Team
All-volunteer working teams supporting camp preparation and delivery.
China Women’s University · Social Work
A mountain person from southwest China: a Sichuan native who neither likes spicy food nor plays mahjong. Enjoys wandering through Buddhist grottoes and historic sites and collecting old books. Researches gender sociology and women’s self-organization. After a year spent in teahouses, hopes to weave a space of care and connection together at Zhihe.
University of Warwick · Classics
In a seventh year in the UK, working with the Greco-Roman world of over two thousand years ago. Old-fashioned in manner, avant-garde in thought. Enjoys people-watching, exploring mountains and rivers, cooking, panda videos, and ball games. Surfing is next on the list.
University of Oxford · History; Macalester College · Economics & Applied Mathematics
From Nanjing, a PhD student and social scientist in the making. Studies eighteenth- and nineteenth-century British intellectual history, with a dissertation on the formation of political economy. Wider interests center on education, culture, and population. An amateur musician and fugue enthusiast dreaming of an oratorio based on The Peach Blossom Spring. Good at whistling and Minesweeper. The team cat in a cardboard box.
Shaanxi Normal University · Chinese Language & Literature
An introvert from northeast China and a theater lover, especially devoted to The Phantom of the Opera. Drawn to playful oddities, flamboyant colors, tense stories, and everything theatrical. Reads across genres and is currently absorbed in horror fiction. Recently left a three-year teaching job to explore new ways of living.
Renmin University of China · Aesthetics
Uses curiosity and imagination to keep an artistic spirit alive, aspiring to be a good reader and a good writer. Find me online under this name ^_^
Humboldt University of Berlin · Philosophy
Researches critical social theory and social philosophy. Currently reading, working out, and traveling around Europe on a budget. In yet another year of dedicated work with the team, hopes to keep meeting more interesting people.
Princeton University · Anthropology, second-year PhD student
From Shijiazhuang, Hebei; enjoys telling jokes and cooking. Academic interests lie in ideology: what people believe, collective imagination, anticipation, and waiting. Hopes to explore more publicly engaged ways of producing knowledge and putting it into practice together.
Renmin University of China · Sociology
An introvert whose curiosity about the world makes conversations irresistible. Spent two gap years volunteering in education in northwest China, and has worked at a major tech company and in tutoring. Still hopes to contribute to changing the world through everyday actions.
Washington University in St. Louis · MA in Classics
An INFP inclined toward inspiration and freedom, trusting the wisdom of the body. Listens to avant-garde music and reads classical texts. Ecstasy is the essence of life.
Nankai University · World History
Studied world history for four years. A whisky and craft beer enthusiast interested in the histories of drink and gangs. Has worked as a bartender and enjoys drinks and conversations with different friends. Lately cannot stop listening to the band North China Shaking.
Lingnan University, Hong Kong · Chinese Literature
Holding tight to literature in the gale. Started a poetry club at an engineering school, wrote a thesis on Sprouts, reads peer writing with people in different places, and helps edit a poetry recommendation account. Grew up in Shanghai and moved to Hong Kong last year, still getting used to the new place.
The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen · Humanities & Social Sciences
A young Zhihe veteran: a first-year student with two years on the team. A longtime lover of socializing, cocktails, and conversations over meals, with occasional urges to spend a whole day alone in a bookshop or café. Currently exploring the world in search of interests and aspirations.
Shanghai University of Finance and Economics · Business Administration; Sun Yat-sen University · Aesthetics
A Guiyang local through and through and a philosophy researcher by an unconventional path. A ghost wandering between worlds and scenes, potentially everything and nothing. Loves independent music and underground scenes, confronting unease and trying to connect with others.
Guizhou University · Chinese Language & Literature
Switches between low and high energy, introversion and extroversion, depending on interests and circumstances. Enjoys observing people, landscape photography, drawing, fluffy animals, rock music, musicals, films, and football. Console games are a favorite. Good at supporting others, sometimes with a little too much empathy.
Nankai University · Sociology
Hopes to keep researching communities and self-organization independently. Aspires to visit every country and connect different kinds of communities in pursuit of a contemporary Whole Earth Catalog.
Heilongjiang University · Frontier History
From Harbin. A geography teacher, cultural-space operator, and exhibition curator who loves travel and music. Exploring more possibilities, including becoming a DJ (hahaha).
Shanghai University of Political Science and Law · Chinese Language & Literature
A not-quite-typical Guiyang native working in Shanghai and hoping to live in the mountains someday. Loves both gaming at home and exploring the world, and many real, particular people and things. Always happy to chat—perhaps the team’s only unapologetically ordinary soul.
Tongji University · Art & Design
From Xi’an, practicing social innovation: feeling → ideas → action. Reaching toward the rough edges of the world in hope of real change. Attentive to daily life, fond of collecting things, and curious about the world. A little hiking, a little exhibition curation, a little design.
Leadership
Board Chair
Royal Holloway, University of London · Geography
Baichuan has studied geography in the UK for seven years and enjoys hiking, skiing, and gin. Their research focuses on cross-border mobility in the Himalayas. They love Li Zhi’s music, Lou Ye’s films, and FC Barcelona.
Vice Chair / Brand
Nankai University · Sociology
Hopes to always do independent research on communities and self-organization, aspiring to visit every country on Earth to connect different kinds of communities—working toward a contemporary Whole Earth Catalog.
Vice Chair / Curriculum
China Women's University · Social Work
Thriving in her first year working with Zhihe's curriculum team. A mountain-and-field person from southwest China who loves Yunnan, Guizhou, and Sichuan. Spent a gap year doing fieldwork; enjoys travel, cooking, and deep hugs and conversations with friends. Familiar with teahouses and Buddhist grottoes across towns in Sichuan and Chongqing. Research interests sit at the intersection of gender, emotion, and space—how emotion emerges as a generative force in social relations, bodies, and the making of space, reshaping everyday life.
Vice Chair / Operations
Nankai University · World History
Studied world history at Nankai for four years—academically passable but well-read in miscellany. A whiskey and craft beer enthusiast who worked as a bartender, loves chatting over drinks with friends, and is trying their hand at brewing and food blogging. Also goes by 水＆良; research interests include the Progressive Era in the US (taverns, crime), and is involved in youth organizing.
Board Member
Renmin University of China · Literature
Former nine-to-six worker in Beijing's innovative education scene. A gap year ambassador.
Board Member
Communication University of China · Global Communication & International Relations
A curious Leo who loves exploring new things, nature, and crowds—sometimes quiet, sometimes active. Hobbies center on the body: dancing, running, bowling, hiking. Also interested in popular culture, which they are currently researching.
Board Member
University of Macau · MA in Linguistics
Chinese teacher at a private school in Zhongshan. Former Zhihe Vice Chair / Operations lead, involved in camp coordination and team operations; now a board member.