Hi, I'm Eric

Hi, I'm Eric. I've been posting for a while now. I properly introduce myself and what I'm about. I was born and raised in Shenyang China. In 1996, I moved to the United States for school. I graduated from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock with dual bachelor's degrees in Accounting and Computer Information Systems. It was a different time in America, eye-opening, exciting, and full of culture shock in the best way possible. In 2002, I returned to China and started my first business venture, an education and language-training school for students like myself who dreamed of studying abroad. I even taught English while running that business. Things took off quickly: five branches, over 60 teachers, and nearly 10,000 students. Then SARS hit in 2003 and changed everything. Classes were suspended and it reshaped the entire education space. When it passed that summer, I'd learned a hard truth about entrepreneurship. There are risks I wasn't fully equipped to handle yet. It made me think, maybe I should learn more about business. So, at the end of 2004, my family and I moved to Canada and I entered the MBA program at the Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto. I thoroughly enjoyed those two years and made many friends, though I also realized an MBA isn't exactly built for entrepreneurs. I am an entrepreneur at heart, but I also needed a paycheck to support my family. After graduation, I joined KPMG Canada as an auditor and spent four years across industries: energy, manufacturing, telecom, luxury auto, even wineries. The best part of public accounting is that you see how different businesses really work. And I also earned my Canadian CPA. In 2010, I became Corporate Controller at Points.com, a company listed on NASDAQ and TSX. That took me into the private sector and gave me hands-on experience with SEC and other regulators in both countries. In 2012, our company began talks with a Shanghai based firm for a strategic investment to enter Chinese market. At the time, I was the only Chinese speaking senior executive on the team. So I was asked to take the lead and that changed my career. For a year and a half, I flew constantly: two weeks in Shanghai, three in Toronto. Some mornings I woke up and had to remember which city I was in. Eventually the deal closed together with a U.S. partner, each invested $5 million. I was appointed CFO of the joint venture, representing both foreign investors and relocated to Shanghai as an expat in early 2014. Of course, it wasn't a fairy tale. The Chinese market is a different beast and foreign investment in China is hard. There were uncertainties you never face at home, many even beyond business. Long story short, it didn't play out the way everyone expected. But the silver lining is that the project brought me back to China, exactly 10 years after I'd left for Canada. And during those 10 years abroad, China's economy exploded, especially after the iPhone 4, 4G/5G, Huawei, Xiaomi, WeChat, Taobao, Alipay, BYD, the name goes on and on. Looking back from 2025, that was the golden age of China's mobile internet world. With my China network, capital from earlier ventures and another decade of experience under my belt, I jumped back in as an entrepreneur and angel investor. I founded or co-founded ventures in IT, biotech, agriculture and food services. Went deep on logistics and supply chain, worked with VCs and PE and partnered on M&A deals. Two of the ventures I was involved in went public, one in China, the other in the states. Another decade passed and it's a whole new world. With platforms like TikTok, Rednote, and Temu, business is done differently and the world feels smaller. When the U.S. government threatened to ban TikTok, TikTok refugees flocked to Rednote and many realized China and Chinese people aren't what Western media portrayed for decades. As more China content went viral, more foreign friends grew curious about China, travel, business, study, work, or just pure curiosity. But there weren't many English-speaking creators deeply rooted in both worlds. So I started this channel to share my perspective on the real China, the people, the culture, the politics, the business environment. I'm not defending any ideology. I'm here to offer unbiased insights on the issues I think matter. Today, China is a major player in global trade and supply chains, dominating a huge share of the world's manufacturing capacity. Over the next 10, 20, maybe 50 years, Chinese companies and brands will go global, whether you like it or not. In AI, the U.S. and China are the two main players, each with its strengths and weaknesses. The U.S. still leads in fundamental research, but China dominates the application layer. After decades living and working in China and North America, meeting so many amazing people and understanding the core values on both sides, I believe I'm well placed to bridge East and West, to guide foreign organizations through China's market and to help Chinese companies expand internationally. My name is Eric and this is my channel. If you're curious about what modern China is really like, whether for travel, study, business, or just curiosity, come visit my website at EricOnChina.com. You'll find real stories, insights and ways to connect with me personally. Ciao.