“PageZ” originated as an interview project I initiated during my gap year.

It was COVID time. I had my quarter-life crisis and contemplated my own position—at the midpoint between two cultures at opposite ends of the world, two superpowers at the peak of their political rivalry, and two philosophy traditions definitive of my identity. Back home, people like me are called hai gui, sometimes written in Chinese as “sea turtles (海龟)” due to a similar pronunciation, literally translated as “coming back from overseas.”

This is a unique background shared by 300,000 people in the US, a number that seemed only ever-growing. So I interviewed my friends, each lasting five hours, about who they were, what they did, and how they felt. All four were born in China and were undergoing liberal arts education in the US. Spending days and nights thinking, writing, editing, and discussing with my crew, I was simply curious: What had shaped them into who they were? What did this reveal about Chinese internationals, about our generation, the iconic “Gen Z,” and about culture as a form of soft power? And since “journalism is the first rough draft of history,” what would my documentation do and where was everybody going?

Naturally, “PageZ” is a four-part documentary: his aspiration for public service in China; her thoughts on arts, philosophy, and travel; his vision on mask business and brain tech; his experiences in LGBTQ+ activism.

Here is an excerpt from a short reflection piece I wrote two years later:

“The hai gui group longed for such an interactive yin-yang balance with culture’s malleable and formative power. Like Schrödinger's cat, they enter a fluid state simultaneously Chinese, American, and endlessly more. Partly as an outsider, I observed them evolving on the verge of adulthood and aspiring with distinct life choices. As a “sea turtle” myself, I stumbled on the beach and reached for the ocean with other newly-hatched peers. In curiosity, we marched toward the future of infinite possibilities like the ever-surging waves.”