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About Me
The person behind this site is Chenyang “Platy” Hsu, who —
- happens to be a staff editor and membership coordinator at SSPAI, a Chinese-language community focused on digital life, products, and cultures;
- used to be a transactional lawyer (until July 2021); and
- is born to be a nerd.
Mini Bio
I grew up in Hefei, Anhui, a city in central China that was long overshadowed by neighboring coastal areas but has gained momentum in recent years by attracting LCD and EV ventures. I also spent significant time living in Beijing, which I mostly dislike, and Philadelphia, which I mostly cherish. Today I’m based in Shenzhen. While I don’t enjoy every aspect of it, I generally resonate with its utilitarian and apolitical characteristics. I also appreciate the abundance of green spaces and hiking trails.
I earned an LL.M. (no, not that AI thing) from the University of Pennsylvania in 2019 and an LL.B. from Peking University in 2018. Like many fellow Chinese students, my choice of major was influenced not by a particular passion for law but rather by more pragmatic considerations such as admission chances, career prospects, and, of course, parental expectations.
After graduation, I returned home (per the terms of a scholarship), joined a law firm, before getting burned in a void of meanings and leaving for my current job. However, I don’t regret the detours and actually have positive things to say about my education and former employer. I also maintain an interest in law-related topics and continue to benefit from some of the skills I acquired in my previous career.
These days, I’m primarily occupied with various editorial functions at SSPAI, an online Chinese publication and community focused on consumer tech and digital life. There are occasions when administrative or logistical affairs cut in, but I see myself as an individual contributor whatsoever; my self-assessment, both professional and personal, is based solely on the words I manage to produce.
In my spare time and beyond the realm of tech nerdery, I also enjoy learning about typography and languages, though I wouldn’t dare claim proficiency in either. I live an active life and am an avid runner, walker, and swimmer, each activity being my way to be meditative without actually meditating. I listen to Cantopop and J-pop the most, favoring songs with a slow tempo, gentle melodies, and ballad-style verses. I used to have a strong preference for non-fiction works in long-form textual format over fiction and audiovisual works; that changed as I became more wary of rationality’s false promises of clarity and started to appreciate the intellectual and emotional challenges of navigating the landscape of fiction that invites interpretation.
Online Presence
Beyond this site, my thoughts and musings are shared on Weibo, Twitter/X, and Instagram. I maintain an active profile on my employer’s site, where I’ve contributed more than 200 posts, most of which are syndicated here. Elsewhere, you might find me under the handle platyhsu— stylized in various forms — or firexcy.
I welcome emails (preferably written by humans) at me(at)hsu.cy. For work-related inquiries, please write to platyhsu(at)sspai.com. I’m also on Telegram as @platyhsu if you happen to use it, but I don’t particularly like or trust the app.
Personalities & Views
I’m unapologetically an introvert. I can perform to be sociable if the situation requires it, at the cost of a non-negligible recharge time thereafter, but will always prefer a party of four or less, or even better, solitude. My tone and facial expressions often don’t reflect my level of interest or care. But there are things and persons I care about — usually those I can feel an intellectual connection with. And if I do appear affectionate somehow, you know it’s a big deal. (I never take the Myers–Briggs types seriously, but if an interlocutor insists to ask, I will say INTJ — which I am consistently tested as — but meh.)
I roughly identify as a progressive conservatist. That means when there’s a conflict, I generally put more vaule on the market than equality, liberty than authority, progress than tradition, and ecology than production. I support various forms of activism, but find it frustrating when some veer towards a fundamentalism that distorts science and facts to fit their arbitrarily defined identities and attempts to monopolize a certain type of lived experience for their group.
I’m unhealthily curious. I can entertain myself by conducting mini-research on anything I happen to see, hear, or think of, and can get particularly satisfied when I dig out the original source of a quote or a claim. I open browser tabs for things that are apparently light-years away from my daily life. I have an addiction to search engines and can easily tally more than a thousand searches each month.
