MEET PAYHUAN
FROM East To West and back to origin
By bringing Eastern and Western ways of thinking together, we can turn differences into change, connection, and understanding.
Founder of immortal studios
“A Powerful Life is built through humble cultivation, not loud achievement”
Payhuan’s work sits at the intersection of culture, capital, technology, and human development, designing systems that create coherence in an increasingly fragmented world.
He has operated across both the creative and investment sides of global industries, building and advising platforms that span media, capital formation, and cross-border ecosystems between the United States and Asia.
Over time, his work has evolved from individual projects into the design of integrated platforms where story, technology, and community come together as living systems.
Today, through Immortal Studios, he is building a global, AI-native, transmedia storyverse rooted in Wuxia, a global martial-arts fantasy tradition, carrying forward a rare lineage of stories while evolving them for a new generation.
FEATURED IN
Speaker
Entrepreneur Creator
1
A LIFE IN SYSTEMS
I was born in Taiwan to parents from Beijing and spent my childhood moving between cultures before eventually settling in Los Angeles.
Growing up that way changes how you see the world. Nothing feels fixed. Language shifts depending on who you're speaking to. Values shift depending on where you are.
You learn early that people can look at the same situation and see completely different realities.
Instead of trying to pick one identity, I became curious about how all of it worked. Why societies value certain things. How stories shape what people believe. How power and culture quietly organize the world around us.
Looking back, that curiosity became the thread that runs through everything I’ve done since.
2
THE LANGUAGE OF POWER
My professional life began in government.
While studying political science and communications at UCLA, I started working with the City of Los Angeles. That experience eventually took me to Capitol Hill and into roles connected to California’s legislative system, including work with the Asian American Legal Center and State Senate policy committees.
It was my first real look at how institutions operate behind the scenes.
You start to see that decisions are rarely just about ideals. They’re about incentives, relationships, timing, and the structures that shape what’s possible. I worked on initiatives involving Pacific Rim partnerships, the entertainment industry, and rebuilding efforts during difficult moments for the city.
Those years taught me something simple but lasting: speeches matter far less than systems. The structures underneath determine what actually happens.
3
FROM SHAOLIN to HOLLYWOOD
Eventually that realization led me somewhere unexpected. Hollywood.
Working in film and media across the United States and Asia showed me something I hadn’t fully appreciated before. Storytelling isn’t just entertainment. It shapes how people imagine their lives, their countries, and their future.
I had the opportunity to produce one of the early official U.S. – China film co-productions and later helped convene the first U.S. – China Film Conference with leaders from both government and the film industry.
Through those experiences, and through mentorship from veteran studio executives, I began to see both the power and the limitations of the entertainment system as it existed.
Film could influence millions of people. But the way stories were financed, owned, and distributed often limited what was possible.
That’s when I started thinking less about individual projects and more about the systems behind storytelling.
4
The QUIET YEARS
At one point, when things were moving quickly, I made a decision that surprised many people.
I stepped away.
From the outside it probably looked like momentum. But internally I knew I needed time to recalibrate. I returned to practices that had always been part of my upbringing, meditation, martial arts, and studying classical Chinese philosophy.
Those years weren’t about withdrawing from the world. They were about understanding it more clearly.
During that period I began developing what would eventually become The Seven Cultivations, a framework for thinking about human development that integrates virtue, mind, body, relationships, spirit, wisdom, and destiny.
The idea was simple: if leadership is going to be stable on the outside, it needs structure on the inside first.
5
A Quest to bridge east and west
When I returned to public work, my focus had shifted.
Instead of simply participating in institutions, I became interested in building the platforms where culture and capital meet.
I helped establish early Hollywood – China private equity partnerships and later chaired the U.S. – China Film Summit for seven consecutive years, working alongside organizations such as the Asia Society, the Motion Picture Association, and the China Film Co-Production Corporation.
Together with partners in California and China’s Ministry of Commerce, we also supported initiatives like the China – California Trade Initiative and the creation of the California Investment Fund.
These projects reinforced something I had been learning for years: cultural understanding alone isn’t enough.
If ideas are going to endure, they need strong economic structures around them.
6
Carrying a legacy forward
In 2019, after the loss of my father and during a period of global uncertainty, I found myself asking a deeper question.
Not just what could be built, but what should be built next.
My father, Shiao Yi, was one of the great modern writers of Wuxia Chinese martial arts fantasy and left behind a library of more than sixty novels that shaped generations of readers.
That legacy became the starting point for Immortal Studios.
Immortal is designed as a new kind of storytelling platform, one that combines traditional mythology with modern technology. The goal is to evolve the martial fantasy genre for a new generation while protecting the integrity of the stories that inspired it.
By integrating artificial intelligence, audience participation, and transmedia storytelling, the platform is designed to allow stories to grow across film, games, publishing, and digital worlds.
In many ways, it brings together everything I’ve spent my life learning governance, storytelling, culture, technology, and philosophy.
7
THE NEXT CHAPTER
Today my work lives at the intersection of three ideas.
Developing people through The Seven Cultivations.
Building narrative worlds through Immortal Studios.
And designing economic ecosystems through Celestial.
They may seem like different projects, but they all come from the same belief:
When individuals grow, stories evolve, and systems are designed with care, cultures can move forward in meaningful ways.
My path has taken me through government, media, philosophy, and entrepreneurship. But the goal has remained the same.
To help build systems that allow people and stories to endure.
Watch PAYHUAN In action
Experience how Payhuan redefines systems, challenging how audiences think, build, and operate across domains.
A LEGACY ROOTED IN UNITY
Invite Payhuan Shiao to bring cross-cultural intelligence to your event. He translates global systems into accessible insights that help leaders navigate change with confidence.
During each session, audiences gain newfound clarity, stronger cohesion, and an elevated perspective.