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Update 19: Summer 2026

It’s been almost a year since my last update and, as you can imagine, quite a lot has happened.

Much of what I have been engaged with is mentioned here: LINK

It’s coming up to a year since my PhD graduation, though it feels like a very long time ago. Graduation/convocation was wonderful: some pics of that event here – LINK

I’m not long back from a visit to China, Nicholle to follow me back in another two weeks. She will return to teach at the same school in September (Burnaby Central Secondary School) and I will start teaching two new groups of students on the 11-month Bachelor of Education program; my regular Technology Education cohort and the new “Inquiry in Digital Education and AI” cohort I was invited to lead.

Below are some pics of the trip; Click on the images to enlarge

The last time I was in China was in the Summer of 2023. That update is here: LINK

This time, we spent most of the in Changchun, with Nicholle’s parents and some of our old friends. Later, we flew to Hangzhou to visit another friend, and then on the Shenzhen for a few days on our own before heading back up north.

Nicholle’s parents are doing well. With the morning market just across the road, we were daily provisioned with fresh food.
My favourite breakfast; fresh-baked lamb nang from the Xinjiang family stall
All transactions paid, of course, via QR-code scan and WeChat

We visited the (private) school that our friend’s daughter attends and were impressed with the facilities. The maker space really caught my eye, as did the enormity of the cafeteria!

They had a bunch of these coll little Proxxon micro machines that the teachers did demo’s on; See my watch on the left for scale.
The scale of the cafeteria was impressive. The students eat three meals a day here (self-serve buffet style)
Downtown Changchun is busy as usual; It was interesting to see a new”Timmies” beside the long-standing McDonald’s by Guilin Lu
I had a blast test driving an Audi E7X on a long flat empty road: 0 to 100 km/h in 3.97 seconds!!
Changchun now has SEVEN subway lines, with the eighth to open soon. This sticker tells you which carriages are kept at lower temperatures (so you can choose according to your comfort).
There were lots of these kiosks around. They use a facial recognition system so you just rock up, show your face, and take what you want. It’s all charged to your account (which is connected to your phone, which is connected to your biometrics).

Hangzhou

Home to China’s “Six Little Dragons”: DeepSeek, the Black Myth developer Game Science, robotics firms Unitree and DeepRobotics, Neuralink challenger BrainCo, and spatial intelligence firm ManyCore.

Our hosts in Hangzhou; some old and new friends.

We had one wild night out at a BBQ place where the function of social drinking in China came flooding back to me.

Hangzhou is an old city, established as a county seat in 221 BC, and our host took us to see come of the historical sights. I like this shot of XX coming down the steps at the Faxi Temple

Shenzhen

After Hangzhou, we flew to a much newer city. In 1980, it has a population of 30,000. Today, that number stands at 17 million!

I love this story:
(April 19, 2016) Story of cities #25: Shannon – a tiny Irish town inspires China’s economic boom
https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2016/apr/19/story-of-cities-25-shannon-ireland-china-economic-boom

Sharing an elevator with delivery robots was a little disconcerting.
Mind you, there were lots of robots and drones about in Shanzhen.
Note the slogan

(Oct 20, 2025) Shenzhen: The city that built China’s tech empire
https://www.thinkchina.sg/technology/shenzhen-city-built-chinas-tech-empire

And then we were back in Changchun for a few days to round out the visit. I almost escaped from the perfectly acceptable Chinese social norm of commenting on someone’s weight and appearance, until one of the neighbors looked me over and declared: “you got old and fat”. Though wounded, I was still thankful that she overlooked the receding hairline!

The plan, for now, is to be home in Ireland for a visit in August next year (by which stage I will appear less old and fat!). Until then, we will work away here in Vancouver. It would be lovely to hear from ye:

  • Kieran kieranforde@hush.com
  • Nicholle nicholleforde@outlook.com

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