Ken Dai

Entrepreneur and filmmaker · Toronto Canada

Hello! I'm Ken Dai, a Chinese-Canadian creator based in Toronto. In 2016 I co-founded Chinese Zero To Hero, which has grown into one of the largest online Mandarin learning platforms. I also make documentaries and online content about Chinese-language film and culture.

Chinese Zero To Hero

I founded Zero To Hero Education Ltd in 2016 with my business partner, Jon Long. What started as a set of video courses has, over ten years, grown into a full Mandarin learning platform:

• More than 80,000 registered students
• Thousands of students have passed the HSK, China's official Mandarin proficiency exam
• Structured video courses for every HSK level, from complete beginner to advanced
• Consistently ranked among the most recommended online resources for learning Mandarin

In 2021 we built Language Player, a tool that helps upper-level students get more comprehensible input from real-world media. It adds pop-up annotations to video subtitles, books and articles, so learners can study the content they actually enjoy. Language Player now officially supports 110 languages.

Websites: chinesezerotohero.com , languageplayer.io

Film and culture content

At the end of 2025 I started posting videos about Chinese-language films and culture. The series quickly found an audience among the Chinese diaspora around the world:

• 230,000+ followers across Instagram, TikTok and YouTube
• More than 25 million views

Filmmaking

Alongside the business, I have made documentaries and worked on film projects throughout the years, and I still work in the film industry from time to time.

• Punk To Protest: Writing Is Activism With Alvin Eng: winner of Best Documentary (Undergraduate) at the 2025 CUNY Film Festival
• Home: a documentary about a young man's immigration journey. Selected for the 2025 CUNY Asian American Film Festival.

Press and recognition

• CUNY Film Festival 2025 winners: Best Documentary (Undergraduate)
• 2025 CUNY Asian American Film Festival: official selection
• Meet the Man Teaching 500,000 People Chinese Online: podcast interview about Chinese Zero To Hero

Chinese Zero To Hero in the press

• Best YouTube channels for learning Mandarin Chinese (GoEast Mandarin): a top recommendation
• 28 Best Online Chinese Courses (FluentU): best for studying up to HSK 9
• Chinese Zero To Hero Review (Chinese SLanguage) ranks it the best Chinese course
• Chinese Zero to Hero review (All Language Resources): rated 4.3 out of 5
• 20 Best YouTube Channels to Learn Mandarin Chinese (The Mezzofanti Guild)
• The Best YouTube Channels to Learn Chinese (The Chairman's Bao)
• Top 15 Chinese YouTube Channels (Flexi Classes)
• Recommended by Brian Wiles (@BrianWilesQuizzes): educational YouTube creator with 2.72M subscribers
• Recommended by Dr. Izzy Sealey (@izzysealey): YouTube creator with 900K+ subscribers

Find me online

• Instagram: @ken_zerotohero
• TikTok: @ken_zerotohero
• YouTube: @ken_zerotohero
• Chinese Zero To Hero: chinesezerotohero.com

Contact

For collaborations, brand partnerships or press: ken@zerotohero.ca