49 · Dreams Beyond
2026 · Todmorden Mills Museum · Toronto
A 2026 curatorial project at Todmorden Mills Museum in Toronto, Canada. The exhibition poster provides a starting point for exploring the project and Sonia Hu’s art writing.
WRITER · FILMMAKER · CURATOR · PUBLISHER
Sonia Hu
From family memories to the complexities of human life, exploring lives and destinies shaped by the tides of history.
Sonia Hu is a New York–based writer, documentary filmmaker, curator and publisher. Born in Beijing to a Shanghai family, she also writes as Hu Tao (胡桃) and New York Peach Blossom (纽约桃花). Her work ranges from family history and narrative nonfiction to fiction, poetry, art books and film.
From television to literature, film and art
Sonia Hu, also known by her pen name New York Peach Blossom, works across literature, television, documentary film and contemporary art. Her early career included CCTV, CBS and MTV. As a producer at MTV Asia, she helped establish and produce Tian Lai Village, a music television program for audiences in Mainland China. After moving to the United States in the late 1980s, she earned a master’s degree in Television Production at Brooklyn College, City University of New York.
Curating & cultural exchange
Since 2012, she has worked in curating and international cultural exchange, bringing literary narrative, cinematic observation and historical awareness into contemporary art. Her practice explores the relationships among time, memory, consciousness and visual language.
Publishing & creative practice
In 2017, she founded Long Publishing Corp., later guiding its evolution into LONG Cultural Intelligence. Alongside publishing, its work extends into art, cultural research and creative technology. With artist Stone Chun Shi, she also co-founded AMVIA, an AI art creation platform.
She is a lifetime member of the Association of Chinese Writers in North America (AACW), the Overseas Chinese Women Writers Association (OCWWA), the Overseas Chinese PEN association and the New York Chinese Women Writers Association.
Writing, publications and library collections
Publications
Sonia Hu’s nonfiction biographies, fiction and poetry have appeared in Biographical Literature, Hong Kong Literature, The China Press, World Journal, New Jersey Daily and International Daily News. Her work is also included in anthologies published in China and the United States: the essay collections Life Is Not Bad, Ninety-Nine Ways of Living Abroad and the 2020 Pandemic Essay Collection, and the poetry collections A Reflection on Passing Time, the Flushing Poetry Festival Anthology and Trio.
During 2021–2022, she published the poetry collections Autumn Breeze, Orange Moon and Time of Utopia, the nonfiction collection Reminiscence of Fleeting Time and the fiction collection New York Stories. During 2024–2025, she published Chinese and English editions of the cinematic novella The Last Marilyn Monroe, alongside her first bilingual poetry collection, Reverie.
Literary awards
Her writing has received multiple Chinese-language literary awards. In 2020, five nonfiction essays received First Prize in News Commentary at the Overseas Chinese Writing Awards. In 2023, Reminiscence of Fleeting Time received First Prize in the Reporting category of the Chinese-Language Writing Awards.
Other books recognized with Honorable Mentions include Shanghai Forever Lost: A Biography of My Grandmother and Mother (2018, Prose), Mirror Flower, Water Moon (2019, Social Sciences and Humanities), Autumn Breeze, Orange Moon (2022, Poetry), New York Stories (2023, Fiction) and Time of Utopia (2023, Poetry). In 2022, the biographical work 《浮生上海》, a revised edition of Shanghai Forever Lost, also received the inaugural Chinese Film and Television Literature Outstanding Creativity Award.
Library collections & film
Both 《浮生上海》 and Reminiscence of Fleeting Time are held by Harvard-Yenching Library.
In film, Sonia received the Best Director award at the Berlin Indie Film Festival in 2024 for her short documentary From Stone to Stone.
Published Books
Stories, memory & imagination
Explore Sonia Hu’s nonfiction, fiction, poetry and art books, including Chinese and English editions.
View all published books →Magazine & newspaper articles
Awards & certificates
Literary, poetry & film awards
Explore the full collection of awards and original certificates.
View all certificates →Documentary
From Stone to Stone
A documentary by Sonia Hu, tracing an artistic encounter and the creative response it inspired.
Explore the film →Curating & cultural exchange
Projects include Congratulations and Prosperity (2013), Flow State (2023), Being Present: Memor Invitational Exhibition of Contemporary Artists, Spring Awakens New York (2025), STONECUBE: The Initial Language of No-Time Consciousness (2026), and 49 · Dreams Beyond at Todmorden Mills Museum, Toronto (2026).
