Jenxi Seow

Hey, I’m Jenxi Seow

I’m a cyber alchemist.

Short version

I’m a Malaysian living in Shenzhen, China. I trained as a pharmacist, practiced for seven years, then left to pursue creative work. That was over a decade ago.

Today I’m a cyber alchemist—taking my training as a chemist to a different dimension. I synthesise raw inputs: AI methodologies, Chinese philosophy, and cross-cultural observations from living in multiple countries and growing up in a multicultural environment. Then I transmute them into modern elixirs for our minds and cyberbrains through techniques that feel like futuristic alchemy.

I write in both English and Chinese. I’ve been building websites since 1998 and have run passion projects for over 16 years. I believe in playing long games with compounding returns.

The “cyber” part: I’m building a cyberbrain through AI-augmented thinking — note-taking systems, productivity workflows, tools that free the mind for what matters.

The “alchemist” part: transformation. Taking ideas from different traditions and turning them into practical insight.

I have an apricot toy poodle called Xiaobao 小宝 (Little Treasure). He is my sidekick in life and a constant reminder of the other dogs in our family in heaven.

What I’m exploring

Building a cyberbrain

How to use AI tools for better thinking—note-taking, reviewing, reflecting, brainstorming. Shifting tedious work to machines so we can be present for what matters.

Ancient philosophy for modern life

After gaining deep insights from Roman and Greek philosophy, I discovered that the Chinese and Japanese philosophy I learned as a child offered equally powerful frameworks—mental models from ancient thinkers whose ideas shaped East Asian cultures for millennia. These aren’t outdated traditions but misunderstood ones, often judged by Western standards without immersion in the culture they emerged from.

Life in Shenzhen and China

Observations from a decade in China’s hardware capital. An ethnic Chinese finding my roots, married to a Chinese wife. The gap between perception and reality. What it’s like to live between cultures.

What I build

An aspiring artist and author. I enjoy creating with my imagination. The possibilities are endless if you tear down the boundaries around your mind.

Beauty is not a word. It’s a world. See the world through my eyes as I strive to record a legacy that would last long after I’m gone.

Jenxi Seow

WuxiaSociety – I love reading wuxia novels, and I translate them into English to bring these masterpieces to the English-speaking audience. These Chinese works have much potential for exploration in English literature.

Game localisations – Besides wuxia, I also translate work for clients, with a particular focus on game localisation from Chinese to English. I get to enjoy the plot before anyone else, without having to grind through the games. The projects allow me to analyse game narratives for inspiration and ways to improve my storytelling.

Open source i18n – Localisation is also a way I give back to the community. I’ve been building websites using WordPress since it was released in 2003. In return for the decades of benefit I get from the open source project, I contribute to the WordPress Polyglots team and StudioCMS.

MechaBay – I grew up watching Gundam anime and share my passion for mecha series at MechaBay, a database for the mecha genre that also functions as a testbed for my design experiments. It is, in a way, a spiritual successor of my first Gundam web page from 1998.

HeyShenzhen – After a decade here, I’ve accumulated knowledge that newcomers need but can’t easily find. I’ve met newcomers who struggle to settle due to a lack of information and support, so I created the HeyShenzhen community to tap on the power of our collective knowledge to help new Shenzheners.

This site

What I’m into

Creating

Consuming

  • Beautiful typography
  • Chinese culture and history
  • Durian
  • Books
  • Wuxia
  • Gundam and most mecha anime
  • Street photography books
  • Anime, manga, and manhua

Long version

For those who want the full story.

I am a Malaysian living in Shenzhen, China. I spent my childhood and teenage years living in Johor Bahru, commuting daily to and from Singapore for school. Having to travel four to five hours a day to cross the border was a character-building process. I finally moved to Singapore when I started my undergraduate studies.

I graduated from the NUS School of Pharmacy. I practiced as a pharmacist for seven years before quitting my job to pursue entrepreneurship in creative work. I left Singapore for Shenzhen, where I’ve come to call home.

A little history

After discovering the internet, I wanted to create fan sites for Japanese TV drama Beach Boys and Gundam. I taught myself HTML and CSS, I published my first webpages on Geocities in 1998. When I needed custom graphics for the sites, I taught myself Photoshop to create the images I needed.

When blogs became the rage in 2000, I created many blogs before I built this site in 2002. See the next section below for more details.

I started building websites as a freelancer in 2004. After accumulating a decade of experience, I co-founded RubyCoded with my friend Matt in 2014 to offer high quality design services.

I picked up my first camera in 2009 and became obsessed with photography. I taught myself photography and finally found my passion in street photography. My portfolio contains some of the shots I like from my long term photography projects.

A desire to live a life doing what I love pushed me to make the difficult decision of making a career change. I quit my comfortable job as a pharmacist to run my own businesses.

Today looks like yesterday, if we want change tomorrow, we should change today.
Nakashima Mika

Matt and I are coffee enthusiasts and we were lucky to be handed the opportunity to realise our dream of opening a cafe in 2015 in Shenzhen. We broke even in three months, but the coffee culture was not as vibrant back then.

Matt returned to Malaysia in 2016 to start a family and I moved on to provide design services to trading companies in Shenzhen.

In 2018, I met Giovanni, an Italian based in Shenzhen. We hit off immediately and shared common vision and passion. We founded CheeseFlow with the mission of bringing good products to the international market. We do this by helping brands with brand strategy, design, marketing, and after-sales service.

Strong opinions, weakly held

A public record of my views inspired by Devon Zuegel. I believe we should be passionate about our opinions, but even more enthusiastic about challenging and changing them.

Don't try to prove others wrong, focus on proving yourself right.
  • I want to be mindful of my life. I’ve gone on autopilot for certain parts of my life and while there’s no point in regretting, I don’t want it to happen again
  • I want to be vulnerable. Being vulnerable makes me authentic. This is how I can connect better with others. Cocooning myself in a shell makes me pretentious and I’ll loose the chance to find a kindred spirit.
  • I will keep learning because I know there is a lot I don’t know.
  • I will always be ready to share what I’ve learnt with others who I think will benefit from or be interested in it.
  • I try to be present when I’m with others. I don’t let myself be distracted, unless it is a real emergency that requires my immediate attention. If that is the case, explain the situation and apologise.
  • I let people know when they have done something that helped me a lot. I don’t want to not have the chance to do so, or only express myself when it no longer matters.
  • I will avoid being negative. I have been toxic at a certain point in my life. Everyone has their problems to deal with in life and don’t deserve to share mine.
    • That said, I there are a few people in my life whom I know are always there for me. I know I can share my negative thoughts, as long as I ask for permission first. They are the ones who I know will be honest and say no if they are not ready for a toxic dump.
    • This is different from hiding struggles from my friends. I’m very transparent with my struggles and being vulnerable means they know I want them to be there for me. They know I will be there for them too.
  • Likewise, I will not let toxic people in my life. Life is too short to be wasted on such people. The naysayers. The pretenders. The false friends.
  • I will be very selective with the people I spend my time with. Our time is limited. Only spend time with those who matter.
  • Don’t argue with fools. Smile and nod. Move along.

Connect with me

Think better with me

I send one email per week on using AI to think more clearly, lessons from Chinese philosophy, and observations from Shenzhen.

I hate spam and won't send you any.