✍️ Last updated: November 26, 2025

Hey there! I'm Xiaochang 🌭
It's time for my weekly letter to grow a little together with you!

It's been a month since I last sent the Gut Talk Newsletter, I'm so sorry! Life took a big turn! I literally moved to Hangzhou ～～～～～～～ I'll share the third part of "[Gut Talk #20] Shanghai Adventure - Digital Nomad Edition (1/3)」＆「[Gut Talk #21] Shanghai Adventure - Social Media Edition (2/3)" with you later, today I want to share the huge changes in my life!

⚠️ A gentle reminder: The content below sometimes refers to the region as 'China' and sometimes as 'Mainland.' I believe words are symbols meant for communication, and I hold no political stance—I'm simply sharing observations from different markets. Please view these three posts without political emotions. Thank you.

Another gentle reminder: At the bottom, there's a 'Student Spotlight' section showcasing outstanding assignments that I've been featuring since two editions ago. I encourage you to read through the entire newsletter and check out these amazing assignments ❤️

I moved to Hangzhou!

I can only say everything was too sudden and magical—completely unexpected in my life plan—yet it all just happened (saying it is like not saying it XD)

Why China?

This is probably the question you wanted to ask most, and I've already shared it first in our Lifelong Growth LINE group, the reason is... Single for four years, I'm finally in love! >///<

Aron is someone I met at work, let me slowly share some stories with you haha~ The key point is he's from China, so after a month and a half of long-distance, I couldn't take it! I shouted in my heart: 'I don't want long-distance love!'

Then I just showed up in Hangzhou! Hahahaha, my dream is to stay love-brained until I'm 140~!

Why Hangzhou?

Of course, besides Aron living and working in Hangzhou, I chose it for several other reasons:

1. 🌿 Natural Environment:
   The city's forest coverage is nearly 70%, with lush greenery and parks everywhere.
2. 🏢 New First-Tier City:
   Lower prices than tier-one cities, yet with tier-one city resources.
3. 🛍 Tech, Startup & E-commerce Hub:
   Alibaba, iQIYI and others are based in Hangzhou, so there are many AI technologies, courses, and content creators operating here—I have so many learning opportunities! And more development potential.

I'm also looking forward to seeing what kind of development my field can achieve here, but there are challenges too. My family has deep political views, and I work in education—sharing Taiwan & China information involves a lot of political sensitivity.

🎁 Input-Output Course Students, use promo code for free
【Each to Their Own】Heptabase Life Organization Guide | Morning & Gratitude Journal × Nine-Box Grid & Mind Map

✦ Instructor:Xiaochang & Teacher Chang Yong-Xi
✦ Time: 2025/11/28 (Friday）20:00 – 21:30 (includes Q&A)

⚠️ This session is a showcase,《Effective Input ∞ Rapid Output》course student exclusive version(Free for students, paid for non-students)

Are you like this too?

✦ 🤔 'I installed Heptabase, but don't know how to use it in my daily life...'

• I opened Heptabase, but don't know when to use it?
• Want to organize your life but always feel lost?
• Know about review and journaling—they're great habits, but never sure how to actually do them?
• Can use basic Heptabase, but can't really apply it to daily life?

This livestream is designed to solve that!

✦ This livestream is perfect for you if:

✅ Those who want to find real-life use cases for Heptabase
✅ Those interested in review, journaling, and inner organization
✅ Those who want to hear how experienced practitioners live efficiently without complicated systems

✦ Why are we hosting this workshop?

We found many friends have downloaded Heptabase but aren't sure how to apply it to their lives.
It seems like an efficient tool, but often becomes just a cold knowledge vault instead of a true helper for organizing yourself.

What we want to share is: 🧠 How to use Heptabase to return to life itself, organize your inner world, and develop clarity.

• Xiaochang will discuss:How gratitude journaling helps transform your life
• Teacher Yongxi will share: He has practiced 20 years of Nine-Box journaling and weekly review habits.

What work did I do for the move?

This time is a 'move,' not like that 18-day Shanghai trip with a suitcase... so I did tons of preparation:

Moving Strategy in Taiwan

1. Upgraded health insurance comprehensively:
   Especially 'overseas medical' and 'emergency assistance'—if you live abroad, I strongly recommend adding both. For example, if I see a doctor or get hospitalized in China, I can submit receipts to claim benefits from my Taiwan insurance.
2. Got a flu shot:
   I discovered that when I told my Hangzhou friends about 'flu shots,' they didn't even know you could vaccinate against this virus in advance. Plus, seeing a doctor for a cold costs at least 800 NTD here—the healthcare mindset and resources really can't compare to Taiwan.
3. Shipped packages:
   I took two 30kg boxes to the post office to ship to China and found the shipping costs from Taiwan to China are insanely expensive haha! I paid close to 2,000 NTD total~
4. Luggage packed full:
   8kg carry-on, 23kg checked—everything packed full! Not a gram more or less, completely full.
5. Did a major cleaning:
   Threw out lots of clothes, shoes, bags, etc.—perfect chance for a deep clean
6. Finished all my saved Starbucks and café drinks XD
7. Was planning to get my teeth cleaned but forgot 😭

Moving Strategy in China

So I wouldn't rely only on my boyfriend once I got there, I made lots of small plans—that way his pressure is lighter too (a girl moving from Taiwan just for him is huge pressure on him!)

