To read English translation of episodes 1, 2, 3, and 4 please scroll down to ending of 4b.
Episode 1a
Episode 1b
Episode 2a
Episode 2b
Episode 3a
Episode 3b
Episode 4a
Episode 4b
Translations of Episodes 1, 2, 3, and 4 are as follows:
Episode 1: My Path
1a The Time of being lost
I was in Beijing, China, in a family with “bad” background. My parents had “political” issues (Kai chen’s parents wedding photo), plus relatives in Taiwan. Due to civil war, my parents’ 10 sisters and brothers were separated in Taiwan and mainland. My uncle Li Bangxun was an air force hero. During the anti Japanese war period, the American Volunteer Group granted my uncle the best pilot, 15,000 hours fly with no crashes. My grand father and father stayed in Beijing, China.
Other relatives and my grand mother went to Taiwan, since then my grand father and grand mother never met again.
Due to that relationship with Taiwan, our family was “exiled”, to a small town called Tonghua in Northeastern area, close to the North Korea. During the culture revolution, all young intellectuals were sent to the countryside. I just graduated from middle school and also went to the countryside. I got an opportunity, i.e. I worked in a grain warehouse, instead of farming and planting. I worked in Liuhe grain warehouse as a temp. Everyday I carried the grain bag weighed 100 kilogram. At that time I was only 16 years old and my body was not yet grown up yet. If you carry a 100 kilogram grain bag walking on a swinging bridge, try it, it was a dangerous job. During that period of time as a temp, I never stopped playing basketball. Every morning first thing I played basketball for an hour.
There was a water well, I had some water, then a shower with it. Later I thought about it why I did it like that.
It looked odd. I was also wondering why I had such as passion to play by myself alone. It was absolutely hopeless back then. I didn’t have any expectation. During that period of time there was no gymnasium nation wide. All of the professional teams were not performing at all. No career at all. None of the career development in athletes existed. However I made it indeed. It was an amazing stuff. As far as why I did it, I thought about it. It was because I found a way to let out my passion for life when playing basketball. I felt I was living in that way, my spirit did not die. That’s why I always talked about that the US saved my life to a great deal of extent, because the US invented basketball. Basketball is where I started my relationship with the US. My passion for basketball had never been changed, from very beginning till my retirement, till I coached my daughter to play it. I’m very committed myself to it. At that time Zhou Enlai instructed that they wanted to play the sports card to break though the diplomatic bottleneck.
Therefore the National team sent out a bunch of people to look for talented professional potentials. They were told that there were some tall young men including my brother and myself. I was selected and went to Beijing. I was put on a cram training camp when I was 16 years old, not yet 17. Something happened during the training.
1b Potato skin affair
Once we had the potato for meal. Since the potato skin was dusty and dirty, my best friend and myself peeled away the potato skin. Our so called “political in charge” saw us and instructed us to give a self criticism in front of the whole team members for wasting the potato skin. I thought that my hope for my life and my career would be vanished because of this piece of potato skin. Your life would be gone because of it since your life was controlled by others. I did self criticism, ate “poor meal”, and swore in front of the People’s Hero Monument, as well as propaganda and brainwash. Thank God ! this “political in charge” had an affair with a married woman. He left, therefore my friend and I survived. He had an scandal , however he was educating us about ethics. That woman died by jumping off the building. That’s why that guy was expelled back to his hometown. At that time I made a judgment based on the ethics. What these people taught us is fake. Since then, I began to doubt about it. These people looked professional and taught us ethics, but what about themselves? Their behavior made me feel everything was deceiving. Nothing was true. However it was a big decision if I wanted to pursue the truth. The only truth for me was in the basketball. I simply tried to play basketball well. When the “youth team for camp training” was dismissed, only a best friend of mine and myself stayed in the “National Sports Committee”. We were treated as special talented candidates for further training.
Of course, for me, the only true relationship I could have was the truth between my basketball and myself. Because I was unable to find anything true among Chinese people. Therefore I concentrated on playing basketball and played it well. Finally the youth cram training team was dismissed. Only my best friend and myself stayed with the National Gymnastic (Sports) Commission, as special talented candidates for further training.
