Pei Haozheng

Pei Haozheng (Chinese: Pei Hao Zheng ; Pinyin: Pei Hao Zheng; 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.
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
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
References
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
1996 births
Living people
People from Nanjing
Origami