✶ tastes & textures of a mosaic life ✶
CHRYSALIS CHRONICLES
Welcome to the living soup of stories, resources, and field notes that have seasoned my becoming. May these spices and and slices of life nourish you and your village in turn.
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All great stories lead back home.
Why do we leave, only to return?
This question defined my mid-twenties, leading me to move to China and ultimately return to my ancestral villages with the help of My China Roots — a professional team of genealogists I’m grateful to have worked closely with over 5+ years to help hundreds of diasporic families reconnect with their ancestral roots.
Found (2021) is one of these full-circle homecomings.
Available on Netflix, the documentary (dir. Amanda Lipitz) follows the emotional journey of three adoptees who travel back to China in hopes of finding their birth parents with the aid of My China Roots.
As a Videographer & Interviewer for the film, I worked closely with Liuhao – the lead researcher tasked with finding their birth parents – to document her investigation and nurture her voice and confidence to express herself authentically on-camera. Witnessing her blossom and forge close bonds with the adoptees was by far the most rewarding part of the process. Truly “storyliving” in real time!
✧ explore More homecoming journeys ✧
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✧ roots trips ✧
Discover Your Place in History
What does it feel like to return to your ancestral village? Journey with three roots seekers as their stories converge across time. (Spoiler: I’m one of them!)
To dive deeper, listen to our panel conversation for inspiration & practical tips for your own roots trip.
✧ story gathering ✧
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(v)logs from liminal space
The original Chrysalis Chronicles! This vlogging series began in 2018, when I had a quarter-life identity crisis and moved to China to explore my roots. A (home)coming-of-age adventure across oceans of love + language, food + friendship, departures + returns.
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Did You Know?
When a caterpillar becomes a butterfly, its body first dissolves into a rich culture (“protein soup”) as fuel for new anatomy to develop – and mysteriously merge with older cells preserving its memories. A chrysalis, quite literally, is the transitional stage where fluid identity re-forms and takes flight as colorful agents of biodiversity.
In other words? You already have everything you need within you to bloom where you’re planted.
life at the crossroads
Chrysalis Convos
Hyphenated. Disoriented. Caught between worlds.
How do we embrace our [mosaic, multicultural, _____] roots?
CHRYSALIS CONVOS hold space to crystallize what’s deeply sensed, yet eludes words, as our fluid identities unfold. Wherever this finds you on your journey of becoming, I hope these interviews inspire you to create magic from the mystery of who you are.
Documented in 2018-2020 while re-membering my roots across China, Malaysia, and the United States. To each in-betweener I crossed paths with, THANK YOU for sharing your stories with me. Your invaluable insights continue to both ease and encourage my attempts to express 只可意会, 不可言传 — what is deeply felt, yet eludes words.
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✧ explore my podcast lore ✧
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JANE DAI is cooking up a recipe for change. Foodie, researcher, veteran boba brewer – she dreams of nourishing communities, one slurp at a time. Starting at her own family table!