My best friend stayed with National Track & Field Team. After a year long training program, one day he suddenly showed up in my dormitory, telling me that he was not allowed to take training here anymore since he had family history issue, i.e. his father used to serve in Kuomingtang’s Army. He was kicked out due to this bacground. I went to the Beijing train station to see him off. I was full of despair but I didn’t let him notice it. He didn’t know anything about my family background, as my best friend. I understood that it would come to me sooner or later, i.e. I would be kicked out for sure. At the Beijing train station, there was a song called “Dong Fang Hong”(Red in the Orient”). When the train started moving, my friend tried to lean out from the window to wave at me. I never realized that it was the last time I saw him. I never see him again! It was a forever pain in my heart.
He returned to Harbin, Heilongjiang province, he was in despair. He began to drink alcohol. When he was drunk and fell asleep, he was killed by the gas leakage from the stove. I was kicked out already when I got this news. Of course after a while, the National Sports Committee found out my family background, and they gave me a “death penalty” – that you were not allowed to go overseas for games and you were not good for staying with the National Team because of your family background. I couldn’t believe it. I knew some well known coaches of National team and gymnastics who went overseas for games. They also had some family background issues. However I thought I would be able to go overseas if my technical skills reached a high level.
In this respect, all Chinese athletes were simply a tool for the communist government. They could dump you anytime, humiliated you regardless of your dignity. At that time I made up my mind. I was kicked out of the National Sports Committee, I was wondering what I should do. I loved basketball without any condition. I told the people in charge if I could play basketball within the country if I was not trusted to go overseas to play it. However they didn’t give any opinion.
Then I tried myself to get a solution. I contacted some coaches in Guangdong Military Division to join the team and play there, as a new start in my basketball career. I didn’t tell anybody, since somebody from Liuhe grain warehouse came to Beijing to look for me. I didn’t want to go there because there was no hope for basketball in Liuhe grain warehouse. I didn’t tell anybody and left for Guangzhou Military Division.
Escape _ Fall 1971
I carried a handbag with me, no languages for traveling. My bag in yellow carries “Serve your people”. I had been keeping this bag with me for all my career life with basketball. Why? Whenever I saw “Serve your people”, I thought about this society lack of any ethics. The so called “people” was communist and its government.
The National Sports Committee went panic since somebody escaped. They sent a team from police department to look for me. When they were in Guangdong Military Division and saw me playing basketball, they didn’t catch anything wrong doing. Cao Cheng, the chief director of the National Sports Committee issued an order – that Guangzhou Military must send this guy back.
I was totally despair when Guangzhou Military Division had a talk with me, trying to send me back. Before I came to Guangzhou, I thought I could start another career life here and move on. This piece of hope was crashed when I was told that I was not allowed to stay. At that moment of time I felt that there was no difference if I live or die.
I was not allowed to make my own choice. I was like a doll. I cried indeed, with total despair. I was in my room alone, thinking of what I was supposed to do. I felt a big anger in my heart. At that time I didn’t have any idea about God. I thought that I shouldn’t give up, I should give it a try. Well, I decided to go back to Beijing with them. I could imagine what would wait for me in Beijing, nothing good. Then I was isolated in Beijing, to confess what my motivations. They thought that I would escape to Taiwan from Guangzhou and then Hong Kong because of my Taiwan relationship. That was their guess. I didn’t think of it at all. I did it for my basketball.
At that moment I made a most important decision in my life, I refused despair. It was a significant choice when you refused desperation. You could choose desperation in your life and you could reject desperation as well. Even though I didn’t see any hope, but I still rejected desperation.
I went back to Beijing and gave a self confess for a week in an isolated place. Then I made a complete self criticism in front of the whole National Basketball Team members.
The National Sports Committee was afraid if I escaped again. They sent 2 people to go with me to Liuhe. I remembered it clearly, I was sent back to Liuhe, lying on my small bed with a small oil lamp. There was no electricity in Liuhe at that time. I was staring at an oil lamp, wondering what I should do next. Should I wait and be manipulated by somebody else. I should try to survive by myself again. My elder brother came to see me and encouraged me. He said, if you stayed, the leaders of the grain warehouse would not be nice to you since you run away from here before. Besides, they knew that you didn’t want to come back to the warehouse. It was no good for you to stay here. I agreed with him. Then I escaped from there again through the wired fence.
