Hello, World!
as the foundation stone of this new personal website
by visjoxyseven years ago , i started social withdraw .
before that , i was active on the internet . in retrospect , those were the best years for the economy of the country i lived in : people were rich , or getting rich , and the overall social atmosphere was relaxed . i posted online in‑depth articles , creative videos , as well as daily doses of witticisms . it was a time when people were open‑minded : innovative commercial ideas and products emerged rapidly , and creative artworks were often seen in exhibitions ( 🖼️ i love art exhibitions , by the way . ) .
but the situation of the society then changed , because of both the top‑level political shift of the country that was out of the control of most ordinary people and the emerge of social issues that had been accumulated over decades but long overshadowed by the prosperity . the social atmosphere quickly turned from warm to cold ( spoiler : today , it is chilling 🥶️ . ) , and inevitably , reached a point where i felt no longer willing to express to the general public . starting from mid 2018 , over the course of one year or two , gradually , i emptied my social media contents 🗑️ , and finally , ❌ deleted the accounts .
i felt so good to stop posting online and to get away from daily meaningless small talk as i finally got time to read those 📚 thick & serious books i had been longing for .
my trend of social withdraw further developed as the 🦠 pandemic broke out . i chose to move to a suburban area that was almost rural , into a newly built apartment , bare ! . multiple considerations led to this move . during the pandemic , it was obviously better to live in a sparsely populated area . i wanted to have a taste of suburban life as i had been living in one of the largest cities in the world since birth . but most importantly , i wanted to live a minimalist lifestyle in order to find out what are the basic needs of a human . 🧘♀️
i lived in this undecorated apartment for almost four years . thanks to the developed online economy , suburban life was actually fairly convenient . in the first one year or two , i explored how to live a descent life as independent as possible : how to craft home facilities using basic standardized materials 🔩 , and how to prepare healthy meals with unprocessed food ingredients 🍽️ … ; then , as the situation of the pandemic deteriorated and the authority went mad , i literally stayed within the perimeter walls of the residential community for more than 13 consecutive months , during which , within the apartment , i studied online courses 📖 , watched series of documentaries 📺 , and worked on my personal creative projects 💡 .
over these years , i enjoyed living a life isolated from the world and never publicly posted a single word online . 📵
but i do acknowledge the limitations of such a lifestyle .
trying to be as independent as possible , living a minimalist lifestyle , is inefficient . i proudly crafted the 🛏️ bed i was to use at the beginning of these years , from scratch ! . i designed it by myself — it was a design never existed before — and i knew the details of every piece of material , and i assembled it by myself ; it was cleverly devised so that the only tool required to assemble the bed was a 🔧 wrench , and that the entire process did not require help from a second person . ✌️ i felt so satisfied to have the bed eventually assembled by my own . but it cost much time to design , much effort to arrange the materials , and much labor to assemble the bed ; the overall cost was actually much higher than just purchasing a bed . after all , economy means everyone should do what they can most efficiently do . trying to do everything from scratch can take away a person's time that could be spent on things ze likes most . 🤔
seclusion is good for learning but bad for creation . when you learn something , you read books and watch lectures — all you need to do is to follow the learning materials already prepared ; you had better be dedicated , as distractions from the outside world could interfere with your learning progress . creation , however , requires collaboration . 🤝 as of 2025 , human knowledge , no matter in science or technology or culture or art , has been so developed that there are not many opportunities for a single person to innovate in a domain without communicating with others .
i encourage everyone to have a taste of a minimalist lifestyle . by doing so , you will understand what you really need and will therefore no longer waste time or energy or money or resources in things actually unimportant to you , you will never be slaved by fashion to pursue something merely because it is popular . but just a taste — i think one year or so should be enough — as to realize your great dreams , to achieve your lofty ideals , you do need to live in a society .
🚚 i left that undecorated apartment and moved into a much better residence in mid 2024 . 🏡
in stark contrast to my peaceful days , tragically , was the world that turned into turmoil , and the chaos has been continuing for years to this day : stopless hot wars reflect irreconcilable disputes on justice , while the situation of tens of millions of undocumented migrants brings up questions on personal identity and citizenship in this era . in another dimension , the development of ai and other advanced technologies is both inspiring and troubling , as these technologies can be potentially devastating if used by hostile entities .
nowadays , people often disagree with each other on very fundamental questions , even for those live closely together ; the ideological gap is so vast that a people within the border of one nation can regard each other as enemies , and such phenomenon is common in all major countries . that makes the border of a country and the citizenship of a nation embarrassingly meaningless because the border is meant to prevent hostile aliens from entering an harmonious society , and the citizenship is supposed to be an identity of mutual trust ,, but now , half of the citizens within the border are already “ enemies ” … 🤯️ .
the world order established eight decades ago is collapsing because some of its provisions now seem too idealistic to be realized and have failed to withstand the test of the reality over recent years , but a new order has not at all started to take shape . aggressive regimes are either fighting wars or poised to wage wars in order to seek more power in global affairs in the future . 💥 the world is becoming more and more unstable and dangerous .
