Student leading conversations in life and death education for Chinese Canadian immigrants
June 17, 2025
In her first semester at UVic, Doris Zhu enrolled in an elective course taught by Angie Chau: PAAS 209: Gender and Marriage in Popular Chinese Media.
Besides feeding her interest in diverse forms of media like film and literature, Zhu says, “The course helped me understand more about the social context of Chinese society and how its values were and are being formed, both from an Eastern and Western perspective. I could better understand how I grew up and became who I am today by analyzing both the micro- and macro-level of personal choice. That analytical approach is precisely what I have always hoped to apply in the field of life and death education.”
Journey to UVic
Born and raised in Beijing, Zhu first moved to Victoria as a teenager and graduated from Pacific Christian School. Like many of her friends, she enrolled in Camosun’s university transfer program before continuing her studies at UVic.
“I understand how hard it is to start a whole new life in another country as an international student,” she reflects. At first, she didn't openly tell anyone about her dream: in 2025, Zhu founded a charity with other professionals that focuses on life and death education for Chinese immigrants to Canada.
She only recently started an open, public conversation about her project this year. “Before that, nobody understood what I had been doing in Canada. Misunderstanding is one of the challenges I had to go through when I decided to keep my dream a secret.”
What is life and death education?
The project, which has been a long-standing dream of Zhu’s, promotes the concept of “a good life and good death,” seeking to break down cultural barriers through openness, conversation and education.
“We generally promote and facilitate discussions of death, death preparation, palliative care, hospice, death planning, suicide prevention, bereavement, and related topics and fields of study. Right now, we are still building the foundation of the organization and working on the process of official charitable registration. This will be the very first end-of-life care charity focused on Chinese Canadian immigrants,” she explains.
For Zhu, this project is a natural continuation of a long-held interest in life education, which has enabled her to redefine her self-value and live a serene life. She started her work in mental health: for four years, she volunteered promoting mental health awareness with Jack.org, eventually co-leading the Victoria chapter. As the only East Asian international student in the Victoria chapter, she noticed that there weren’t many Asian students involved in the conversation. She saw the importance of discussing self-value and related issues within the East Asian immigrant community in Canada.
Now, with her charity, Zhu is facilitating these conversations. Working alongside healthcare professionals from Vancouver, Toronto and Hong Kong, Zhu is building a multidisciplinary team that shares her passion and hopes to not just overcome the cultural taboo of discussing and preparing for death, loss and grief, but also enable others to live a serene life.
“This is a new experience for me. We learn and grow together, and everyone is so caring.”
Successes and challenges
Although the project is in its early stages, Zhu is looking forward to the future. “I know there will be challenges, but I’m not afraid to start from scratch. I know I’m not the only one trying to share this message with the community.”
The journey wasn’t without its obstacles. While Zhu knew that life and death education was her goal, at first she struggled to find a program that suited her; she was unable to participate in the nursing program, which only allows North American citizenship. She began in psychology, and eventually transferred to Pacific and Asian Studies.
“Professors in the Department of Pacific and Asian Studies have been so encouraging of my goals when I lost hope,” she says. Besides continuing to work on her project, these include pursuing graduate study and travelling to Bhutan after she completes her undergraduate degree.