This time I run to a team of Jilin province in Changchun city. The province team knew me and my potential. They needed me . I stayed there for a couple of months, and I thought I could start my basketball career there. It didn’t happen either. Why? Shengyang Military Division took away my personal file and they knew I left the National Basketball Team. They also knew I was very talented. They needed me, and as a result of it I was serving in the Army. During that time I had an expectation to join the Army, because that would help my parents family benefit from it and they wouldn’t be discriminated by neighbors. My parents got investigated by their employers. If I served in the Army, it would be good to them. Then I went to Shanyang Military Division, wearing military uniforms. Then I thought I could start my basketball. It didn’t happen either. I was told that I had a record for running away.
The Army wouldn’t trust you. I was sent to the front for labor work, brainwash Since I was sent to the front, I was unable to play any basketball.
In the Army there wasn’t enough of food. I was starving. There was a war in Zhen Bao Dao (Treasury Island) against Soviet Union. I am tall and eat more. I was often hungry, plus heavy labor intensive workload. At that time we were building a dam, in addition to the regular military training. My health was getting worse, I got stomach bleeding. I didn’t know it and didn’t know that it was a serious illness. When I returned to Shenyang Military Division basketball team, I was too weak to play any basketball. It was not a problem for me to shoot the net anytime before, now I could not reach the net even once. I thought my God (even though I didn’t know the existence of God at that time), what I should do with it. I still played with others, no matter what. However my health was getting worse and worse. I didn’t accept it and nobody would know it and they wouldn’t check it out.
Till one day I couldn’t get up anymore. I remembered that I had a fever, but nobody came to visit me. It was popular of “love each other and help each other”, unfortunately nobody came to help me at all. During the meeting,
I felt dizzy due to the fever. But they sang a song of words like “People’s Army is a university, we held Mao Zedong’s thought red flag to high up”. It irritated me. I was so angry and shouted with dirtiest words in the world. My throat was hurt due to the fever. Somebody heard me in the hallway and reported that Kai Chen talked fudge. I didn’t. What I said was true. They sent me to the hospital. I was there for a week and my fever was gone after pennicilin injection.
I continued to take training after return. I did not recover at all. I had gastric ulcer, but not diagnosed to discover it, and stomach bleeding, then it caused anemia, near death. I was also bleeding. Then I was sent to the hospital again, for a month.
When I was hospitalized, I received a letter – my best friend died. I got this letter when I was in the most hopeless situation. Needless to mention other unhappy stuff, not even talking about my basketball career. This bad news came. what would you deal with it? Usually people would be defeated and got over with. No matter what, hopeless is indeed hovering in my head. My best friend died. Death was also awaiting me. There was no hope then.
But I still rejected despair. I refused it.
I asked to get off the hospital once I heard my best friend died. I wanted to work hard for my future. I joined the training right away. At least my stomach stopped bleeding, even it hurt. I gained somehow motivation through the training, i.e. I wanted to revenge for my best friend. Of course it was not an individual hatred. I had a vague idea: the most effective revenge to this society was to make myself happy. I didn’t see anybody happy in their lives, none.
I gave myself a promise – I wanted to be happy, and I believed I could find happiness. I must pursue it. Even though I didn’t see it, from people around me. They were not happy. But I believed I would be able to find it.
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Episode 2
2a
– My basketball –
Somebody said that the 81 Army Basketball Team is like a motel. Many people came to join, but few stayed. Training was excessively over carried sometimes, and caused over fatigue. When you over did it in addition to lack of nutrition, rest/recharge, as well as the political study everyday after training, it caused me insomnia for a long period. Too much stuff in my mind, it resulted a blood in the urine. The urine was like soy source color. I felt I was on a verge of collapse at any time. But I was hanging there with a strength, which in return pushed me forward.
Under this circumstance, I wasn’t sure if I was lucky or not, I was not beaten down. Many people got beaten down by this. During this period I got my first experience of overseas trip to Pakistan. When I was on the plane, I saw Himalaya mountain and couldn’t believe it was true. I proved to myself that they lied. I proved to myself of my existence. My existence was not determined by them. I decided the existence of myself. They said that it was impossible for me to go abroad. But I made it. I did what they claimed that I was unable to do. I wanted to prove to myself that I was a free man. I wanted to compete the National Basketball Team.
