0:00:00.607,0:00:03.319
So I was trained to become a gymnast

0:00:03.319,0:00:06.975
for two years in Hunan, China in the 1970s.

0:00:06.975,0:00:09.520
When I was in the first grade, the government

0:00:09.520,0:00:12.127
wanted to transfer me to a school for athletes,

0:00:12.127,0:00:14.175
all expenses paid.

0:00:14.175,0:00:16.823
But my tiger mother said, "No."

0:00:16.823,0:00:18.959
My parents wanted me to become

0:00:18.959,0:00:21.063
an engineer like them.

0:00:21.063,0:00:23.150
After surviving the Cultural Revolution,

0:00:23.150,0:00:26.959
they firmly believed there's only one sure way to happiness:

0:00:26.959,0:00:29.892
a safe and well-paid job.

0:00:29.892,0:00:32.687
It is not important if I like the job or not.

0:00:32.687,0:00:37.967
But my dream was to become a Chinese opera singer.

0:00:37.967,0:00:41.615
That is me playing my imaginary piano.

0:00:41.615,0:00:43.799
An opera singer must start training young

0:00:43.799,0:00:45.383
to learn acrobatics,

0:00:45.383,0:00:48.327
so I tried everything I could to go to opera school.

0:00:48.327,0:00:50.594
I even wrote to the school principal

0:00:50.594,0:00:53.355
and the host of a radio show.

0:00:53.355,0:00:57.161
But no adults liked the idea.

0:00:57.161,0:00:59.884
No adults believed I was serious.

0:00:59.884,0:01:03.128
Only my friends supported me, but they were kids,

0:01:03.128,0:01:05.884
just as powerless as I was.

0:01:05.884,0:01:11.649
So at age 15, I knew I was too old to be trained.

0:01:11.649,0:01:14.616
My dream would never come true.

0:01:14.616,0:01:17.924
I was afraid that for the rest of my life

0:01:17.924,0:01:19.961
some second-class happiness

0:01:19.961,0:01:22.498
would be the best I could hope for.

0:01:22.498,0:01:24.926
But that's so unfair.

0:01:24.926,0:01:28.728
So I was determined to find another calling.

0:01:28.728,0:01:31.465
Nobody around to teach me? Fine.

0:01:31.465,0:01:33.697
I turned to books.

0:01:33.697,0:01:37.339
I satisfied my hunger for parental advice

0:01:37.339,0:01:42.216
from this book by a family of writers and musicians.["Correspondence in the Family of Fou Lei"]

0:01:42.216,0:01:45.289
I found my role model of an independent woman

0:01:45.289,0:01:49.133
when Confucian tradition requires obedience.["Jane Eyre"]

0:01:49.133,0:01:52.830
And I learned to be efficient from this book.["Cheaper by the Dozen"]

0:01:52.830,0:01:56.795
And I was inspired to study abroad after reading these.

0:01:56.795,0:01:58.866
["Complete Works of Sanmao" (aka Echo Chan)] ["Lessons From History" by Nan Huaijin]

0:01:58.866,0:02:02.057
I came to the U.S. in 1995,

0:02:02.057,0:02:04.938
so which books did I read here first?

0:02:04.938,0:02:08.463
Books banned in China, of course.

0:02:08.463,0:02:12.133
"The Good Earth" is about Chinese peasant life.

0:02:12.133,0:02:16.235
That's just not convenient for propaganda. Got it.

0:02:16.235,0:02:19.960
The Bible is interesting, but strange.

0:02:19.960,0:02:22.445
(Laughter)

0:02:22.445,0:02:25.916
That's a topic for a different day.

0:02:25.916,0:02:29.211
But the fifth commandment gave me an epiphany:

0:02:29.211,0:02:32.190
"You shall honor your father and mother."

0:02:32.190,0:02:35.140
"Honor," I said. "That's so different,

0:02:35.140,0:02:36.879
and better, than obey."

0:02:36.879,0:02:39.383
So it becomes my tool to climb out

0:02:39.383,0:02:41.499
of this Confucian guilt trap

0:02:41.499,0:02:45.771
and to restart my relationship with my parents.

0:02:45.771,0:02:48.793
Encountering a new culture also started my habit

0:02:48.793,0:02:50.565
of comparative reading.

0:02:50.565,0:02:52.420
It offers many insights.

