. At least those were the reasons they told me. Perhaps also with a desire to separate themselves from the constant fighting and show they were able to send their child overseas, my mom would accompanied me to study abroad ✈️
Sept ‘13
The plan was to attend a middle school near Boston, where my uncle lived. However, when we arrived in the US, we learned that there were issues with our paperwork. Just as we were about to return to China, my aunt from Halifax called and told us I would be able to study in Canada. On September 9th, we drove from Boston and crossed the border to Canada 🇨🇦
Coming of Age in Canada
Sept ‘13 - Aug ’14
Just 1 day after I arrived in Canada, I enrolled in Park West School. I remember my mom remarking how much lighter the backpacks are in Canada— I was indeed quite happy about that. My English was very poor in the beginning, especially with slangs. During my first day, a girl asked me, “what’s up?” I stared up blankly and replied, “Ceiling?” My English would improve drastically since there were no Chinese students around. Within 6 months, I was fluent 🗣
Sept ‘14
My mother and I moved to the South End of Halifax, and I enrolled at Halifax Grammar School where I would remain for the next 6 years. To pay for my education and compensate for my dad’s declining business, my mom became an Airbnb host and slowly purchased more rental units. Over the next 6+ years, this proved to be an extremely laborious and stressful job, which taught me a ton about the value of hard work and perseverance 🏘
Oct ‘15
During my second year at Grammar, I joined the debate club. This would prove to be the most transformational activity in high school. I greatly improved my English, made amazing friends, gained intellectual curiosity, sharpened my critical thinking skills, and became much more extroverted 🎤
Nov ‘16 - Aug ‘18
I really liked Grammar and have made a few new friends. Starting at the tail end of grade 8, I began to drink and party. I made more friends with people at my school and others; finally, I felt like I had fully assimilated into Canadian life. During those two years, I became much more social, began talking to girls, and cared about stupid high school nonsense. With each party, I felt my Canadian identity grew stronger 🎉
Sept ‘18
After 5 years, I became a Canadian citizen. At this point, I felt like my identity was more rooted in Canada than in China, and I certainly preferred the Canadian way of life. Although I was sad giving up my Chinese citizenship (China doesn’t allow duos), my family and I were all extremely excited seeing my passport turn from red to blue at the citizenship ceremony 🛂
Oct ‘18
In grade 11, our school curriculum shifted to the IB program. I liked the more challenging curriculum (especially HL Math) since I’ve always found Canadian education to be quite easy compared to China. What I appreciated the most from IB was the CAS program, where I learned that launching my own initiatives gave me a ton of energy. When most students volunteered at an established organization, I created a free English education program for Chinese immigrants and raised money for a scholarship at a local community college 📚
Jun ‘19
In the summer before grade 12, I started thinking about universities. I decided to take my first-ever solo trip to visit some US schools. I travelled to New York, Philadelphia and Boston and explored those university towns (loved Philly!) Afterwards, I flew to China to visit my dad who had moved back to Ganzhou after a few stagnating years in Shanghai. I also accompanied my dad to Phuket and explored Thailand with our extremely hospitable Thai friends from the CP Group. This is when I first fell in love with travelling (See more of the trip here!) 🌏
Sept ‘19 - Feb ‘20
During grade 12, I lived by myself in an apartment after my mom rented out our house for Airbnb. At first disappointed, I grew to enjoy my personal space and took up cooking as a hobby (see some of my cooking here). I spent a lot of time applying to universities, and in February, I was accepted into Queen’s Commerce with a full-ride scholarship. 💵
Mar ‘20
To celebrate (almost) graduating, we organized a trip to Cancún with most of our grade. We had an absolute blast; however, as soon as we returned, Canada pronounced a nation-wide lockdown. Covid-19 put the world to a halt, our final exams were cancelled, our prom was delayed, and everyone lived in isolation and uncertainty 😷
Jun - Aug ‘20
Fortunately and perhaps pre-maturely, Nova Scotia loosened its restrictions, and I was able to have one last fun summer before university. I went on a road trip to camp at Cape Breton with my two best friends, explored beaches in rural Nova Scotia, and still managed to have a prom outdoors. I cherished every moment with my friends during that summer before everyone went their separate ways. (See more of my summer here) ☀️
Time of My Life at University
Sept ‘20 - Jan’21
Despite Covid, I decided to still do my first year of university in person. I moved into Chown Hall at Queen’s, which was probably one of the worst residences on campus. Nevertheless, I had a ton of fun. During the first semester, my social energy was turned to max. My first few weeks consisted of nothing but meeting new people and making new friends. I became best friends with the people on my floor and spent the remainder of the year making unforgettable memories 🍻