In 1975, I went to Argentina and Mexico to play. In Mexico it was my first time to compete against American team.
I observed the American basketball team members and their words and gestures, noting that they were different from others, not like other nations’ team players at all. They were very energetic, i.e. a natural energy. They were passionate and disciplined. When their coach asked them to do something, they went and did it right away. In China, there was a passive resistance, i.e. the coach or the leader asked me to do something, I was literally slow to react. The most impressive thing to me was that the reserve players of US team applause for their players when they played. I’ve never seen this in Chinese teams. It was an impressive education to me, or a kind of comfort.
I felt that there was on earth such a country where the people lived like this. You don’t have to see other people worse off than you to be happy. They are totally different two stories. It was an opposite direction and negative attitude, one is positive and the other one is negative. However in China, there was full of the negative thinking.
That evening in that hotel, we went to the US team players’ hotel room. We gave them Chinese art paper fans as a gift exchange. It was a big “event” at that time. Nobody dared to do it like this, especially US was an evil imperialist. In China, US was condemned the worst country, but it was so attractive to us, and we took such a risk to knock on their doors. I never imagined I could ever have done it. But I did it. When I entered their room, I found I had a different feeling. They were beyond words kind people in the world, honest people. He exchanged his shoes and other stuff with me.
When I returned to my room, I heard some one was knocking on my door. A friend of mine was there. He told me that our coach asked us to return all gifts to them. I was very angry. I said no way and asked my friend to tell the coach to get lost. It was very risky to confront the coach. That was not a joke. It was a big choice in your life.
I saw the weakness of the human being. They would do it for some interest to give up principles. No dignity at all. You acknowledged somehow that you were not an honest person, but you were a slave. You were asked to do something, you had to do it. Since then, I began to rethink of what US was. Therefore I wanted to come to US.
When they decided if I should play that game, I did my best performance in my life. I was calm in many ways, I reached the highest level. During that game I controlled the ball very well. I felt as if I were flying.
In English there is a word called integrity. It is a complete process from soul to body, consistent in spirit and intelligence. Michael Jordon played superly well. He and his ball is combined in one. He was not scattered apart, spirit and body is not segregated. Sports players should be consistent. Otherwise you can’t play well. During the game the athlete should make each fast decision and a right one. Then he could play the best game. But in China it was different scenario, all players were like fragmented, from his soul to his physical body, from his personal life to his feelings, he was not a complete person. I did not allow them to break me into pieces like this. I wouldn’t play well if I was broken like this, and I wouldn’t be able to respect myself.
– 1976 –
In 1976, I experienced the Tiananmen event. 81 Army Basketball team announced a warning that no one was allowed to go to Tiananmen Square. Since I doubted about the society, I went to Tiananmen Square and took some pictures. I was not sensitive with politics at that time. I didn’t realize that the photo developing store staff sent my film to the policemen office. Then the leader of 81 Army Basketball Team asked me to have a talk, but I didn’t know what happened. But I know my film was not returned to me with many excuses. I was reported/alerted in the Army. At that time there was an internal political struggle in China. That saved me. Some people in the Army boycott “Gang of Four”. They tried to minimize everything within the Army. They were worried that would be negative if my case was known to Gang of Four. They did not report. Therefore I was not sent to jail or punished. The second was that they used me to play basketball. I survived thereafter. Somebody protected me in my fate.
On Apr. 5, 1976, the TV station broadcasted Premier Zhou Enlai’s picture of his death. His face was full of pain and suffering. I thought that he suffered a lot and he was the second man in China. If the second man in China could be a sacrifice of the system, what kind of the society would it be? It proved what I concluded about the China was right, no matter what relationship among people and what happened. When I saw Zhou Enlai’s painful face, I cried all of sudden, out of control crying. Why? I cried not for him, not for China, but a cry for relief. I finally realized what I concluded before was right. I dared to tell no matter how many people, how many weapons,
how much media and propaganda, I, as an individual, was right with moral. I am a nice person. When you realize it, you have endless strength. Why is that? When you feel you are a nice person in terms of moral, you are free.
