Zhou Xiaogeng

I once heard that everyone carries a mission when he or she comes to this world.

About twenty years ago, while still a college student, I started a part-time job, somewhat accidentally, to teach the Chinese language to people from abroad. Though I was not majoring in linguistics or pedagogy, I found that I loved this job very much, and I had a great ability in the area of teaching. I still remember the name of my first student. She was a girl from Australia, a little older than I was, and she ran an ice cream store in Beijing at that time. Regrettably, I have never been to her store to try anything though she invited me warmly.

Later on, I realized something important: to help learners radically increase efficiency in the learning process, they first needed to understand this language. That is, they needed to know the specific way of thinking beneath the surface and to catch the rationalities in rules and the ways in which to apply them. It is similar to how we learn math: we always focus on the philosophies and approaches, and we never try to memorize the equations and the results.

To reach that goal in practice means that we need to rethink and rediscover this language from a totally new perspective, which, undoubtedly, is a very challenging job. In recent decades, I have made this my primary job and have made continuous efforts at it. I am pleased that my book New Path Getting over Chinese Grammar, published in 2007, which can be regarded as a periodic achievement, was welcomed by learners, and also was put on the bookshelves several countries. I hope that this new book can open a more interesting and effective way for learners worldwide.

In 2003 I started working as a professional developer -- an author. At that time, I undertook a task for developing the textbook for a fifty-episode TV show that was specially produced for Chinese language learners. This project was one of the nationally planned publishing projects, and it was then awarded as one of the "Best 10 Textbooks for Learning Chinese" by Hanban that year, which gave me more confidence in my future work.

While working on the projects that followed, I found that there was a large gap, both in quantity and quality, between the products for learning Chinese and those for learning other global languages (such as English or French). Undoubtedly, those learning the Chinese language deserve high-quality learning products as well, so I established a small company, specializing in the research and development of learning products. Soon I found that there were too many things that were still not ready, and later on, I stopped the operation of the company. However, I never stopped my work.

In 2007, I became an employee of Hanban/Confucius Headquarters, where I worked in various departments during the next seven years. In this marvelous organization, I undertook many challenging and exhilarating tasks, such as: developing a giant website for online learning, constructing the education resources in cooperation with some famous organizations, and even handling the press matters of the Confucius Institutes all over the world.

During those years, my life also changed a lot: I finally found "the other half of my life," and we got married in 2008. One year later, our son was born. Time flies quickly: the baby in swaddling clothes is now going to be in primary school.

I finally found that I am more suited for being a "craftsman" than anything else. In the spring of 2013 I left the place where I had been working for seven years and fully committed to creating books and other related products for learners. Compared to my earlier role, I am not only a professional author but also a producer, carrying more work and responsibility.

Most people find great pleasure in thinking and creating in their own way, but it also calls for more hard work to make any progress. In the coming days, I will do just like many others would do with their own dreams. I want to fulfill my mission well: to create good things for learners so that they can learn this ancient and vibrant language in a much easier and interesting way.