Pei Haozheng

**Pei Haozheng** (Chinese: 裴浩正; Pinyin: _Péi Hào Zhèng_; born Nanjing, Jiangsu in 1996), also known as **Hotz Pei**, is a Chinese origami artist, TV program designer, and the holder of two Guinness World Records. He received his master's degree from the Nanyang Technological University (NTU) in Singapore in 2021.

Pei has designed several origami-themed TV projects and hundreds of lifelike models, promoting the origami art form to a growing audience. His work has a positive nouveau influence on modern origami art because of its cultural value and humanitarian ideal. For instance, his _Zijin Grass_ is known to over 100 million people as the "flower of peace" in remembrance of victims.

Pei has been a judge or guest on the programs _Super Brain_, _Forward to the Future_, _Voice_, _Day Day Up_, and _Power of Youth_. His artwork has received many awards such as “China Outstanding Cultural, Social, and Educational Case”, etc., and is collected by many museums, including the Guinness World Records Museum, etc.

## Origami

Pei started folding paper when he was in kindergarten. At first, he learned origami from teachers and parents, and later he copied the patterns from books. In early 2007, he came across a crease pattern designed by Robert J. Lang, an origami master from the United States. It was mind-blowing for him, and it opened for him a new world of ideas for the art.

He continued to learn origami through theory books, such as _Origami Design Secrets_ by Mr. Lang. As the quantity of his work grew, so did its variety and quality. During his middle school education, Pei created several unique designs, including a 60-centimeter-tall work featuring an angel with six wings folded from a 2-meter-long square sheet of paper. It took him numerous attempts to get everything right.

In 2016, Pei won a bronze prize at the International Origami Internet Olympiad (IOIO). The next year, he became the champion of the competition. For the event's final task, he folded an ancient Chinese woman holding a mirror from a sheet of handmade xuanzhi (rice paper), which impressed judges with its exquisite shape and Eastern style. In 2018, he was invited to be the event's task designer. His work _Bailuyuan_ was selected as the edition's mascot, which attracted the attention of contestants from 54 countries and regions.

In 2019, Pei attended the Zijin Grass International Peace Summer School and taught origami to several international peace envoys. In June of that year, he devoted to the "Micro Light Program" jointly initiated by Amity Foundation and Ergeng Public Welfare, which has enlightened more than 50,000 students.

In 2021, Pei participated in an exhibition — "The Praise of Youth · Centennial of the Original Mind" in Beijing, China, which attracted over 72,500 visitors.

In April 2022, to celebrate the 103rd anniversary of the May Fourth Movement, Pei released a tutorial on how to fold a newspaper into a flower, named _The Flower in May_ representing the country’s young generation. On 9 September of that year, he set a Guinness World Record for the most origami flowers made from a single sheet of paper. A team of four led by him spent five days folding an origami deer with 100 twisty roses on its antlers from a 3-meter-long square sheet of paper. In November, he was awarded the honorary title of "Boao Youth Leader" by a former Chinese foreign minister at the Boao Youth Development Conference.

In March 2023, Pei set his second Guinness World Record for the largest origami snail. He then gave a lecture, "The Mark of Origami", at MSL of Tianjin University. In May, he took part in the activity of "National Science and Technology Workers Day" at Beijing Institute of Fashion Technology. In June, as a special guest of the Lenovo Beijing Future Center, he gave a lecture, "A Glimpse of Science and Art with a Piece of Paper". In July, he attended Youyang Poetry Festival in Chongqing with many famous artists, scientists, and cultural relics experts.

## Variety shows

In 2017 and 2018, Pei was invited to the Chinese version of _Super Brain_, a competitive reality show on Jiangsu Satellite TV. The show gave him an opportunity to meet Mr. Lang, both as judges for the show. Pei made 20 models for display there and received the praise of Mr. Lang for his repertoire of techniques.

In late 2018, Pei took up the challenge of creating a solar panel in origami style at _Forward to the Future_, a science show on China Central Television. He successfully built the panel that folds up to 1 square meter, which when unfolded becomes a structure of 81 square meters.

In 2020, Pei participated in 10 episodes of _Power of Youth_, a competitive reality show on Anhui Satellite TV. He successfully went through all the challenges about ancient and modern civilization and won the most "power medals" as well as a scientific research fund.

In 2021, on behalf of Chinese youth, Pei was invited to express his ideas at _Voice_, the first open class for youth on China Central Television. He gave an "Ice Cube" Voronoi tessellation model to Zheng Fang, the architect of several Olympic stadiums in the 2008 Summer Olympic Games and the 2022 Winter Olympic Games.