In 1978, my athletic skills reached the highest level. I was on landslide win in the national tour, and nobody could defense me and my defense skill was unbeatable. In the basketball area, my team players, coaches changed their attitude to me all of sudden. Our coach talked to me about becoming a Communist party member, promotion etc. i.e. the change from a dangerous person who should be monitored constantly to a person who deserved everything. If a person was not fully equipped with moral, he or she would be broken into pieces by this type of defeat. This type of defeat was from another angle, i.e. they defeated me as an enemy before and now they defeated me by acceptng me as part of them.
After the military basketball competition, I joined the National Basketball Team. I noticed that many athletes whom I admired have had made compromises to the society and principles, for the sake of their families, kids. In China your families were hostages after being threatened. For example, you would not be provided a place to live if you did not obey to your boss. If no house, your wife and kids would not have a place to live. Therefore you have to compromise for consideration of a room for your loved ones. At that I thought I would do the same.
After Mao Zedong died in 1976, gradually the college entrance examination started. I wanted to go to university.
It was a policy that the best athletes were admitted with advantage. I applied Beijing University for gymnastic major. I quit the National Basketball Team right away and never played for both 81 Army Basketball Team and the National Basketball Team. Your ethical concept reached to a level and you would never allow yourself to be a slave.
You are a free person and what you do should prove the existence of a free man, happiness and truthfulness. If they didn’t accept those existence, that was ok as long as I admitted myself.
I did it. When I did it, I did not have any motivation for basketball. I love this sport but it was hostaged by evil, and it made me like a tool, a nail, a slave. I didn’t want to be a nail, a tool. I loved basketball, but I don’t want to serve them by playing basketball anymore. It was an ethical decision to quit, even though I was the best at the time.
In order to quit, I made a small lie, i.e. provided a doctor prescription that I had a heart disease . Actually, I didn’t have any heart disease at all but my heart definitely was broken because of disappointment, that was for sure.
2b
– Met Susan –
After I quit, I went to the Beijing University to study gymnastics. Over there I met my wife, Susan, who also played basketball in the University. I met her at an occasion.
When dating her, I found something genuine, in another word that she was not phony, she was not somebody who was easily to compromise to the surroundings. She was honest. It was very valuable to me. I didn’t see anybody who was honest then. Either you compromised, or you joined the evil, or you would be taken advantage by others, or you despaired, and you died at the end.
When I was in Beijing, my fiancée gave me a birthday party. I was very touched by it. I was never treated like this. In China I never had birthday party for myself, only the party’s birthday, military birthday or Mao Zedong’s birthday. Now I was respected and I felt the meaning of my life and celebrated it. I was moved into tears.
I found her, it was a big discovery to me. Many things can be communicated in languages, especially in ethics.
When I married to my wife, I felt that my life just started.
– Witness June 4th –
It was coincident when I went to China. My father died in 1988. My mother asked me to visit my brother in China.
It was coincident that I run into the June 4th (1989) Tiananmen protest. I was a witness but not a participant.
I went to the Tiananmen Square and talked to the students. It was very crowded there and you couldn’t move your bicycle, you couldn’t move around.
This head band was worn by a citizen to support the hunger strike students to have a talk with the government. This head band represented the understanding the relationship between the government and its people. In western world, a great society would never put the government higher than the people, and the government is not lord of its people.
But let’s talk about Tiananmen Square protest in 1989. Chinese people were not supposed to be equal to the government. A government in a normal country should be serving its people. People use a contractual form to grant the government to serve people. It is a servant relationship, not superior Lord. If a government abuses its power to its people, it should step down. It would be an evil regime and a criminal government, which was not qualified to be equal to its people. It is a correct way of thinking of an ordinary person.
Why people raised a request for equal talk? It meant that there was no normal understanding of the government, greatness and freedom. Their understanding was that the government was superior over people. If people pursued their rights for equalization, they would be killed. It was far away from a country that government serves its people. I would not agree to any government that is superior over my head.
Therefore I believe that Chinese should think about your understanding of government, greatness, legitimate, natural status and freedom.
why did I wear the black hoop? Because every life is a treasure, many people got killed at Tiananmen Square. It was not acceptable.
