You may have noticed in many sports that a lot of the world’s top athletes win World Championships, but not the Olympics. As a figure skater myself, this is a pattern that is very commonly seen and it is heartbreaking to see athletes who break endless records not win one of the biggest competitions of their lives. So why is that and what makes the Olympics so significant? To me, the first very obvious reason that I think of in terms of the difference between the Olympics and

This week, we are celebrating Russian skaters coming back to figure skating! Some of you might not know, but I am a figure skater, and I did train a lot when I was younger, but now, just practicing by myself. So for me, as both a skater and a fan of the sport, this is obviously a big moment this year. The fact that skaters are coming back to the sport means a lot of things because first, Russian skaters have been banned every since the Russian-Ukraine conflict in 2022 after t

Some of the world's biggest celebrities and entertainment companies are bringing their work to China—from Hollywood blockbusters like Spider-Man: Brand New Day, to fashion nostalgia through The Devil Wears Prada 2, to Rihanna expanding Fenty Beauty into the Chinese market, China has become more than just another audience. It has become one of the most important places where global culture is created, influenced, and monetized. The reason behind this shift starts with one simp

K-pop is now officially everywhere. Even if you are someone who doesn’t know much about it, you probably have heard the names of groups such as BLACKPINK, BTS, or Stray Kids. Those groups are more than just pop groups, they are a full identity to each of the idols in them, a full set of personality and empire, that takes over fans’ social media feed, music feed, and also part of their wallets. But what’s behind all of the glamor on stage? Is there anything else the companies

Media is everywhere, it is how we connect with other people and know about what is happening around us and beyond. What is portrayed in the media is how we see the world—and sometimes, it can make or break our vulnerable and impressionable perceptions of the world. This also connects to a speech and article that I learned in English class at school—Danger of a Single Story—by Chimamanda Adichie, which is about her experiences of seeing the world and the world seeing her throu

After learning about Of Mice and Men in English Literature class at school, Euphoria Season 3 also aired. Of course, I was getting clips of the new season (more like every episode update) of it every day and that gave me the chance of seeing both works from a very different perspective. Some people might think that Euphoria is just a reflection of teenagers who are not “focused” in life, but there is a lot more to that, as it is a reflection of the impossibility of the Americ

I have a very exciting announcement to make: this blog will now be connected to the Teenaged Thoughts podcast! You can access this podcast on YouTube at: https://www.youtube.com/@TeenagedThoughtsPodcast and from now on, every podcast topic will be the same as every blog topic posted, and I will be posting new episodes and articles on the podcast and the blog once every week, and this is will become my safe space to share what I have with the world and to also share more passi

Whenever I skate, I always think about the skaters I admire and their spins and footwork that I would rewatch over and over again because of how much grace it has, and I would then look at my own skating moves and realize ow much of a difference my movements has with the professional skaters’. I would always try my best to mimic it and try to do it in the way I want to, but then it will always turn out in a way that does not look as good. So, in this case, I would fear that t

I came across this video on WeChat channels the other day on this girl who is also a figure skater, talking about how after a conversation with her coach, she realized that passion isn’t always “smiles and motivation and waking up early because you can’t wait”. Passion also looks like tears of pain, frustration, and moments of catastrophe. To me as a skater and a person who is juggling quite a few projects at once, I feel the same. I love what I do. Whether that is in school

After the Milan Winter Olympics, my playlist has welcomed a few new songs, which are the songs skaters have used for their programs, such as The Lost Crown, Dies Irae, MacArthur Park, Fear by NF, Promise, and of course, Viva la Vida. Those songs always bring me back to when the skaters skated their programs and I watched them on the TV in my living room. As amazing as they are, I also thought of another song (other than Viva la Vida) that would encapsulate the vibes and the O

So much has already happened this year in my life—the Olympics ending, the new school semester starting, going to musical practice, starting new projects, refining old projects, etc. I am still in the process of recovering from the sadness of seeing the Olympics end, but school starting has made me shift my perception of it. On my to-do list, there is always this task of “watch the Olympics ONE LAST TIME” because for me to watch the Olympics on the TV screen, I had to buy a M

Recently, school has just started after the Chinese New Year holiday, and that marks the beginning of another semester. This means homework and school work is piling up again, and that goes alongside my extracurricular work. This means that not only do I have 8 hours of school, the time that I have to myself is limited to only 5 hours after school and maximum 0.5 hour before school. This is very little compared to having the whole day to myself during the holidays. I still fe

I reflected on the Milan Winter Olympics and there is one detail that I have not completely thought through. So many athletes are having their last Olympics, and all the happiness and sadness and regrets and all the moments they have been through, is what I like to talk about today. Let’s provide a quick list of figure skaters who will be retiring this season or immediately after the Olympics. Madison Chock and Evan Bates will be retiring after the World Championships. Sui We

Happy Chinese New Year! It’s finally the year of the horse! I was watching the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympics this Chinese New Year holiday and it has been what I have been looking forward to ALL day EVERY day. From the Team Events to women’s singles, there wasn’t one competition I missed out on, and this time, my overall takeaway and thoughts on this event really just revolves around the cruel reality of competitive sports and the importance of facing everything the way it is.

I was busy last weekend as I was in Hong Kong for two days in a row for two events, but now I am making up for the last post :) I was interviewing students at my school for my podcast teaser on Wednesday on whether 2026 will be the next 2016 and some said that it is not possible due to the dominance of AI producing so much of what we see, some said that 2016 was before the pandemic and the economy was growing. One answer stood out to me—as time progresses, one’s perception of

Perhaps we have all seen on social media the trend of bringing back the culture of 2016. On Chinese social media, 2016, along with other years of the 2010s, are seen as the years of “经济上行期”, which essentially means “the era of economic growth”. Think about it—before the pandemic (aka 2019), economies around the world have been booming. As a girl living in China, that rise and people’s attitude towards the future of the nation and the world was extremely optimistic. Not to say

This weekend, I am in Shenzhen at Shen Wai International School for their Model United Nations conference and my school has came with our MUN Director, who is a science teacher at our school and as my friend and I were talking to him, he started to talk about how in his generation, his peers used to talk to each other during their break times while nowadays, we just go on our devices by default. I do recognize this change and this may seem like a negative change but perhaps t

I have skated my whole life but have never taught anyone this formally, but last year, on Dec 28th, I had my first experience teaching autistic children skating and it was one of the most eye-opening experiences I have had. I have trained for singles skating all my life and have never experienced what it was like to grow with someone else. All the time in my life, I have been told to do everything for the best of myself and my own benefits, but teaching someone else? I have

It is officially 2026! I still cannot believe that I have been in Guangdong for a year already, and this year has been a year of change, growth, and evolution for me. I have been through so much within the past 12 months and I simply feel like I have grown more than I can ever imagine. I have had so many shifts in perspectives and perceptions through all the experiences—going back to Beijing for MUN, business operations, transferring to a new school, and getting used to life

This week is the first week of Christmas holiday, and I have so many mixed emotions—my first ever magazine has been published! This has been the product of 3 months of hard work from nothing to 18 pages after working with my English teachers, my classmates and the headmaster. We have interviewed so many teachers for the publication, had so much decision-making to do to figure out the formatting, photos, articles, but I just can’t wait to let the school and rest of the studen