Farewell, Beijing

So after a little break from life online, I'm finally back. Recently I decided to take a hiatus for a few reasons. One… I've literally been sleeping 10 hours a day for the past few months in what feels like catching up on years of sleep. Two…. I'm not in Beijing anymore. I've decided to move to a new city for the first time in seven years since I originally moved to China in 2015. I'm writing this letter from my new studio in my new apartment. It's the middle of winter, but the windows are open, the sun is shining through, and I'm wearing shorts… let's just say I'm loving Shenzhen winters. You heard right, I'm in Shenzhen now. Even for me it's hard to believe. Just a few months back I thought I would never leave Beijing. In many ways, I felt like I was at a relative pinnacle in my life. I had achieved everything that I had set out to do when I came to China 7 years ago: learn Chinese, find a job that I love, make films for a living. Why should I leave this behind? The funny part is this question is the very question that people around me asked when I left Canada and a dream job out of university to come to China in the first place… so I guess you could say that this ain't my first rodeo. So for how difficult and challenging this decision to move to Shenzhen has been, in many ways the feeling was exactly the same as when I originally decided to move to China 7 years ago: natural and instinctual. I often tell people that in many ways my life is like a start up: coming to Beijing with a Chinese phrasebook and a dream, joining Xiaomi with a seed of an idea that would grow up to become Xiaomi Studios; and with all start ups, it's not about the outcome, it's about the journey to the outcome that truly matters. These invaluable journeys of self growth and evolution are what truly make my time in China unforgettable. I think a part of every person's journey is knowing when to go down a new path; that's what defines a true adventure. I feel an emotional rush inside me every time I look back at my time in Beijing and the change and growth that I've gone through. It was not an easy choice leaving everything that I've come to know and love in Beijing, but at this point in my journey it felt like the right one. No matter how high the highs are and how low the lows are, I will always treasure this journey and will be forever thankful to those that helped me along the way; and I'll look back at that boy who came here 7 years ago and say to him: I don't understand you at all and yet I completely understand you. On the eve of the Year of the Rabbit and the beginning of a new adventure in Shenzhen. I can only say what I always say: stay tuned :) Yours truly, Steven Senshan

New website coming soon