I grew up in a big city in Henan, China. My parents had little formal education, and my family was ordinary in every way: it gave me all the love I could need, and comparatively little guidance or resources. Running became a unique part of my life and a metaphor for my journey, requiring nothing but determination and perseverance. For me, running symbolizes growth and self-discovery. Just as I ran alone on the road, I immersed myself in books, knowledge, and new perspectives at school and in the library, feeding my own growth. I pushed myself beyond my limits, reaching for a wider world and a more distant horizon.
Running taught me focus and immersion, and that is how I approach finance, which drew me in with its own rhythm. As an undergraduate, I applied machine learning to study how data reflects the interrelationships of market behavior, and I felt the deep joy of combining theory with practice.
Running also taught me that growth is rarely linear. When my performance plateaued, I experimented with new strategies like slow climbs and interval training, the same way I approach academic and professional challenges. These experiments helped me rediscover the joy of running and gave direction to my research and practice.
While running, I met a group of people who shared my passion. We ran at different times and paces, but we shared our experiences and encouraged each other, and that sense of community showed me the value of collective participation. The same realization has shaped my professional path. As a student, I gave back to my hometown through social initiatives, leading a team to study the local rose industry and winning an award for excellence in practice. After graduation, I turned down offers in Beijing and returned to my home province to work in the Trading Department of the Zhengzhou Commodity Exchange, as a policy maker and frontline financial regulator.
Everyone comes to the market with a different purpose, and liquidity and executable prices are the tools that let those purposes be fulfilled. I accept what behavioral economics says about irrational behavior, but I often wonder whether some of it is rational behavior under limits we have not observed. One participant's reaction can be another participant's shock. I feel lucky to live in a time that gives us enough tools to uncover these objectives, incentives, and limits. A position forced to unwind because repo requirements changed, and the herding that follows a move, both look like amplifiers of an initial shock, yet behind each may be an entirely rational necessity. By analyzing data, adjusting policy, and building protection mechanisms, I was able to improve market efficiency and make a meaningful impact on the industry.
Yet the essence of running remains solitary. At times it feels like an endless treadmill, with shifting goals that all demand perseverance and resilience. My research at the Zhengzhou Commodity Exchange showed me that the solitary pursuit of data analysis and market research demands the same resilience and focus. I want to keep exploring the liquidity mechanisms of financial markets and building mathematical models that make them work better. And I love feedback that is immediate and constant, so that I can adjust quickly. I don't think any other field offers all of this at once: a real intellectual challenge, feedback that is timely, honest, and impossible to argue with, and rewards that are real and exciting. It lets me keep learning from others, and makes the journey more joyful and more colorful.
I am a girl from Henan who has been running all her life. Running has taken me from Henan to Beijing to the US. I want to keep running: to different markets, and to a more fantastic world.