Meet China’s young Ivy League entrepreneur making waves in the States

Hi Xiuyuan! Please introduce yourself.

My name is Xiuyuan Peng, people also call me Hugh. I am a student from Cornell University currently taking a gap year for my startup The EduHive Inc. I come from Nanjing China, so I am staying there this year.

What is life like for Gen Z in China?

I found most people around me in our generation are ambitious and brave, they love to work hard and try different ways to reach their goal. But sometimes they are stressed because of lots of school work and peer pressure. I also noticed our people have strong desire for a good life, people want to have vacations having better quality food, and healthy lifestyles. I observed people around me enjoying traveling, hitting the gym, and trying different sports.

What is it like living in the United States as a young Chinese person?

I think I generally have a great time living in the United States, especially in the college town area. Classmates and teachers are super nice to me, they are happy to explain different things if you ask. I can handle 90% of the conversation, but the slang is a hard “research topic” lol. I believe you have different slang in Australia, I can’t wait to learn more.

I love real Chinese food, but you can’t eat it every day because it’s are way more expensive and not that authentic in Ithaca. I enjoy driving in the US because roads are wider and there are fewer people. I don’t drive often in China, even though the high-speed roads are amazing construction-wise. There are so many people, which makes me enjoy the convenience and cleanness of public transportation in China.

I really need to be cautious about US culture in some sensitive topics, for example you can’t say “fat” even if you are joking, but people in China say you are getting bigger or fat. It means they are happy that you eat well and they also encourage you to do more sports to keep fit.

You’re the co-founder of EduHive. Can you tell me more about that?

EduHive is a platform where users can post projects, and our EduHive algorithm can help you match up with other users to help you successfully find your partners so you are able to build your projects. The project is not limited to research but also includes building startups and organizations, so we can include a huge amount of users in colleges and help undergrads, grads, and professors.

How can our Gen Z Abroad community of young people benefit from EduHive?

For startup organizations like Gen Z Abroad, the founders usually need lots of technical or other help. They can post projects on EduHive, and some other expertise can help you solve the problems or become co-founder with you if you need them.

Young people, especially in college, are the pillar of EduHive. Linkedin is focusing on job search and human connection building, it can fulfill the needs of some students who are passionate about recruiting. But the rest of students need research experiences to apply for grad schools, and they also need to find good co-founders if they want to build their companies. EduHive is providing a sound and clean platform to help them be closer to their dreams. Especially for lower class men in college, they can’t find good research experiences because of less training compared with upper class men.

A lot of people don’t understand what engineering actually is. It’s easy to explain something in a complicated way, but I think real intelligence means the ability to simplify a concept so that everyone can understand it. Can you explain in easy terms: what is engineering?

Engineering is applying abstract sciences in the real world and solving practical issues. For example, electromagnetic induction is a “big” physics term, engineering is using that idea to generate electricity.

What’s your advice for young people who want to tap into their entrepreneurial side?

My advice is to be brave and hard-working. Understand what you are good at and learn different things. You should believe your current “small” entrepreneurship can be a company and IPO.

As someone in finance, what are your thoughts on people who say that ‘finance bros give them the ick’?

Finance is a stressful industry so some finance people may reduce their self-regulation after work by being rude or self-conceit. I understand their stress, but I believe developing healthy hobbies such as sports and learning different skills can help stressed people release their anxiety and anger.

What is it like going to US College as an international student? Is American college in real life like it is the movies?

People party a lot that is a truth. For some big parties, you have to know someone and let s/he let you in. International students usually don’t have that connection, so it is not fair. In the first year, I have to say some parties are fun because everyone is dancing and you can meet new friends, which differs from Chinese social culture. Later as I get “older”, I realize the best time is not determined by where I am, it depends if how I am with my great friends.

Your background is in renewable energy. What is the biggest climate threat facing our generation right now?

Everyone knows the benefits of renewable energy, we are not the generation that invented the solar panels. I think our mission is how to use renewable energy in scientific ways like coming up with solutions about the conflicts between traditional energy and the new one.