✍️ Last Updated: October 21, 2025

Hey there! I'm Xiaochang 🌭
It's time to write you a letter and grow together again!

This newsletter has been a long time coming—over half a month! During these 18 days in Shanghai, I discovered I didn't go to play at all; I went to do "resource integration" 😂 Never underestimate entrepreneurial women—our minds are full of business, market insights, personal brand management logic, relationship building... There's truly so much I want to share with you, so this time I'm splitting the content into 3 newsletter installments to share with you gradually.

Because there's so much I want to share, I've picked 3 topics I think you'd be most interested in for this newsletter series:

1. Digital Nomad Chapter:
   Sharing my experience of speaking in exchange for accommodation at digital nomad communities and market insights in this field.
2. Self-media & Knowledge Monetization & AI Chapter:
   Sharing 600K+ YouTubers and 300K+ Xiaohongshu influencers I know, plus market insights I've observed.
3. Mainland China Living Chapter:
   Sharing where I'd like to live for long-term stays and why, plus insights into various aspects of living in Mainland China.

✈️ I thought digital nomading meant working while having fun, but the reality is ..

Digital nomading isn't as fun as imagined. Working while playing? My first experience was .. I literally couldn't work 😂.

This is methe first time I traveled abroad alone for such a long period, so my insights must resonate with your feelings about 'trying digital nomading for the first time.' Before departure, I thought all I needed was to bring my laptop to a cafe to work seriously.

But in reality, my mind kept thinking: 'Since I'm already abroad, shouldn't I explore nearby food and entertainment?' instead of working at a cafe like I would in Taiwan.

I even went into a cafe, took photos of myself looking serious at work with my laptop, ready to announce to friends 'I'm getting serious about work!' But then .. XD, my screen showed nothing but entertainment content or work analytics, and I literally couldn't concentrate, much less make progress on any projects 🥹.

I asked my content creator friend Zac, who recently spent nearly 20 days in Indonesia on his first extended digital nomad journey. We both shared the same feeling: "You must complete important projects first before going digital nomading abroad, so you can gradually work on lighter side projects」。

Thankfully, I was smart enough before this trip to take three weeks off from the three regular meetings I need to attend! The consequences otherwise would be unimaginable ~~~ And honestly, even though I consider myself someone with strong adaptability & self-discipline, I truly feel that this 'digital nomading' lifestyle is really not suitable for people with zero self-discipline.

I'm sharing this hoping you won't be misled by the dreamy digital nomading lifestyle on the internet, because this lifestyle truly requires massive self-discipline. Otherwise, it's just burning money for fun and hard to calm down to think about entrepreneurship & making money (unless you're very experienced with this lifestyle).

👀 Observing the ecosystem of Mainland China digital nomad communities

Taiwan calls it 'digital nomading,' while Mainland China calls it 'digital nomads.' The reason I came into contact with the digital nomad community this time is because Ilast newslettermentioned, I asked various organizations in Mainland China if I could 'speak in exchange for accommodation' to save money, and it turned out there really was one called "BTU Digital Nomad Communityunit, who agreed to let me give a 2-hour lecture & exchange accommodation for 7 days. So I spent a full week in this ultra-luxury and comfortable community building!

Accommodation environment

This is Lingang, a newly reclaimed land area that Mainland China only opened in recent years. The government wants to build a 'Tech City' here, so many resources are pouring in. All architectural styles resemble a future village concept, and even the lakes are 'artificial lakes.' BTU Digital Nomad Community only moved in less than 3 months ago! My tenure there is roughly the same as Lingang's XD

This time, BTU partnered with a community to provide rooms for digital nomads. I shared a house with a female university student. She had the master bedroom with its own bathroom in a suite arrangement, while I slept in another bedroom with a shared bathroom located outside my door. We shared a common living room, dining table, kitchen, and balcony.

About 25 pings total, suitable for two people! This room type costs only around NTD 7,000 per month @@ It's so affordable I could cry! Although it's a bit far from downtown Shanghai (about 2 hours by subway), the surrounding area has everything, and everything is especially cheap! For example:

• I even had food delivery send me laundry detergent to my room at 4 AM
• Crystal nails cost only NTD 400... hands + feet only NTD 800
• Duoyun Library scenic café, coffee under NTD 200

People and culture

Here, I really made a lot of amazing new friends, all of whom are very knowledgeable. What surprised me most was that during these 7 days before going to Shanghai, I 'had no itinerary at all!' It's exactly the same as when I went to Hong Kong back then—a truly freestyle introvert's journey

As it turned out, on both trips I encountered people like 'local guides' who took me around and let me experience local life. Such serendipitous encounters are truly one of the most beautiful things about travel!

/ Leave a little bit of blank space so the journey can be more enriching /

Currently, Mainland China's market economy is 'in very poor condition!' People who can work at digital nomad communities and live freely mostly have excellent work skills. Those I encountered this time include:

• UP creator with 600K followers (like YouTube)
• University student who can rally hundreds for events, act as host, handle marketing, and make cocktails
• Spring and Autumn Airlines pilot (captain)
• Cross-border cable engineer
• Artist & director with stable projects
• Plus some predecessors who've left the community but remain active in private groups (such as founders of AI communities with 8 million members)
  ...and so on

This time I went to the digital nomad community in Lingang, but this type of community is really trending across Mainland China. For example: Dali, Huangshan—these are currently the hottest spots for digital nomad community clusters. There's also Qspace & Liangzhu in Hangzhou. I've already sneakily joined their group chats through connections 😆 ~haha!

