Bai Lu白輅

Bai Lu 白輅 — Writer · Video Essayist

The psychology of a generation that grew up at full speed.

I spent thirty years inside China's boom — as an employee, a founder, a bestselling author. Now I write about what the speed cost.

About

Bai Lu 白輅

Bai Lu 白輅
Bai Lu · 白輅

In 2020 I wrote a book about how to win. Everything since has been about what winning costs.

I spent the first thirty years of my life inside China — through the urbanization, the startup boom, the internet rush, the crypto years, and the long slowdown that followed. I worked in enterprise sales, then in strategy and investment at an internet company, then started companies of my own.

In 2020 I published a book about how to win at that game. It became a bestseller. Four more books followed, and several hundred thousand readers came with them.

Somewhere in there the question changed. Not how do you get ahead, but what does getting ahead do to a person. That's what I write about now, and what I make videos about — the interior of a life lived at that speed, and the quiet bill that comes afterward.

Books

Five books, one long question.

Published in Chinese, in simplified and traditional editions. English translation rights are available — enquiries welcome.

Auntie Lemon book cover
柠檬阿姨 · Auntie Lemon
2026 · Baihuazhou Literature & Art Press
The women who raise other people's children are mothers themselves — who left their own behind to do it. On what "for love" actually asks.
The Wealth Train book cover
财富列车 · The Wealth Train
2026 · WeChat Read (digital)
A train that isn't on any timetable pulls into the station. Board it and you have a hundred million — for a price.
Awake book cover
觉醒 · Awake
2025 · Taihai Publishing House
Why did feminist consciousness surge exactly as the economy slowed? Not a coincidence — this book traces the connection. Written with Liu Chenxi.
Miss Pear book cover
梨子小姐与自己相处 · Miss Pear
2023 · Huaxia Publishing House
A woman who did everything right loses all of it in a season, and follows a red cat into an elevator that goes somewhere else.
Breaking Rank book cover
破格 · Breaking Rank
2020 · China Machine Press
A book about how people climb, written while the climbing still worked — the last one before I started asking what it costs.

Video Essays

One question at a time.

Each essay starts from something most Chinese viewers recognize without explanation, and works backward to the psychological question underneath. In Mandarin; English essays are coming.

Labubu and the Hollowed Soul of Contemporary China
Labubu and the Hollowed Soul of Contemporary China
2025 · In Mandarin
What a plush-toy craze says about a generation with nothing left to believe in — from the creation myth of Pangu to a blind box on a shelf.
Why confidence is a privilege
Why Confidence Is a Privilege
In Mandarin
Confidence is usually described as a personal quality. This essay argues it's closer to an inheritance — and looks at who gets to inherit it.
Face, but not dignity
Face, but Not Dignity
In Mandarin
Face is granted by other people. Dignity isn't. On why a society might cultivate the first so carefully, and leave the second to look after itself.
What the exam years take
What the Exam Years Take
In Mandarin
What twelve years of exam preparation does to curiosity, and why so many people arrive at adulthood already exhausted by it.
Everyone photographs, nobody feels
Everyone Photographs, Nobody Feels
In Mandarin
Everyone photographs everything, and nobody quite feels anything. On what the camera roll quietly replaced.
Why joy must be earned
Why Joy Must Be Earned
In Mandarin
On growing up taught that joy must be earned, deferred, and justified — and what a life of grand meanings crowds out.
All essays on YouTube →

Contact

For rights, press, or a good reason — write to me.

I'm open to translation and foreign rights enquiries, speaking invitations, interviews, and commissioned essays. I don't do brand integrations or sponsored content on the channel. For rights enquiries, please include the language and territory you have in mind.

I read everything. I answer slowly.

© 2026 Bai Lu 白輅 · 白辂 Written between China and North America