From Peasant to Princeton PhD
As I sat with my wife on the stone bench in front of my childhood home in the village of Aawu (鴉湖村), an elderly lady walked by us and without pausing asked if I was the boy from that house who left nearly fifty years ago. She finally stopped fifteen metres away below the arch ...
When I was a child in Maaubou, I caught shrimps from the village pond and carried home fish when it was drained for harvest. When I returned to my village, I strolled by the pond and sought the space in front of the Chan Ancestral Hall where I had played as a child. By the ...
The most vivid memories of my childhood in China are those sharing food with my grandfather. China was poor in the 1970s. Food was scant and meat a luxury. One poignant recollection is when my grandfather cooked game that he caught in the rice fields and shared that tasty meal with me. I also remember ...
As I sat with my wife on the stone bench in front of my childhood home in the village of 𝐴𝑎𝑤𝑢 (鸦湖 = “Crow Lake”), an elderly lady walked by us and without pausing asked if I was the boy from that house who left nearly fifty years ago. She finally stopped 15 metres away ...
The Jamaican beef patty is a Toronto staple food. I have many fond memories of how it played a big part of and enriched my life. I grew up during the ‘80s and ‘90s in Leslieville/ South Riverdale before it got gentrified. My go-to place for beef patties back then was Donut Express on the ...
Back in the early 1990s, I used to frequent a coffee shop in East Toronto which was a popular hangout for troublemaker teens. It was a bit of a lawless place. Illegal cigarettes were sold under the counter and there were constant rumours of gambling on site. The air inside was always thick with smoke ...
My mum used to collect vegetables tossed in the dumpster of a wholesale produce warehouse near our home. I also used to go to my sister s workplace, a flower shop in Toronto s financial district, and collect the carcasses of chickens in a large black plastic bag from an adjacent fried chicken takeaway shop to cook ...
My father built the Hsin Kuang chain of restaurants in Toronto. It was a high-profile brand from Hong Kong, and when it was introduced to Toronto in the 1980s it made a splash in the local community. Its flagship location was on 346 Spadina Ave in Toronto’s downtown Chinatown. It was notable for its bright ...
I was a Distinguished Fellow at INSEAD (Innovation Policy Initiative) at the Abu Dhabi campus from 2015-19. In that role, I collaborated on scholarly research and supported the institution s academic commitments. INSEAD bio: Dr Kai L. Chan Distinguished Fellow, INSEAD Innovation Policy initiative Dr Kai L. Chan is a Distinguished Fellow at INSEAD ...
At Princeton University I taught the calculus camp for MPP students at the Woodrow Wilson School (WWS) and served as a lecturer and preceptor (teaching assistant) for various graduate and undergraduate economics courses (development economics, macroeconomics, microeconomics, public economics). Additionally, I served as the assistant master at Butler College in 2002-03. (This role was akin ...