Life is short. What is the point of life? My father passed away and it was a motivation for me to write a book. He was unable to tell what he wanted to say. I was motivated to write them down in my language. At mean time I saw Tiananmen protest. One person died, and a billion population country had a protest. Was there any relationship between them? Not many people were able to see the relationship.
If a culture did not appreciate existence of one life, that life can be raped, insulted, wiped out, killed,
tortured, then you claimed that you represented one billion lives to get rid of that one life.
My father’s death was connected with the Tiananmen killing. That’s why I called my book, one in a billion. If one life is not important, many lives are not important either in my mind, no matter how many.
If a life can be raped, his right is not respected, this type of life is meaningless. I believe I don’t want this type of life. I want to appreciate life every second and every moment.
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Episode 3
3a – Happiness
In 1981 I came to the U.S. I attended an adult school while doing some temp work. I taught Chinese, film dubbing.
I learned a lot about human-relation through the temp work. It was a great learning experience.
In 1986 I graduated from University of California in Los Angeles (UCLA) majored in Political Science. Why did I study Political Science? I wanted to understand what on earth happened in my life. I wanted to think again of my life in China, what was it about life, what was the meaning of life, what composed of the society, what was a society with ethics and what without ethics. I’ve been pursuing these and am still doing so.
The most common part between my wife and myself is that we both love kids. I have been feeling parenthood whenever I saw kids. It is an instinct of a human being. When I had my first child, my wife was suffering with pre-eclampsia and led her body swollen, her kidney was unable to micturate. Then she had caesarean birth. When I saw a baby body being taking out of mother’s womb, I felt it was a miracle of it. A new life was given. This new life would have his or her mind, self conscious, ethics, I thought it was a miracle. If we used the current Chinese Marx theory, it was just a pile of cells or molecule or atom. No, she is not a just a pile of cell, she is miracle.
In China there is a saying: if a man wants to insult another man, says: go home and carry your kids. Don’t come here, you can’t make it. I didn’t realize that I received the biggest satisfaction in my life when I hold my child in my arms at home.
Every child and every life is a miracle. It is a life that parents gave the body and God gave the soul. It is only known by the life and God.
I took them to play basketball, I was there for them whenever they had athlete training. I was there for all the
games they had. I appreciated every step of their achievment, didn’t miss any part of improvement.
My elder daughter graduated from Yale. She decided to join the peace corps for 2 years. She might serve in Africa, South America and the under developing countries. I am so proud of her and I believe she will be very outstanding over there.
My second daughter produced a documentary film of anti-racism recently. Through her film, I could tell that
she’s also strong with ethics. I didn’t say I taught her each single piece of what was right and what was wrong with
kind of fingers count. More importantly, she saw me as what kind of a person I am.
Every child, every piece of life is a miracle. Even though the parents gave this life a physical body, God gave this life the meaning of life. This part of meaning can only be known by the God and this life. Nobody else could possibly know it. He or she can discover during his or her life. I hope that parents learn a lot during the process of raising their kids, as well as how to understand the value of human being.
3b.- Good vs Evil
Chinese Communist dictatorship tortured its people spiritually, not physically. It destroyed people through brainwash, atheism, materialism, dialectics, power pursue, tolerance of evil, reliance on the fear in each individual’s heart. Through these tyrant controls over each individual’s fear, it destroyed people’s conscience, extinguish the urge of seeking for truth, killed pursuit for freedom. It is the biggest crime that the Chinese Communist dictatorship caused to its people.
During the Chinese Cultural Revolution, many people did a lot of wrong deeds, including myself. I criticized my teacher publicly during culture revolution. Till now, I felt guilty about it. I could use many excuses for doing it. I could claim that I was young and naive at that time. I was unable to understand what was going on then. Or if I didn’t do it, I would be criticized publicly by others. Absolutely, These excuses are not acceptable. You must self-examine yourself and your action. You must do introspection of what kind of role you played during the Culture Revolution under the dictatorship regime. Were you in a role of tolerance or slavery or a commander during that period. Do you know that you need to self-reflect what you did, as a part of the dictatorship, providing a brick to
it. Everybody should reflect it. As long as you did reflect, you would become a great human being, or a possibility for you to become a great man. Do not deny it since yourself is tiny. I knew it, inhibited it and tried to get rid of it, and move on, towards the bright future.
