Born in Singapore but having spent over half my life in Perth, Western Australia, I am currently doing a double major in Communications and media studies and Marketing at the University of Western Australia. Ever since I was introduced to Chinese music I fell head over heels in love and have been pursuing it in cohesion with my love for words and multimedia ever since. Most will know me as the creator of Chinese music website Asian Pop Weekly, but I am also a contributor to Hello Asia!, an Australian-based online media and Taiwan Beats, a BAMID-initiative music website based in Taiwan.
People often ask several questions when they find out about what I do. First, how did I start? Aiming to learn Chinese independently through the use of Chinese music, I often became frustrated trying to look up any English-language information on C-pop online, and on a whim began the website in 2010. And secondly, why am I so obsessed with Chinese music? The second one is a little trickier to answer. In part, it’s due to the feeling of sentimentality it brought me and connectedness to my Chinese heritage, but I still can’t seem to figure out exactly why I love it so much. But I suppose that’s part of the fun, and its one of the things that motivates me to constantly strive to find different ways to promote the music I love, and to bridge global gaps between Eastern and Western cultures.
Although a lot of my works centre around writing, describing myself as a music journalist is perhaps too simplistic a description. My dream is to be able to hear Chinese music being played wherever you go, and for barriers in between different cultures’ music to be completely eradicated. So although writing definitely factors into helping me to accomplish this dream of mine, I’m in fact interested in examining how each and every little detail makes the industry work the way it does, before zooming out to the bigger picture and critically evaluating how it can be made better. I am currently and constantly trying to get across the intricacies of production in different types of media and platforms such as online print, radio, film production and social media. By way of taking on a more holistic approach to developing a clear-cut way to break down East-west barriers of music promotion, I’ve devoted some academic efforts to critically analysing sectors of Taiwan’s media industries, previously having looked at topics such as corruption within traditional press, societal reliance on digital media, and a case study on Taiwan’s creative industries, especially focusing on music.
So in a nutshell, I’m extremely passionate about what I do, and practically breathe the stuff. I guess its kind of a strange way to introduce yourself, by going on about Chinese music, but as my sister would say, I don’t have any other hobbies. Sad thing is she wasn’t kidding. But all in all, I truly hope you’ll enjoy reading my online portfolio, which I hope will help to piece together my story more coherently.
