These days — have you noticed something?
Whenever conversations with friends turn to the future, the spark just isn’t there anymore. Gone is the energy and optimism from a few years back. People either deflect with small talk or paper over the awkwardness with trivial jokes.
But underneath the words, you can still feel it — something simmering, deeply buried, quietly endured.
Like a breath of stale air trapped in your chest. Pressing down. Unable to be released. Always building. Always weighing.
If you feel this too, I want you to know: that heaviness, that low-grade unease — it’s correct. It’s perceptive. You’ve sensed what’s already beginning to arrive: a turning point in the great current of history.
It comes with quiet, immovable certainty. It will not bend to anyone’s will. It cannot be stopped.
If Master Chi were asked to write one caption for this era’s tide, it would read: In the years ahead, you can no longer depend on heaven’s gift of calm, comfortable days. Every person will carry their own burden and press forward through it.
Barring the unexpected, the next several years may well be the most sweeping, most turbulent decade that ordinary people like you and I will ever live through.
Much of what unfolds during these ten years will gradually become something neither you nor I can fully comprehend — whether we’re talking about the Far Eastern Paris (Shanghai) or the shifting winds across Central Europe.
In fact, the two stories dominating today’s headlines may, compared with what comes next, shrink into mere footnotes.
Of course — how could the road of China’s revival be free of every obstruction that those with ulterior motives can throw at it? The stronger we grow, the more anxious they become. The more prosperous we are, the more rattled they get. And so they scheme from the shadows, maneuver from the dark corners.
As someone from Shanghai, I’ve felt this more acutely than most in recent months.
So: work hard, fight for your ground, compete — these three phrases will only grow more familiar in the years ahead.
But: beginnings are never easy, and those who persist will prevail.
I still believe with conviction that this homeland of mine, at this very moment, is capable of turning adversity into fortune, transforming hardship into grace, and arriving at peace and prosperity for its people.
Even so, we ourselves must learn to become stronger, more resilient — and we must develop the agility and sensitivity that this age of change demands.
Master Chi’s only counsel to you right now is this: in the days ahead, commit to cultivating yourself. Let go of small comforts. Pursue excellence in both mind and strength.
Because as the waves rise, every person will face round after round of all-encompassing tests — tests from life, from time itself. Those who score high will lead the next era. Those who stumble carelessly will fall behind. Once you’ve handed in your paper, there are no regrets and no second chances.
The secret?
It’s what I’ve always maintained: unwavering belief in this land, and in the brave souls striving to break free from the fate history has written for them — no matter how steep or uncertain the road ahead.
And yet — as someone who, just like you, must hand in my own answer to destiny and to the age — at this particular moment, I can only say from the heart:
2021 has passed. I miss it.
Not for its crowds or its rivers of traffic — all of that, I believe, will continue flowing just fine through the decade ahead.
What I miss is only this: a life that was steady. Without great swings. Quietly content with modest ease.
Nothing more.