in my opinion , human civilization has now developed to a point where it is more necessary than ever , and more feasible than ever , for like‑minded individuals living in different places over the world to form resilient networks of friendship , to share their knowledge and experiences , in order to survive amid the chaos , and , if possible , to create something they are proud of , despite of , and maybe , thanks to , their diversed knowledge & culture backgrounds and scattered physical residences . 🧑🤝🧑
i still remember , in the last year of my junior high school nearly two decades ago , a teacher warned the entire class not to “ fall in love with your classmates ” , because “ you will soon find someone better in senior high school ” 😏️ . that was harsh to those swimming in the love river , but i do recognize that such a stance is practically wise . and the same applies to senior high school as “ you will soon find someone better in university ” . indeed , as you step onto a larger stage on which stand more people from a broader area , you will have better chance to find someone you are really interested in . and today , thanks to the internet , people all over the world are on the same ultimate stage ! .
there are lovely people in every corner of the world . 🌍 they may have their unique stories very different from the stereotypes of the countries they are living in in the public's mind ; 🌎 they may be creating something wonderful that has never been seen elsewhere in the world ; 🌏 but they might be living in fear and loneliness because they hold opinions different from the vast majority around them . the reality today is that most people do not have opportunity to live in places they really like and with those they really love , but they will surely feel much better when connected online with the communities they believe they belong to , and when they have their voices heard by those they trust . 💬🗨️
🗣️ expression defines a person . just as a cell is recognized by others based on the proteins on its surface , which are the expression of its genetic information 🧬 ,, a person is judged by others based on what ze expresses , which is a reflection of zir inner mind 🧠 .
for human , expression can be in varies forms : from a short post of several words to a long article like this , from a motion picture lasting for seconds to an epic documentary film , from a transient facial expression to a full set of dance performances , from a piece of music composition to a masterpiece of fine art , from a design work of architecture to a demo of an indie video game … they are all expressions .
on this grand world stage , by viewing what others express , people find their friends and form communities that cross existing national borders ; such friendship transcends the political chaos & division of today and will be a seed for a better world tomorrow . 🌱
but expression can also be risky as there are unfriendly entities being hostile to those holding dissenting opinions . 🙊 in order to welcome friends and keep foes away , one must prudentially consider : what to express , on which platforms to publish , and who is the target audience .
unfortunately , existing platforms that allow users to express are far from perfect . 🙁 a platform that limits the number of characters in a post to a mere 280 is definitely not a place for in‑depth discussions ; a platform that directs users to post videos as eye‑catching as possible in order to increase the number of views is surely not a place for artistic works . sadly , the largest video platform that many people must visit every day has become the largest battle field for countries to spread their propagenda ; and ironically , the most popular forum that encourages users to dive into anything has become a subject closely monitored — and sometimes , “ used ” — by the government of a country that loudly vows to defend free speech . …
platform matters , as well as the form of expression .
video is an “ expensive ” way to express : expensive to make , as the process of filming and editing can be quite tedious ; and expensive to store and distribute , given its large volume . all these costs eventually have to be borne by the viewers , who are forced to either buy memberships or waste time in watching ads , and sometimes , scammed by ads 💸️ .
video can be a good form if its content is a film where every second of the visuals and sound is meticulously produced . but a large number of videos nowadays are made for conveying ideas , with a host sitting casually in front of a microphone , talking , without any artistic performance 😶 — for such cases , i think audio podcast should be more suitable ( or , just distributing presentation software files is also an approach to consider ) .
plain text , on the other hand , seems too boring ; i know , for many people , a large body of plain text can “ shut down ” their brains .
i prefer hypertext , a text that has styles applied and multimedia embedded when necessary . 📰 good typography not only makes it less tiring to read , but more importantly , is sometimes itself a vehicle that conveys ideas . words represent the reality , efficiently , but lossily ; sometimes , it can be too lossy to express complicated concepts . that is where diagrams , pictures , motion pictures , audios , videos , or even interactive programs come in to help better illustrate the ideas .
🧑💻 building a personal website is the best way to express in the form of free hypertext . as of 2025 , by the time this article is written , i have not found any platform that allows users to use full set of html styling methods in their posts . you may have noticed that many typographical features of this article reflect my unique personal writing style , but such settings are nearly impossible on other commercial platforms .
this website is being hosted in [🇨🇭️ Switzerland] , a country that is proud of its independence and neutrality .
but there is no utopia in this world — if you used to think there was , you must have learned the lesson by far this year 😂️ . every country has its own problems difficult to solve ; every platform has its calculations for its special interests ; and every restless heart beats so imperfectly ;; but if you are lucky enough to find your love , your world will become much more colourful . 🌈️
‘Hello, World!’ ,
as a programming beginner fifteen years ago ,
when i saw this line printed on the screen ,
i knew i had followed the tutorial correctly .
‘Hello, World!’ ,
as a personal website builder today ,
when i see this article displayed in the browser ,
i know i have done a good job .
‘Hello, World!’ ,
as a once social withdrawer ,
when i confidently greet the world , again ,
i know a new phase of my exploration has begun .