STONECUBE: The Initial Language of No-Time Consciousness
2026 · Memor Museum · New York
The 2026 Memor Museum exhibition in New York explores Stone Chun Shi’s creative language through art and experience. The related art book brings works and documents into a wider account of that practice.
Flow State · Stone Chun Shi Solo Exhibition
2023 · Stonecube Art · SoHo, New York
Co-curated by Sonia Hu and Yang Min, this 2023 exhibition at Stonecube Art in SoHo, New York presented Stone Chun Shi’s painting practice. Explore its poster and the associated art coverage in the writing archive.
Interviews & cultural talks
FEATURED · ENGLISH INTERVIEWS
English interviews
Conversations about books, family memory and documentary filmmaking.
English audio · 英文采访GOODNEWSBROADCAST · BOOK INTERVIEW
Shanghai Forever Lost
Sonia Hu talks about Shanghai Forever Lost, family history and cultural memory.
GoodNewsBroadcast · Sonia Hu
Watch on YouTube ↗AMDOCS · FILM INTERVIEW
AmDocs · From Stone to Stone
Leighton Ginn talks with Sonia Hu about the story behind the documentary and her experience as an independent filmmaker.
American Documentary Film Festival and Film Fund · 2025
Watch on YouTube ↗CHINESE · INTERVIEW & AUTHOR READING
Chinese interviews & author readings
Chinese audio · 中文内容CHINESE INTERVIEW
The Shanghai Aunt on Avenue Joffre
Mei Jing interviews Sonia Hu on New York Time Corner about the nonfiction essay collected in Reminiscence of Fleeting Time.
Mei Jing · Sonia Hu · 2023 · 27:03
AUTHOR READING · CHINESE
My Parents’ Romance at the University of Shanghai
Sonia Hu reads an adaptation of her own Shanghai Forever Lost, recalling her parents’ romance at the University of Shanghai.
Watch on YouTube ↗This video does not allow embedded playback.
Written and read by Sonia Hu · Chinese audio · 6:36
Chinese-language talks
Archived talks from Sonia’s 2020–2021 cultural lecture series. Each video is paired with its own subject.
The Lives Behind Biographical Writing · Aurora Literature, Lecture 2
Watch this talk on YouTube ↗Shanghai Forever Lost · The true stories behind the book
Watch this talk on YouTube ↗My Journey to the West · Stories behind the book
Watch this talk on YouTube ↗Family memory & oral history
ORAL HISTORY · CHINESE AUDIO
A Mother’s Oral History
A mother’s memories of Shanghai, Beijing and a changing era. Interviews, filming and production by Sonia Hu.
Explore all 38 videos →
The family-history books and the filmed interviews with her mother, Xie Rongjin, connect memories across generations. The oral-history collection brings together 38 videos in their original playlist order.
Read: A Mother in Beijing Diary →Book launches & reader events
Reminiscence of Fleeting Time
Book launches, reader events and media records.
View photos & event records →
Mirror Flower, Water Moon
Book launches, reader events and media records.
View photos & event records →
North of Shanghai, South of Beijing
Book launches, reader events and media records.
View photos & event records →
Shanghai Forever Lost
Book launches, reader events and media records.
View photos & event records →
Creator DNA
Behind every work,
a person.
How do experience, cultural memory, emotion and judgment become creative expression?
From family histories to documentary film, curating and art books, different media carry a shared question: how do we understand lived experience and bring it into a relationship with others?
Nonfiction works with documents and memory. Poetry and fiction give form to emotion and imagination. Film brings looking into time, while exhibitions and art books connect works with the experiences and ideas behind them.
Together, knowledge, experience, emotion and independent judgment form a creator’s individuality. LONG Cultural Intelligence calls its exploration of this creative framework Artist DNA, extending the inquiry into research, experimentation and expression in the age of AI.
Continue through the books →External platforms & contact
Follow Sonia Hu’s ongoing writing and films, or get in touch about publishing and cultural collaborations.
Subscriptions, comments and platform updates are available on Substack.
Visit the original account for posts, interaction and updates.
The latest channel uploads and platform interaction.
The complete and evolving film-festival profile.
Contact LONG Cultural Intelligence for publishing and cultural inquiries.
Archive source: LONG Cultural Intelligence’s Sonia Hu author collection. Original images and document wording are preserved. Book and film pages on this site provide further context. Source archive ↗