Create Comfortably in Liangzhu | WAVES New Wave 2025

WAVES New Wave 2025 invites you to embark on the "New Era" of Chinese venture capital.

This is the new era of Chinese venture capital. Currently, the Chinese venture capital market is not only at the turning point of the cycle bottoming out but also in the in - depth period of structural transformation. In the new ecosystem dominated by policies and with high concentration of state - owned assets and capital, only by conforming to the trend and making flexible adjustments can we capture definite opportunities in the face of uncertainties.

From June 11th to 12th, at the Liangzhu Culture and Art Center in Hangzhou, the 36Kr WAVES New Wave 2025 Conference, themed "New Era", will gather top investors in the venture capital field, founders of emerging enterprises, as well as scientists, creators, and scholars deeply involved in technology, innovation, and business. They will jointly discuss cutting - edge issues such as AI technological innovation, the wave of globalization, and value re - evaluation, dissect their views on business ideals and the future world, and jointly explore, seek, and move towards the "New Era" of Chinese venture capital.

On the afternoon of June 11th, a round - table discussion was held at the Entrepreneurs' Venue, with the theme "Create Comfortably in Liangzhu". This round - table was participated in by Master Qi, the initiator of Liangzhu DemoDay, Vincent, the founder of Bonjour!, Xiyuan, the founder of FateTell, and Lin Yuanlin, the founder and CEO of Zeabur, and hosted by Huang Zhuxi, a senior analyst at Waves.

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Liangzhu in the Eyes of Villagers, the Villagers of Liangzhu

Huang Zhuxi: Hello, everyone. I'm Huang Zhuxi from Waves. I'm very honored to be on the same stage with the four of you today. There are many Liangzhu villagers among the on - site audience today, and you should be very familiar with them. However, the online and live - streaming audiences may not be so familiar. Let's invite the four of you to introduce yourselves and spread the voice of Liangzhu.

Master Qi: Hello, everyone! I'm Master Qi. I moved to Liangzhu from Beijing two years ago. Now my main occupation is independent development, and I'm also running an event called Liangzhu DemoDay. I organize a gathering for the villagers in Liangzhu and AI entrepreneurs from all over the country about once a month.

Vincent: Hello, everyone. I'm Vincent. I moved to Liangzhu for entrepreneurship and living about a year ago. Now I've rented a house where I live and work. I'm working on Bonjour!, which is a human - resource trading platform for agents.

Xiyuan: Hello, everyone. I'm Xiyuan, and I'm Vincent's neighbor. I moved here during the Spring Festival last year. Now I'm working on a product for exporting traditional Chinese fortune - telling, called FateTell.

Lin Yuanlin: Hello, everyone. I'm Lin Yuanlin, and I've also been a Liangzhu villager for a year. A year ago, after graduating from Zhejiang University, I came to live in Liangzhu. Now I'm fully engaged in entrepreneurship, working on Zeabur, a cloud - based AI agent for Vibe Coder developers.

Huang Zhuxi: The four of you here are typical representatives of Liangzhu villagers. Master Qi started organizing chats among Liangzhu villagers more than a year ago and later initiated an offline developer communication activity called Master Qi's AI Living Room. He organizes Liangzhu villagers for a DemoDay every month. So far, the living room has covered AI creators, product developers, and investors from all over the country for theme sharing, product demonstrations, and development exchanges.

Master Qi should have a lot of insights into Liangzhu villagers. First, we'd like you to describe what kind of people live in Liangzhu in your eyes. What values, outlooks on life, and worldviews do they share?

Master Qi: I think Liangzhu is a very special place for me. In 2023, when I left Beijing, I wanted to be a digital nomad. I planned to stay in Hangzhou for a few months, then go to Dali, Xiamen, and even farther to Sanya.

Fortunately, I chose Liangzhu as my first stop and became a villager here. What attracts me here is that, in our common language, it's a place where you can both attack and retreat - it's not far from the urban area of Hangzhou and the center of Yuhang, and it's also not far from Shanghai. It takes just over an hour from Hangzhou West Station to Shanghai. Moreover, it's not a place for complete relaxation. Although the scenery here is beautiful, the natural environment is excellent, and the neighborly relations are good, it's not a place for idleness. It allows you to create in this environment.

Many of the villagers and neighbors, although they don't have regular jobs, have their own skills or small businesses. In this atmosphere, you won't be idle and will do many things you want to do. People can also inspire each other. I think this place is quite equal and free. People here care more about what kind of person you are rather than your background or where you come from. People address each other as villagers and have equal conversations and exchanges.

Huang Zhuxi: It is said that there are many people with ADHD in Liangzhu Village (laughs)?

