It is my privilege to share my experience with the Changchun Institute of Optics, Fine Mechanics, and Physics (CIOMP). I will never forget April 2017, when I got the invitation letter from Professor Chunlei Guo to join The Guo-China US Photonics Laboratory (GPL) as an Assistant Professor. At that time, I was contemplating about whether I should go to China or not. Then I decided to check out the CIOMP website and see what the institute was like. I was delighted to discover that it was a large facility with many laboratories. I also searched the CIOMP location on maps and was very impressed with the CIOMP main building and its campus. After that, I accepted the invitation from Prof. Guo and traveled to China. I arrived in Changchun on August 10th, 2017. Prof. Guo and all members of the GPL welcomed me with warm wishes and good hospitality.

Mine is a five-year story with CIOMP; the days have passed very quickly, even during the pandemic. CIOMP takes care of all staff members and students, and provides us the opportunity to work from home or makes convenient arrangements for us to work in laboratories. CIOMP supports many foreign members in applying for funding sources. I received the Chinese Academy of Sciences President's International Fellowship Initiative (2021PM0036), which improved my personal financial situation. I am very much impressed with the working culture both in CIOMP and in general in China, and the Chinese traditional culture and customs. The people are very kindhearted and do not hesitate to help each other and the foreign members.

Our life in China imparted many lessons, and each experience we come upon remained inimitable. We found the rich traditions and Chinese culture both intriguing and embracing. We are able to be ourselves and celebrate our own culture. Meanwhile, we are exposed to a lifestyle foreign to our day-to-day habits and encountered many friends who are thrilled to receive us as guests and offer us life-changing prospects to work with them. My wife and I are great fans of the Chinese family culture. Our baby is even learning to speak Chinese, a language which I am yet to master (always having to resort to a mobile translator).

Finally, I would like to thank the CIOMP faculty, staff and students as well as all the other Chinese people who have made my life journey and my family’s life in China incredible.

Receiving CAS President’s International Fellowship Initiative (PIFI) from Prof. ZHANG Xuejun, Vice President of CIOMP. This is simply one of the most important scenes of my professional career