May ‘21
When I came back to Halifax during the summer, my mom moved to a farm and raised animals. She decided to do something completely different that made her happy, which I very much supported. Some funny stories came out of the farm life. I remember doing my first internship as a BDR (hybrid), and I had to skip a whole day because my horses had run away. I spent the day getting them back and building a fence around the farm. “My horses ran away” was certainly not an excuse my boss had ever heard! (See farm pics here) 🐴
Aug ‘21
This would be my last full summer in Halifax. Looking back at it, I was extremly happy with how I had spent my time. I went on another road trip with my high school friends to Cape Breton, went skydiving with my university friends, and went on a 17-day bender where we partied and drove from Halifax to Peterborough (summer trip pics) 🚘
Sept ‘21
When we got back to school, my roommate (Jacob) and I officially launched The Blockchain Lab (TBL). We had been working on this idea for months, with the goal of creating a community of like-minded students interested in blockchain technology. This would turn out to be my most important and transformational experience during college. I learned a ton about leadership, people management, goal setting, and pivoting to new ideas ⛓
Oct ‘21 - Apr ‘22
Second year was a ton of fun. We moved into our own house (where we would stay for the next 3 years), hosted and attended a bunch of parties, started going to bars and clubs (finally legal), went to Cancun for reading week break with one of my best friends from high school, and had a boys trip to Montreal. Second year flew by in a flash, and I was extremely happy with who I’ve surrounded myself with 🎬
May ‘22
This was my first summer in Toronto. I got an internship as a Growth Equity Analyst at Round13 Capital, a venture capital firm. I lived with 3 other people (one was my roommate) in an apartment just north of Kensington Market and absolutely loved Toronto. I really enjoyed the city, the vibes during the summer, and the amazing food scene. I also became very interested in venture capital. I learned a ton, really bonded with the team, and joined the DAF team for a spring internship. I also went to Collision and Veld, both a ton of fun 🎊
Jan - Apr ‘23
My 2nd semester in 3rd year was the highlight of university. I went on exchange to Singapore and traveled all around South East Asia. Singapore became one of my favourite cities in the world— modern, clean, safe, beautiful, and multi-cultural. I made friends with local students and a ton of exchange students. I explored SEA over 10+ trips to places like Phuket, Bali, and Flores. This was doubtlessly the best 4 months of my life (Exchange pics & stories here) 🏝
May ‘23
I went to China after exchange to visit my dad for 2 weeks. I went back to my hometown and enjoyed so many childhood dishes that I deeply missed. Afterwards, my dad and I flew to Vancouver and decided to do a Canadian road trip. We rented a car and drove around the country (Banff was the highlight). This trip opened my eyes to the beauty of Canada (See road trip pics here) 🏔
Jun - Sept ‘23
After my dad flew back to China, I spent another summer in Toronto. This time I lived on Queen West with 2 roommates and interned for McKinsey. I enjoyed my time and really appreciated having likeminded people who are similarly aged around me (internship takeaways here). I spent a lot of my free time exploring the food scene (restaurant list), clubbing on weekends, and relaxing at cottages. Towards the end of my summer, I also went to Osheaga (Fred again was amazing) and did a white water canoe camping trip 🛶
Oct - Dec ‘23
I tried my hardest to cherish every moment in 4th year by maximizing my time with friends and doing interesting things. With this goal and mindset, I had a great first semester. We went to party at Western (rival school), rented 2 cottages with my clubs, hosted friends who visited Queen’s Hoco, did a weekend trip to Montreal, and cooked some amazing meals. Personally, I spent a lot of time reading, focused on personal growth, and started building a start up
Jan - Apr ‘24
Second semester is when it really hit me— university is almost over. Throughout the four years, I’ve shared amazing memories with some incredible friends. After this semester, some will move away, and others will begin to grow distant as life gets in the way. It’s now the last chance to celebrate university life. We continued the trend from first semester— travelled to Montreal for Igloofest (EDM festival in -20C weather), made huge group dinners to celebrate special occasions, flew to Punta Cana and partied hard for our spring break, and sailed away towards the sunset on an end of year boat cruise.
May - Jun ‘24
Grad trip! When most people flew to Asia or Europe, 4 of us drove South in a 21-year-old Toyota Sienna and embraced the quintessential broke university student experience of living out of a van. Over 6 weeks, we drove >15000km across 20 states and visited 7 national parks and 10 cities. 4 friends joined us on separate legs of the trip from a few days to 3 weeks. From partying in Vegas to climbing mountains in Grand Teton, we did it all and loved it all (more on road trip). Finally, we drove back to Kingston and officially walked across the stage with diplomas in hand.
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