George Ding was born in Beijing and moved to the lush, yuppie suburbs of Washington D.C. at the age of four. He received a B.A. in Film Production with a minor in East Asian Languages and Cultures from the University of Southern California. After graduation, George took a trip to Beijing and has lived there ever since.

He currently works as a screenwriter and is represented by UTA. Previously, he was the back-page columnist for the Beijinger for four years. His work has appeared in VICE, The New York Times and The Washington Post.

Aside from work, he also enjoys reading, philosophy, and video games.

Vital Statistics

Born: 6:00PM, March 30, 1985; Gong’an Hospital, Beijing, China

Died: TBD

Alignment: Chaotic Good

Alma Mater: University of Southern California

Major/Minor: Film Production / East Asian Languages and Cultures

Favorite Movies: A Separation, Love Letter, My Sassy Girl, The Dark Knight, The Lives of Others, The Shawshank Redemption, To Live

Favorite Television Shows: The Wire, Battlestar Galactica (2004 series)

Favorite Albums: Delerium – Chimera; Kanye West – College Dropout, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy; Lady Gaga – The Fame Monster; Lorde – Pure Heroine; Rachael Yamagata – Happenstance; Rilo Kiley – More Adventurous; Utada Hikaru – First Love

Favorite Fiction: George Orwell – Animal Farm; Homer – The Iliad; Haruki Murakami – Norwegian Wood; Natsume Sōseki – Kokoro; Vladimir Nabokov – Lolita

Favorite Short Stories: Geoffrey Chaucer – “The Pardoner’s Tale”; Jonathan Safran Foer – “A Primer for the Punctuation of Heart Disease”; Lu Xun – “My Old Home”

Favorite Video Games: Chrono Trigger, Final Fantasy VI, Mass Effect 2

Favorite Cowboy Bebop Episodes: “Asteroid Blues,” “Ballad of Fallen Angels,” “Waltz for Venus,” “Ganymede Elegy,” “Jupiter Jazz (Part 2),” “Speak Like a Child,” “The Real Folk Blues (Part 2)”

Favorite South Park Character: Randy Marsh

Proust Questionnaire a la Vanity Fair

What is your idea of perfect happiness?
Freedom. Being able to do what I want to do when I want to do it.

What is your greatest fear?
That there’s not enough time to accomplish all the things I have planned.

Which historical figure do you most identify with?
Socrates.

Which living person do you most admire?
Bill Gates, for his charity, not his wealth.

What is the trait you most deplore in yourself?
Impatience.

What is the trait you most deplore in others?
Willful ignorance.

What is your greatest extravagance?
Long showers.

On what occasion do you lie?
When I don’t think someone can handle the truth.

What do you dislike most about your appearance?
My slightly bowed legs.

When and where were you happiest?
2002, at the anime convention Otakon in the Balitimore Convention Center. I remember saying to a friend, “I’m going to be conning forever.”

If you could change one thing about yourself what would it be?
I’d like to be taller.

If you could change one thing about your family what would it be?
I wish we were wealthier, but not to the extent that it would make us complacent or immoral.

What do you consider to be your greatest achievement?
Getting a full scholarship to USC film school.

If you died and came back as a person or thing what do you think it would be?
I hope I don’t come back.

What is your most treasured possession?
My stuffed animals.

What do you regard as the lowest depth of misery?
Not being in control of your own life.

Who are your heroes in real life?
Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Ben Franklin, Lu Xun.

What is it that you most dislike?
Ignorance.

How would you like to die?
Respected.

What is your motto?
“Knowledge is one. Its division into subjects is a concession to human weakness.” – Sir Halford John Mackinder