I’m Zizai, a sophomore at Duke university. “Zizai” means Liberty.
I’m curious! My personal goal is to be a Renaissance man. I want to understand the ideas and forces shaping the contemporary society.
I have stopped worrying about building a list of activities to impress LinkedIn users. I spend my time on meaningful and fun things and I am currently having a great time.
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2020.
I find prediction making very interesting. I have, however, made many wrong predictions.
I love math! Clean Maths are really pieces of art.
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In 2019, I read a few books. I also did some internships in Legal, Educational, and Financial industries, which were very boring. In September, I started college. During my first semester at Duke, I was involved in the production of As You Like It. I played Duke Frederick and Duke Senior.
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In 2017 and 2018, I was fortunate to study in the Humanities Programme, Hwa Chong Institution, Singapore. HP is a truly magnificent place, a major manufacturer of the intelligenstia and ruling elite in the country. It is the place I call home. Recently, though, there are forces from the Ministry of Education at dismentaling the best educational programmes (instead of uplifting the worst ones) for more equality.
At Hwa Chong, my friends and I built the Hwa Chong Invitational Philosophy Olympiad. I represented Singapore in International Philosophy Olympiad 2018 in Montenegro and presented in 2017 Australasia Postgraduate Philosophy Conference. My interests include the Gettier Problem.
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In 2015 and 2016, I studied in the Science and Math Talent Programme, Centre for Scholastic Excellence, Hwa Chong Institution, Singapore. I enjoyed doing the Olympiads. Unfortunately, I could not compete at the international level.
Before that, I mostly lived in Hangzhou, China. The more cities I travel to, the more I find Hangzhou an impressive place. I was briefly in the Class 13 (the “experimental” Sciences Olympiads Programme) of the Hangzhou No.2 High School. Between 2012 and 2013, I was the president of Hangzhou Jianlan Middle School Students’ Council.
During my free time, I enjoy music and sports. I have performed in many school concerts. As a sprinter, I ranked 12th nationally in 400 metres. I am also a second Title National Athlete.
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The list of classes I’ve taken at Duke follows.
| LIT | 690 | Modern French Theory | Fredric Jameson |
| PHIL | 552S | Metaphysics | Peter van Inwagen |
| POLSCI | 522S | Comparative Party Politics | Herbert Kitschelt |
| POLSCI | 291 | Independent Study in Political Theory: How to Predict the Future? | Michael Munger |
| HIST | 390S | Civil Rights Movement | William Chafe |
| THEATRST | 350 | Main Stage Production: As You Like It | Jules Odendahl-James |
| ENGLISH | 390S | Bob Dylan | Taylor Black |
| ENGLISH | 271 | Classics of American Literature | Victor Strandberg |
| LINGUIST | 207 | Psychology of Language | Michael Tomasello |
| PHYEDU | 167 | Aikido: Japanese Sword & Staff | Steven Kaufmann |
| WRITING | 101 | Congress | Jacob Smith |
| MUSIC | 101 | Introductory Guitar | Randy Reed |
| MATH | 631 | Measure and Integration | Lu Jianfeng |
| MATH | 531 | Real Analysis | Tau Shean Lim |
| MATH | 501 | Abstract Algebra | Robert Calderbank |
| MATH | 421 | Differential Geometry | Robert Bryant |
| MATH | 403/703 | Advanced Linear Algebra | Paul Aspinwall |
| MATH | 393 | Independent Study: Modelling the Mind | Ingrid Daubechies |
| MATH | 333/733 | Complex Analysis | Paul Aspinwall |
| MATH | 240 | Intro to Applied Maths | Ingrid Daubechies |
I was the Teaching Assistant for MATH501 in Fall 2020. I am the Teaching Assistant for MATH240 in Spring 2021.
You can reach me at cui.zizai@gmail.com