The most beautiful scenery is the mindset

This Shanghai trip was essentially my first real visit to Mainland China (my 0th time was 2 days in Xiamen, where my sister handled everything and I didn't even buy internet). I was extremely, extremely worried about political issues—that I'd be excluded, disliked, even cyber-attacked. But facts proved I was overthinking!

The moment I loved most during my BTU stay was 'eating dinner together」！！

Everyone brings a dish, or a Xinjiang friend had a housewarming and invited me to enjoy some 'Xinjiang big plate chicken'—truly a super culturally rich experience! Since we were all good buddies from the same digital nomad community, every evening someone asked if I wanted to join them for dinner. This kind of community culture where people gather for meals daily is really rare in Taiwan. I absolutely love this community culture!

Why does the title say the most beautiful scenery is mindset? During dinner, that Xinjiang friend told me: 'Xiaochang, the Taiwanese people I've met before really disliked Mainland Chinese people and looked down on us. But you, Xiaochang, are completely different!' I was also confused... I think everyone is human!? Why should we discriminate based on uncontrollable political factors?

I think going to Mainland China to broaden my horizons is a new experience. If you're open to learning more about the history and culture across Asia, you can definitely give it a try.

Regular community activities

The BTU I stayed at this time hosts interesting community evening events every Tuesday and Thursday nights, and even some people travel from far away, making it to the community lobby on time after work/school to participate in activities!

The three events I attended were 'Xiaochang's Life Systems Sharing Session × Wine Tasting', 'Song Guessing', and 'Second-hand Item Auction Trading'. I have to say, each event was thoughtfully organized with PPT presentations, promotional copy, prop preparation, photography, hosting, gifts... From my event planning background, I'd give these activities a high score! This digital nomad community is genuinely serious about operations. I recommend everyone come experience it.

Digital nomading situation across Taiwan and Mainland China

Currently, Taiwan's digital nomad associations at most only offer physical events, training sessions, and activities in cooperation with the government, or private 'commercially-motivated' digital nomad groups making efforts to host physical events and online private communities. However, in mainland China, they truly provide 'communities where you can stay', and the fees are extremely affordable.

Many digital nomad communities on mainland China are built not in city centers, but in regions with distinctive lifestyles. I'll try staying at various mainland digital nomad communities and share my experiences with you! (I'll also help my readers—that's you, GutFans XD—negotiate special discounts for Taiwanese residents, so look forward to my future sharing!)

📣 This Week's Heart-Warming Share

📌 Hope Taiwan can also host a 100-person Jay Chou fan gathering!

I even went up and sang hahaha, it was seriously so much fun! I really hope Taiwan hosts activities like this too!~~

📌 Goals for this quarter ahead

Which one is your favorite?? You can look forward to the Daily Gut Report on 10/26~ Feel free to save the date!

🎉 Master Heptabase in 7 Days Workshop｜Featured Homework| Student – Sleepless City

Come check out The City That Never Sleeps's daily assignment feedback reflections:

1. HI everyone, I'm Sleepless City. Currently a healthcare worker, hoping to learn more knowledge management techniques
   
2. Finally starting to experience the joy of visualization!
   
3. Finally started building my personal management system. This section has been blocking me for a long time. How to categorize is currently my biggest challenge. I'm worried that imperfect categorization might cause management difficulties down the road ><
   
4. Watching Day 4's lesson, I was truly moved. Gratitude and mindfulness are things I've invested effort in learning before, but rarely practice. I hope that starting today, gratitude will begin anew
   
5. Today I learned the most important skill: tidy up!!! I used to spend half a day on it. Super grateful!!
   
6. Thanks Xiaochang! Finally successfully created book breakdown cards! But I'd really like to know how to label each card so I can find it next time when I need the same knowledge point ><
   
7. Xiaochang's 7-day course was truly amazing, packed with value, truly teaching me to master Heptabase. I've paid to use Heptabase for two years but never found the right entry point. I've taken many courses before, but many focused more on card concepts and categorization. After completing them, I still felt quite clumsy with the operations. After messing up the whiteboard once or twice, I gradually didn't want to use it anymore (too strawberry XD). But Xiaochang's course has both depth (Heptabase operation teaching) and breadth (how to turn data in Heptabase into card management and categorization). Most importantly, there's a chance to glimpse how Xiaochang maxed out her entrepreneurial skills in the early stages of startup, allowing us to think about how to plan our own lives while learning this skill. Most importantly, every lesson I could feel that Xiaochang was sincerely sharing how to change our mindset and reverse our lives through these operations. I really like your teaching style and hope you'll keep it up!

I hope this newsletter helps you learn something, feel more connected to the world, and grow a little!
If you have any feedback, suggestions, thoughts to share, or recommendations for me, please reply to this email. I'll respond to you thoughtfully.

See you next 《Gut Talk Newsletter" again~ 😘
by KnowledgeGutfounder Xiaochang

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by Knowledge Management Mentor Xiaochang🌭