I am Xiaoqian
First name: Xiaoqian | Age: 30 | Marital status: Single
Profession: Human Resources Manager | Place of residence: Shanghai
Hobbies: Piano, fitness | Personality: Cheerful
„My goal in life? To follow my own heart. In the end, that is all that matters.“
Even in my mother’s generation, this was not a given. I am lucky to have grown up in modern China. Shanghai, the city where I was born, is a cosmopolitan metropolis these days. It offers plenty of opportunities for anyone with ambition and ideas.
I grew up in a traditional neighborhood behind the Bund, the splendid promenade along the Huangpu River. As a child, from the balcony of our home I watched the ferries chug by. There were rice paddies on the other side of the river. Today, the tallest skyscrapers in Asia stand there.
My mother worked as a sales assistant in a supermarket; my father was a construction worker and chauffeur. I am the first one in our family to go to college. I now work as a human resources manager for an international corporation. I am thirty years old and single. I’m in no rush to start a family. In other parts of the country, some people would say that I’ve been “left on the shelf.” However in Shanghai, women like me are fairly typical.
I love having time for myself. I box, play the piano, and go to exhibitions and to the movies. I don’t mind going alone. I recently saw “Doctor Strange” and also “Inferno,” the latest movie in the Dan Brown series. I love being out and about. My boyfriend, an American, moved back to Cincinnati after working in Shanghai for many years. For the past year and a half, we have maintained a long-distance relationship over 12,000 kilometers. Many people ask me whether that’s too complicated. I think that in our globalized world, love should be able to survive something like this.
„My career is important to me, but it’s not the only thing in my life. Often, I have seen people working just for the money. For me, other values are more important. “
Life is too short, and you have to enjoy yourself. I am happy with my work situation. I work with nice, young colleagues in an international environment. We sometimes go out together for a glass of wine in the evening. My working hours are flexible. Sometimes, I leave work early to work out or go to my piano lessons. Then I work some more from home in the evening, writing emails or calling our headquarters in America. What’s the most important thing in life? Health, I think. I want to be healthy in order to be able to explore the world. To learn something new every day. I want to finish things I have started. Everything else, I just take as it comes. When will I have the chance to enjoy my life, if not now?