I have a zeal for exerting self-control. I love making plans and sticking to them. I have adhered to a strict workout regimen since ~2015 that starts with an hour-long running or swimming session in the morning. I hold it sacred that the mind must maintain ultimate control over emotions and the body. Thus, I’m viscerally against anything that may risk surrendering such control, be it an act, an idea, or a substance. (I do recognize the problem in panicking when plans cannot be executed as desired and am working on becoming more flexible.)
I hold a minimalist and utilitarian view on materials. I don’t accumulate many things; most of my belongings can fit into two large suitcases. Meal-replacement powder makes up a third of my daily intake, and I’m perfectly content with the mocked-of “white people’s meals” or “girls’ dinners,” as long as they’re made with clean and whole ingredients. That said, I actually appreciate craftsmanship and fine dining; I just don’t seek to own or personally indulge in these luxuries.
Gears
Here’s a non-exhaustive list of equipment and software I rely on:
Hardware:
- Computer: MacBook Pro 14" (M4 Pro, 2024), MacBook Air 13" (M2, 2022)
- Pointing: Magic Trackpad, Magic Mouse
- Keyboard: Filco Majestouch 3, Huawei Ultrathin Keyboard
- Displays: Rich Vision RV100, LG 27UP850N-W
- Phone: Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra, iPhone 16 Pro
- Earbuds: QDC 8CH, AirPods Pro 2, Bose Ultra Open Earbuds
Software:
- OS: macOS (daily driver), Debian (servers)
- Browser: Firefox
- Editor: VS Code
- Terminal: the integrated xterm.js in VS Code
- Shell: zsh/bash (whichever comes with the OS, as login shell), fish (for interactive uses)
- RSS: Readwise Reader
- Podcatching: Pocket Casts
- Notes & tasks: just a folder of markdown files
Subscriptions:
- Apple One Premier (mostly for Music and Fitness+)
- Backblaze B2
- Cloudflare
- Google One (mostly for Gemini Advanced and NotebookLM Pro)
- Kagi Search
- Microsoft Office 365 E3 Developer (grandfathered)
- QQ Music
- Readwise Reader
- YouTube Premium
About This Site
Motivations
Neverland, a name taken from the fictional island, symbolizes the embrace of the impermanent and fleeting nature of online writings. It’s a space dedicated to capturing moments and thoughts that, while transient, might hold deeper insights for me or someone else seeking resonance, memories, or reconciliation in the future.
Expectations here should be flexible; while nothing is intended to be immediately useful, the potential serendipity makes the endeavor worthwhile. By acknowledging the “never,” we stay open to the boundless “ever.”
Topics
Here are the main topics of my writings, along with examples of posts I’m proud of. You’re also welcomed to check the archive page.
- Personal essays
- Explainers
- Commentaries
- Tutorials
- Legal
- Reviews
- Translations
- Design
Languages
The posts on this blog blend English (Chinglish, admittedly) and Chinese. Simply put, I choose whichever language that resonates with my thoughts on a subject because it feels more effortless.
Using two languages also helps me compartmentalize my ideas. Chinese, being my first language, sometimes feels too intimate for candid and introspective expression. Moreover, the influx of memes and Newspeak in Modern Chinese complicates attempts to write with depth and analysis. English, while not without its flaws, offers a distanced space with an othering perspective that allows for more genuine reflection and expression. (For further insight, see Yiyun Li’s “To Speak Is to Blunder,” one of my all-time favorite essays.)
Making-of
This blog is built with the Hugo static site generator and hosted on Cloudflare Pages. Its typography pairs self-hosted Lyon Text with Source Han Serif SC delivered by Cloudflare Fonts. Images are stored on Backblaze B2 and served through a Cloudflare proxy for optimized delivery.
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License
All content on this site is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 unless indicated otherwise. This means you are free to copy and redistribute the material from this site in any medium or format, provided you give appropriate credit and do not remix, transform, or use it for commercial purposes. Exceptions primarily include works for hire, contract works, and translations that I have no right to relicense. Please kindly inquire if there is any ambiguity.