Master Qi: There are quite a few people with ADHD, but not all. People with ADHD are not suitable for regular jobs. I'm an INFP. In foreign countries, many companies use MBTI tests to screen out INFPs and reject them because both INFPs and people with ADHD are not suitable for regular jobs. When I was at work, I might not be able to sit still for more than three seconds and would want to go out for a walk. I was very inefficient at the company.

I'm a person who has difficulty concentrating on one thing. However, I think the work here in Liangzhu is very suitable for people with ADHD because people here are running their own things. For example, whether it's an APP or DemoDay, I just need to show up regularly. I don't need to pay attention every day or sit at the desk from morning to night. For example, DemoDay is held once a month. After it's over, I can take a week off, not focus, and work on my APP. I just need to update it regularly. This regular production rhythm is very suitable for creators and entrepreneurs. That's why a group of such people have gathered here.

Huang Zhuxi: We previously talked about the "Hunting and Agricultural Civilization Theory".

Master Qi: Humans have only been in a nine - to - five work state for a very short time. If we consider the industrial civilization, it's only been about a hundred years, and if we consider the agricultural civilization, it's only been a few thousand years. For hundreds of thousands of years before that, humans didn't need to live in a highly focused way. They might sleep for a week, then suddenly go hunting. After catching a few wild boars, they would eat them in the cave. When they were hungry again, they might go hunting again.

This rhythm is very suitable for a group of people who now have self - media and AI to help them create. With the support of coding and content, many people can live a hunting - style life through these tools instead of being a cog in a big company every day. I think there are some subtle changes in the way humans collaborate.

Huang Zhuxi: As creators and innovators based in Liangzhu, do the other three guests have anything to add about life in Liangzhu?

Vincent: Our current main way of living is to rent a house. The rent is very cheap, only 5000 yuan per month, which can cover both our housing and office costs. We rent and work together. It's a low - cost way and a way to find some very interesting people to join the team in Liangzhu. I think it's very comfortable and has the feeling of the early days of Silicon Valley entrepreneurship.

Lin Yuanlin: Liangzhu is a very suitable place for entrepreneurs, digital nomads, and freelancers. I've discussed with my friends the reason why such a group of people have naturally gathered here. We later came to the conclusion that people with this kind of work pattern have a need for social interaction. Since we don't work nine - to - five and don't have a fixed social occasion like an office every day, if we lived in an apartment and went to a coffee shop every day, we would see a lot of strangers. But after coming to Liangzhu, I found that the neighbors are all familiar people. After a tiring day at work, I can go to a neighbor's house to watch a movie, have a drink, or we can make an appointment to work at Starbucks during the day. This way is more suitable for freelancers to achieve a work - life balance.

Live Seriously, Create Comfortably

Huang Zhuxi: It sounds like a very enviable lifestyle. I previously heard an episode of a podcast by Master Qi and Xiyuan, saying that Liangzhu is a place with a good "magnetic field". But from a normal logical perspective, comfort and creation seem to be antonyms. How do you view the state of "creating comfortably"?

Xiyuan: You may know the "20 - minute Park Theory". Sometimes when you're very tired, taking 20 minutes to walk in the park can improve your creativity. I think a great advantage of Liangzhu is that you may have a "200 - minute park". Some people even put their computers in a coffee shop with a good natural environment and work there. I think people need a peaceful environment to stimulate their best creativity.

Also, the reason why it is said that the feng shui in Liangzhu is good is that since we're working on metaphysical AI, we know many masters. Once, when we took a master to visit the Liangzhu Museum, he said that the feng shui here is very good (laughs). We can also feel that within the scope of Hangzhou, the only places where the natural environment can create such an atmosphere that makes people feel comfortable and peaceful are Liangzhu and the West Lake area. However, the West Lake area obviously doesn't have the community atmosphere like Liangzhu. In Liangzhu, after people feel at ease, they can be more creative and achieve things that they may not be able to achieve in other places.

Huang Zhuxi: What does this period of life in Liangzhu mean to you in your life stage? How do you feel different before and after coming to Liangzhu?

Master Qi: I used to live in Beijing. I think the life in Liangzhu is quite different from that in Beijing. First of all, Beijing is a big city, while Liangzhu is a small place. In Beijing, you need to consume a lot of energy to accomplish one thing. Yesterday, I talked with a friend about a term called "road - to - meal ratio". That is, when you go out for a meal in Beijing, the time spent on the road (for example, the round - trip time from Wangjing to Sanlitun) divided by the time you spend having a meal with your friend. In Beijing, this ratio is at least 1:1 or 1. something:1, but in Liangzhu, it may be 1:10. You can walk to a neighbor's house in two or three minutes and have a meal that lasts for more than an hour. The difference is very significant in terms of numbers.

