Liao Xuan

Age 39. 7-year-old son. Grew up an hour north of Chengdu. Got onto the internet early, had a Yahoo account, got into chats with people from Sudan. Intrigued by this international connecting of people.

Went to Guangdong for university in finance, then to Milton Keynes England for a year for masters. Worked in Shenzhen for a few years, now living in Chengdu for 10 years. Teaches economics.

Met her husband through her mother, who knew she was looking for someone very different than herself. He's from Xinjiang with a very different background, and they have very different parenting styles.

We talked a lot about parenting, how much emphasis on academics versus creative freedom.

She told me about a very small (under 10 students!) school in Chengdu that teaches creative thinking and welcomes students with a challenge to write something that ChatGPT could not.

She had me sign my "How to Live" book with an inscription to her son for him to find by himself on the family bookshelf many years from now.

I asked about the Chinese culture to talk about money - people asking strangers "How much do you make?" She said that was not at all the culture where she grew up or her family, and she's never heard anyone ask that. So what I heard might have been specific to a place.

Her dad played music his whole life, but his mother just started teaching herself music since retiring, and the two of them bring their instruments down by the river each morning to practice. Old people are having the time of their life here now.