about
The homepage of a software developer who has been working on embedded system and multimedia technology for years
The playground of one of those air-fairies, dreaming of living like an artist, writing pieces of legendary stories, travelling around the world and blablabla.
Who am I
I write.
Most of the time I write software, for a living and for fun, and the fun part is that I get a chance to play with dozens of computer languages, giving me a sense of accomplishment when I lament how hard it has been for me to learn new languages in the real world. That's not surprising for ambitious young people who just walk out of the campus, when I was one of them I planned to learn Japanese, German, and maybe Spanish too. Unfortunately I'm yet to be able to read any original from Kafka or Márquez, nor can I watch Manga series without caption.
Occasionally I write something else, poems, essays, and even one or two pieces of fictions, mostly in Chinese, completely for fun.
I paint too.
Though I rarely set up the easel these days I did paint a lot when I was young, especially before I was persuaded to give up the dream of being a fashion designer and turned to the computer science instead. Computer science is good, everything has to be either true or false, nothing inexplicable. (at least before ChatGPT came out)
Timeline
An obscure rural town
1980 - 1997
Datong, Shanxi, China
The town is small, rural and old, hidden among the mountains for hundreds of years, caging me in a monotonous planet where the only window to the outside world is a handful of books stored in my parents' closet. What I learned from those books was that my hometown was mean, nothing and I should flee away as soon as possile. That's it, I dont' want to hide the true feelings I held when I was young and lived in the town, even if it makes me appear snobbish, arrogant and petty.
But it doesn't mean the time I've spent there is negligible It's the same time as others had in their youth: nostalgic, sunny, quiet and mostly happy.
A city burried in the dirt
1997 - 2004
Xi'an, China
My first impression of the City was not great, largely due to the lack of modern buildings, which in my heart should always be the symbol of urban flourish. Most of the multi-story dwellings were in Soviet style: 4 to 6 stories, dull, dreary and characterless.
People there seemed to be living in the past. When someone attempted to compare the City to other places, they just suddenly rewound the time—years, decades, even centuries back and retort with scorn，asking where those cities were when their emperor lighted the beacons on the Great Wall. Then, it become understandable for a rural boy who had never been to a city to be obsessed with the ethereal illusion that all around you were remains of those once glorious empires.
The outcome was devastating for a young man, and it took me years to stop looking inward and accept the validity of what had long happened in the outside world.
Brave new world
2004 - 2005
Beijing, China
"All phenomena which admit of definition are like dreams, illusions, bubbles, shadows, like dew drops and lightning flashes. They ought to be regarded thus."
Self-exile
2005 - 2011
Nanjing, China
Once I had been strongly fascinated with the Southern Dynasties of Ancient China, and that became the only motive for me to make the abrupt decision to move to Nanjing, another obsolete capital of the past, though the move ended up in a big disappointment. My hope crumbled immediately when I dicovered that people there were very different from those in Xi'an, they were more realistic, pragmatic, and never hung on to the past.
It was not until recently that I realized the mistake.
However, generally speaking, life there was not bad: I had a stable job with decent income, got to know several friends, met my wife, ... But I truly felt that would be just one of the many short stops in my life.
The imperial capital
2012 - 2015
Beijing, China
It was winter in 2011 when I moved back to the city, which I thought I'd been in love with. The chilly air gave me a touch of familiarity, meanwhile eveything else reminded me that this was no longer the city in my memory, which was now referred to as "the Imperial Capital".
The golden state
2015 -
California, USA
When I was young and asked what kind of dreams I had, the answer would always be:
- Have a yard when I'm alive.
- Be buried in the soil after I die.
- Wear a shirt throughout the whole year