There are also some other numbers for comparison. The proportion of people who have a living room in Beijing is very different from that in Liangzhu. In Beijing, the proportion may be 10% or 20%, but in Liangzhu, it's 90%. Having a living room is like having breathing space in your life. It's not just about fulfilling your daily survival needs. The living room is a place for life. You can receive friends, work together, cook together, and do many other things. I think it provides a lot of possibilities. As Xiyuan just said, it's very easy to go to the park in Liangzhu. I specifically counted, and there is a park about every 500 meters in Liangzhu. This proportion is also very high. Just from the numerical comparison, the living environment gives people very different feelings. So I think the living experience in Liangzhu is very different from that in Beijing.

Vincent: I used to live in Guangdong, working in a small company and living in a very remote place. At that time, I felt that I didn't have any social relationships with friends other than my colleagues. After coming to Liangzhu, a big change is that I finally have more real social relationships with friends other than my colleagues. I've really met a lot of friends.

Huang Zhuxi: You've met friends you can confide in and partners you can work with here.

Vincent: Yes, there are also many partners. Friends have also brought great help to our project. Regarding the life stage, I think this is a very important stage for me. The things I've gained in Liangzhu at this stage may bring good benefits to me in the long run.

Huang Zhuxi: By the way, Vincent participated in the Miracle DemoDay yesterday. It is said that 500 investors added him on WeChat, and he's still slowly dealing with the waiting list. It's a very good thing. We've known Vincent for a long time and have witnessed his gradual growth and being recognized by the market until now getting financing. How about you, Xiyuan?

Xiyuan: I went to university in Guangzhou, worked in Hong Kong and Shenzhen, then went to Chengdu, from Chengdu to Shanghai, and then from Shanghai to Hangzhou. I've been to many places in China, including working in Beijing for some time. I think Hangzhou is really a different city. I once saw a post saying that Hangzhou is a city where you can both attack and retreat. You can go to Shanghai or even abroad if you want to move forward, and if you want to retreat, there are people around Hangzhou, such as in Fuyang and Ningbo, who are starting businesses or doing independent development as far as I know. So the state of Hangzhou itself is different from other cities.

I was really attracted by the natural environment and the overall magnetic field and atmosphere in Liangzhu. Before coming to Liangzhu, I was working in a big company in Shanghai, in a completely concrete - jungle - like city. Especially, I once heard an elder say that modern people are very lonely, living in stone houses every day, and the sense of connection is very weak. Just like what Vincent said, after Master Qi organized Liangzhu DemoDay, there is basically a gathering every month, and the sense of connection is completely different.

Lin Yuanlin: Before coming to Liangzhu, during the period from my graduation from Zhejiang University to moving to Liangzhu, I had a life with no social interaction at all. I just stayed at home, went to the company, and then went home. The reason why I came here was that there was a Liangzhu villager, a well - known independent developer, who organized a "Crazy Thursday" event in Liangzhu. In this event, many online programmers, designers, and product managers would spontaneously gather in the village. We would chat and communicate in a coffee shop, talking about our products or what we were currently working on.

At that time, I found that many problems I encountered at home or in the company, whether it was about the product (such as how to develop a product) or the technology (such as being stuck with a technical problem), I would look forward to coming to Liangzhu every Thursday.

Because you will find that no matter what problem you encounter, you can meet someone here who has the ability and is willing to help you solve it. I think in a way, since they actively participated in this event or came to this place, they are willing to share their professional skills and knowledge with others. So at that time, coming to Liangzhu once a week could give me a new idea for my product, or solve a technical problem that was holding me back. After moving to the village, this kind of atmosphere has become my daily way of life. I think after a year, it has really made great progress for me, my company, and my product.

Huang Zhuxi: Listening to your descriptions, I can't help but think of the concept mentioned by Professor Xiang Biao, to care about the people around you, the specific people. Perhaps both life and creation come from the connection between people.

Technology (AI) Should Make Human Life Better

Huang Zhuxi: The next question is an extension of this concept. In the eyes of the outside world, although you all in Liangzhu are engaged in some cutting - edge AI work, in fact, you live very real lives, caring about people, the surroundings, and life itself. So, how do you view the relationship between technology (AI) and humans? How do you counter the alienation of humans by technology and integrate this cognitive concept into your respective products, companies, or work? Let's start with Xiyuan.

Xiyuan: This is a big question. Let me first talk about our product, FateTell. Simply put, it's a metaphysical AI product. Many people don't know where the term...