Hi Munich!

Hi! I’m Yifan Jiang. I’m 24 and from China. I grew up in Guizhou, a mountainous province in southwestern China, and have lived in Beijing since starting university. I studied philosophy as an undergraduate and am now pursuing a master’s degree in documentary filmmaking.

I’m also an intern journalist and have written several in-depth stories. Through my camera and my writing, I’m always exploring new places, meeting people from different backgrounds, and learning about different ways of life.

In my free time, I enjoy watching films, travelling, and trying my hand at writing. I’ve always been drawn to the arts and curious about how other people live, which is part of what brought me to Europe. I’d visited twice before, once to the UK and once to Italy, and both trips left a lasting impression on me.

Munich has so much to offer culturally, and I’m looking forward to seeing performances, exploring bookshops, and taking courses across different disciplines at LMU. I recently went to Munich’s Long Night of Museums, and I was especially impressed by the incredible range of exhibits at the Deutsches Museum.

At IfKW, I’m especially keen to develop my reporting and writing skills in English. I’d also love to visit local media organisations and talk with journalists about the differences between the media landscapes in China and Europe, as well as the challenges they share.

I only arrived in Munich on 6 October, so I’m still exploring the city and settling in. At times, I feel a little lost. Cooking something familiar has been one way of feeling more at home.

Lately, I’ve been busy looking up recipes. As someone from China, food has always been a big part of my life. So a big thank-you to Germany’s Asian supermarkets for helping me recreate a little taste of home while living abroad!

If you have a favourite bookshop—or a recipe that’s hard to mess up—I’m all ears.