0:02:52.420,0:02:57.200
For example, I found this map out of place at first

0:02:57.200,0:03:02.085
because this is what Chinese students grew up with.

0:03:02.085,0:03:03.586
It had never occurred to me,

0:03:03.586,0:03:06.721
China doesn't have to be at the center of the world.

0:03:06.721,0:03:10.974
A map actually carries somebody's view.

0:03:10.974,0:03:13.382
Comparative reading actually is nothing new.

0:03:13.382,0:03:16.686
It's a standard practice in the academic world.

0:03:16.686,0:03:18.154
There are even research fields

0:03:18.154,0:03:22.099
such as comparative religion and comparative literature.

0:03:22.099,0:03:24.334
Compare and contrast gives scholars

0:03:24.334,0:03:27.340
a more complete understanding of a topic.

0:03:27.340,0:03:29.093
So I thought, well, if comparative reading

0:03:29.093,0:03:32.929
works for research, why not do it in daily life too?

0:03:32.929,0:03:36.304
So I started reading books in pairs.

0:03:36.304,0:03:37.518
So they can be about people --

0:03:37.518,0:03:38.401
["Benjamin Franklin" by Walter Isaacson]["John Adams" by David McCullough] --

0:03:38.401,0:03:40.909
who are involved in the same event,

0:03:40.909,0:03:43.588
or friends with shared experiences.

0:03:43.588,0:03:44.988
["Personal History" by Katharine Graham]["The Snowball: Warren Buffett and the Business of Life," by Alice Schroeder]

0:03:44.988,0:03:49.386
I also compare the same stories in different genres -- (Laughter)

0:03:49.386,0:03:51.498
[Holy Bible: King James Version]["Lamb" by Chrisopher Moore] --

0:03:51.498,0:03:54.635
or similar stories from different cultures,

0:03:54.635,0:03:57.516
as Joseph Campbell did in his wonderful book.["The Power of Myth" by Joseph Campbell]

0:03:57.516,0:04:00.909
For example, both the Christ and the Buddha

0:04:00.909,0:04:03.342
went through three temptations.

0:04:03.342,0:04:05.144
For the Christ, the temptations

0:04:05.144,0:04:09.119
are economic, political and spiritual.

0:04:09.119,0:04:13.445
For the Buddha, they are all psychological:

0:04:13.445,0:04:20.763
lust, fear and social duty -- interesting.

0:04:20.763,0:04:23.802
So if you know a foreign language, it's also fun

0:04:23.802,0:04:25.699
to read your favorite books in two languages.

0:04:25.699,0:04:26.951
["The Way of Chuang Tzu" Thomas Merton]["Tao: The Watercourse Way" Alan Watts]

0:04:26.951,0:04:30.511
Instead of lost in translation, I found there is much to gain.

0:04:30.527,0:04:34.735
For example, it's through translation that I realized

0:04:34.735,0:04:40.708
"happiness" in Chinese literally means "fast joy." Huh!

0:04:40.708,0:04:45.997
"Bride" in Chinese literally means "new mother." Uh-oh.

0:04:45.997,0:04:49.258
(Laughter)

0:04:49.258,0:04:54.645
Books have given me a magic portal to connect with people

0:04:54.645,0:04:57.290
of the past and the present.

0:04:57.290,0:05:01.525
I know I shall never feel lonely or powerless again.

0:05:01.525,0:05:04.202
Having a dream shattered really is nothing

0:05:04.202,0:05:07.138
compared to what many others have suffered.

0:05:07.138,0:05:09.866
I have come to believe that coming true

0:05:09.866,0:05:13.146
is not the only purpose of a dream.

0:05:13.146,0:05:17.047
Its most important purpose is to get us in touch

0:05:17.047,0:05:19.162
with where dreams come from,

0:05:19.162,0:05:22.066
where passion comes from, where happiness comes from.

0:05:22.066,0:05:26.288
Even a shattered dream can do that for you.

0:05:26.288,0:05:28.542
So because of books, I'm here today,

0:05:28.542,0:05:32.202
happy, living again with a purpose and a clarity,

0:05:32.202,0:05:33.952
most of the time.

0:05:33.952,0:05:37.513
So may books be always with you.

0:05:37.513,0:05:38.991
Thank you.

0:05:38.991,0:05:40.839
(Applause)

0:05:40.839,0:05:44.484
Thank you. (Applause)

0:05:44.484,0:05:49.577
Thank you. (Applause)