I was born in Rujigou, a small town tucked deep in the Helan Mountains of Ningxia in northwestern China. Ningxia has long been shaped by crossings—of farming and pastoral life, peoples and faiths, migration and settlement, old routes of exchange and newer waves of industrial development. Growing up there taught me to see China not as a single story, but as a place continually remade through movement and encounter.

Since then, my life has carried me from Ningxia to Hong Kong and Toronto, and across Mandarin, Cantonese, and English. Coming of age as a queer person added another dimension to that journey, making me attentive to how people seek intimacy, recognition, and belonging within the conditions they inhabit. Moving across places, languages, and social contexts continues to shape both who I am and the questions I bring to sociology.