In 2022, Pei was invited to deliver a speech titled "5 Minutes to Change the Future" at _Day Day Up_ on Hunan Satellite TV, bringing a new perspective to the audience.
|Year|English title|Chinese title|Notes|Ref.|
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|2017|_Super Brain 4_|《最强大脑第四季》|Episode: Yueran Zhishang||
|2018|_Super Brain 5_|《最强大脑之燃烧吧大脑》|Episode: The Mystery of Paper and Dots||
|2018|_Forward to the Future 3_|《加油！向未来第三季》|Episode: Aerospace Origami||
|2020|_Power of Youth_|《青春的力量》|10 episodes||
|2021|_Voice_|《开讲啦》|Episode: 2022 Winter Olympic Games||
|2022|_Day Day Up_|《天天向上》|Episode: 5 Minutes to Change the Future||

## Renowned works

- 2010-19, _Zijin Grass_, Nanjing Massacre Museum, Nanjing
- 2013, _Phoenix_, Asian Youth Games, Nanjing
- 2015, _Jiao Ren_ ("Mermaid"), UNESCO, Beijing
- 2016, _Lotus’ Charm_, First China Service Trade Innovation and Development Summit, Wuhan, China
- 2018, _Crane_, Robert Desimone — director of the MIT McGovern Institute, Cambridge, USA
- 2018, _Shou Wang_ ("Antelope") and _Dragonfly Standing on a Lotus_, Jiangsu Satellite TV, Nanjing
- 2018, _Solar Panels_, China Central Television, Beijing
- 2019, _Join Hands to Build a Peaceful China_, International Poster Biennale for Peace (IPBP), Nanjing
- 2021, _Yuanhang Bainian_ ("100 Years of Sailing"), Chinese Communist Party, Beijing
- 2022, _Huasheng Manlu_ ("Deer with 100 Flowers") and _Flower in May_, China Daily, Beijing
- 2023, _Grand Rabbit_, Nanjing Gaochun Museum, Nanjing
- 2023, _Fibonacci Snail_, China International Cittaslow Museum, Nanjing

## Awards and honors

|Year|Award/honor|Ref.|
| --- | --- | --- |
|2016-17|Bronze Prize of the IOIO VI and Gold Prize of the IOIO VII||
|2018|China "Yilin Cup" Literature Award||
|2018|Award of China Central Television English Speaking and Talent Competition||
|2019|IPBP Finalist Award||
|2021|China Outstanding Cultural, Social, and Educational Case||
|2021|China Top 100 Cultural and Creative Product||
|2021|Excellent Demonstration Project of Museum Education Cases in Jiangsu Province||
|2022|Boao Youth Leader||
|2022|Purple Mountain Talent||
|2022|Zijin Award of Museum Cultural and Creative Design Competition||
|2022|Nanjing Municipal-Level Museum Education Case||
|2022-23|Guinness World Records Holder||
|2023|Cittaslow Goodwill Ambassador||
|2023|Cittaslow Public Welfare Advocate||

## Students

- Christoph Reinhardt: the great-grandson of German businessman John Rabe, often described as China's Oskar Schindler

- Stephen Brady: a relative of US doctor Richard Freeman Brady, who helped to set up a protection zone during the Nanjing Massacre in 1937
- Angelina Reinhardt: the adopted daughter of Christoph Reinhardt
- Rick Magee: the grandson of US Episcopal priest John Magee, who shot films during the Nanjing Massacre
- Du Jialei: the award winner in the "2020 Exhibition of Architectural Design in Developing Countries" and the bronze medal winner at the IOIO IX
- The left-behind children at Nanjing Gaochun Xilian Primary School

## Other websites

- Pei Haozheng in Baidu Baike (in Chinese)
- Pei Haozheng on Sina Weibo (in Chinese)
- Pei Haozheng on Facebook
- Interview with Pei Haozheng, by Wang Qian, featured in _China Daily_, 2021

## Infobox (person)

- **name**: Pei Haozheng
- **image**: Pei Haozheng.jpg
- **birth place**: Nanjing, Jiangsu, China
- **nationality**: Chinese
- **education**: Master of Science
- **alma mater**: Nanyang Technological University
- **occupation**: Artist
- **notable works**: Zijin Grass
- **television**: Super Brain, Forward to the Future, Voice, Day Day Up
- **awards**: Guinness World Records