1. Tested new cuisines:
   Food here has so many variations—I'll try Guizhou sour hot pot and beef hot pot first to see how my stomach handles it, then gradually move to Sichuan spicy hot pot to test my food tolerance.
2. Building a social network:
   I initially chose to go to the 'Digital Nomad Community' to meet new friends, especially women! So I rented a women-only accommodation for two weeks, so I could handle many women-related issues without bothering Aron.
3. Learning survival habits:
   After getting to know mainland female friends who are virtuous wives and good mothers, I now know where to go and who to call for everything—subways, high-speed rail, food delivery, grocery shopping, massages, facials, furniture, errand runners, mailing, cleaning ladies, repairs, and more!
4. Researching housing rental strategies:
   On Little Red Book, Shell Rent, Xianyu, and other apps, I found at least 25 real estate agents, watched 100 housing rental videos, selected 15 apartments to visit in person, and my boyfriend just had to keep me company.

Small complaint: Mainland real estate agents are very strategic and scheming. They'll post a nice apartment saying it's still available, get you to come see it in person, then tell you it's been rented out after you arrive == There are so many tricks to figure out one by one!

At the Moment of Viewing Properties

Since I was going to see 15 apartments at once, I originally planned to create a Notion form so I could check off boxes like 'has a refrigerator,' but didn't have time to build it. So I directly asked AI to create a database for me! I used it right away—super convenient! Let me share the process with you:

1. First, ask ChatGPT what notes to take on apartment hunting and rental strategies.
2. Then ask Notion AI to create a form based on 'ChatGPT's rental strategy tips' + 'the housing details I care about (for example, there must be a wall facing the sofa)'.
3. After Notion AI generates the database, remove any properties you don't need, and you can use it right away!

Optimists are always happy and moving forward!

I can only say I'm truly the luckiest beautiful girl in the world!?

• Applying for a mainland phone carrier preservation plan = lowest price with no data
  → But I won the lottery and got 30GB of free data ..
• I received flowers from Aron for the first time and wanted to turn them into dried flowers
  → But my current female roommate used to be a florist boss..and directly helped me with it.
• I've always wanted to create an animated blog homepage, but it stalled for almost 2 years
  → But another female roommate is a web designer, and I love her work! The price is within my budget, and she can even create an AI interactive mini app to put on my website WOW!!
• The apartment type I liked—real estate agent quote: 1,900 RMB/month
  → But the same unit type (different building) I contacted the landlord directly with no agent fee: 1,650 RMB/month… Even someone has lived there so I don't need to worry about formaldehyde! Plus it includes internet & property management fees & all kinds of appliances and sofas! The ones at 1,900 require buying all that separately (so ridiculous)! Solved the housing rental problem in a day.

'Pessimists are always right, optimists are always happy'—this is true. I moved without overthinking, stayed overly optimistic, and good things kept happening~ I hope you're happy every day too!

🎉 Master Heptabase in 7 Days Workshop｜Featured Homework

Mandarin Teacher – Sherry Que

Come check out Sherry Que's daily homework feedback insights:

1. I'm Sherry, a Mandarin teacher. I joined this course hoping to properly manage Knowledge, especially organize my teaching materials, notes, and so on—it's all super messy~ (currently stored on USB). I'm not familiar with Heptabase, but I've used Notion before, and Heptabase seems more intuitive. I also hope to apply it to personal Knowledge Management so I can organize my mixed thoughts and complex data more systematically in the right places, making it easier to extract, read, and generate new ideas.
2. I really enjoyed this assignment—I've always wanted to create a vision board, not necessarily something beautiful, but something that gets more exciting the more I work on it! After all, I didn't major in fine arts haha. What I like about Heptabase is that it's not complicated to operate, easy to move things around, organize whiteboards and different sections, and it provides enough features to segment the screen. Just zoom in when you want to see more! It feels very convenient. I spent an hour creating the first version and will edit the details slowly later!
3. To be honest, for someone like me who's not good at organizing, I think this assignment is very challenging… But I know this is a necessary first step! Aim to complete first, perfect later. Fortunately, Heptabase is a thinking tool that's perfect for making adjustments on the fly as you work, just like Xiaochang said—upward organizing may seem like a technique, but actually there's no right or wrong, just whether it aligns with your thinking logic and meets your needs!
4. I think it's wonderful! The busier and more routine life becomes, the more we're moved by small things. But through writing and recording, we can let our brain actively seek out those tiny but beautiful feelings~ This process is just as Xiaochang said—opening our heart's eyes, even the most ordinary small things deserve gratitude, reflection, and blessing. May we develop this habit and carefully accumulate these beautiful fragments. Life won't always go as we wish, but if we can achieve inner peace and contentment, I think that's the greatest wealth of living. Thank you, Xiaochang!
5. It feels similar to investment architecture diagrams I used to create at work, but I'm still not quite familiar with how alignment works after putting cards into sections~Moving one part makes everything else messy>< The course is very practical.
6. I really like how Xiaochang used the metaphor of leaves and memory trees to explain how to use Heptabase for reading Notes. For someone like me with strong divergent thinking, it's very applicable. Even though things still scatter sometimes, the process of forming a mind map is a great opportunity to reorganize the logic! It also made me reconsider why I created that note in the first place. Plus there's an entire whiteboard space, so tangential ideas that want to be added have a place to land.
7. The AI generation is so fast! I don't usually take notes when listening to podcasts, but I think this application can deepen my knowledge intake from audio and video content, and if you want to further plan actions, there's a trail to follow! The GEMINI AI linking feature is also super cool~ It lets you ask personalized questions yourself~ Although I just casually found one episode to organize, it feels like a wonderful Learning experience! Thank you, Xiaochang, for guiding us through these seven days~ Though it seems like it took almost a month to complete~

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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Xiaochang is meticulous about typography; if you spot typos or formatting issues, please reach out to Xiaochang's IG Contact! All articles come from Heptabase Xiaochang's Second Brain🧠 Content is purely human-written, never AI-generated.

If you have any questions about the article content, or if there are any parts you'd like me to elaborate on, feel free to leave a comment below and let me know～
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by Knowledge Management Mentor Xiaochang🌭