Today I came out to lead this long run, to tell people that you thought you were unable to do something as a result of the spiritual pollution and loss, poison, paralysis that communist forced onto you. You felt useless facing this dictatorship culture and brainwash. However, please let me tell you that Kai Chen stood up. He agreed that it was very difficult, to get out of the environment full of poison, evil and pollution. Take care of wounds and injuries, stand up to tell people. Even in this kind of tyrant system, you still deserve your freedom. Today I stand up to take this long run for freedom, I just want to tell people: if I can get freedom, regain my dignity, and enjoy the happiness, you can as well.
Another polluted area in spirit is the nationalism, to make its ruling legitimately. Now all of the communist leaders know they are illegal. That’s why they feel fearful and panic. How do they react to panic? They sent their children abroad, set up a bank account overseas. Why? They know that the communist as a government will be crashed soon. They are a criminal government, lack of ethics and legitimate status, the Chinese communist engaged too many criminals and unforgivable. Millions of innocent people died during the peaceful time. There was no second one like this in the world, exceeding the total killed people during the World One and the World Two. It did not count the big killing in Myanmar and Cambodia that China Communist supported. China Communist government is a criminal government, it did not have any legal and ethical roots. If a government is not ethical and does not have legitimate root, its regime won’t last long.
The communist leaders understand it, even though they don’t talk about it. But they have done many things to show their regime will be there forever. As you know, no matter how they blocked information, they built Golden Shield Project to block internet access, but they tried to show that they were holding Olympic Games, building Three Gorges Dam project, having our nationalism and they could carry this regime forever.
At the end of Qing Density, the Empress Dowager Cixi made use of Boxer Rebellion Anti-Imperialist Movement, to the so called nationalist sentiment, in China they killed the foreigner padres, to keep the falling regime. Today’s communist has same thing. It is a final cry before it is disappeared.
There is a website called China Sports Salon, in which it claims that how great the Chinese athletes are and how much they achieved for the nation, in order to show off how great the Chinese nationalism. Let’s take Yao Ming as an example. He is good at blocked shots. The players under the net were black and the footnote reads “block” the poor black slaves.
I was very angry to read it. The attitude is so dark in China community to do like this. The self achievement is based on lowering down somebody else. They didn’t own any achievement, but they lowered down somebody else to give themselves a bit higher. It is not an issue with Yao Ming, however he has been used by such a nationalist sentiment and racism emotions. I hope that Yao Ming will make an announcement if he has a sense of conscience, responsibilities, ethical moral. In another word, if somebody used my name, that would be a slander to me, and keep himself separate from the Chinese nationalism, racism used by the communist regime. I hope that he can do it.
However I’m not quite sure if he knows about the communist regime’s dark mentality and that he has been used to show the so called greatness to brand communist. I’m not sure what he is thinking, but I urged him to do so. Now you have been used by Chinese Communist Party, just like Hitler used Max Schmeling, the boxing champion, back then in Germany.
However, at that time, Max Schmeling had been exhalted as a boxing champion, as a symbol of the legitimate of racism. Yao Ming is in the same situation now. This part of history, Joe Louis, the heavyweight boxing champion, had a nickname called Brown Bomber, an American black heavyweight boxing champion. This guy has a high standard of moral.
At that time, Joe Louis and Max Schmeling had their 2nd boxing competition at Madison Square Garden in New York city, a worldwide attraction. That was the time for the debating between democracy and dictatorship in the world.
Joe Louis and Max Schmeling had no personal grudge. They competed to win or to lose the game, as an individual achievement. However at that time it was regarded as a war between democracy and dictatorship from political stand point. The German television live broadcasted the game. Joe defeated (knock out) Max during the 1st round. At that moment the live broadcast was disconnected in Germany. However everybody heard it outside Germany. It is quite similar what’s going on in China. The government could disconnect, blocked and wiped out. There were Anti-right wing movement, the Great Leap Forward movement, the culture revolution, Tiananmen Square Massacre in China history, but not noted in books. You might not be able to find June Four of Tiananmen event in any historic books in China, all were wiped out. Joe Louis’s old family house is just behind my current house. I respect this guy very much and with a sincere, best wishes to him.
Today I see those so called “angry youth”, they never asked themselves what they did, never looked at their conscience, never asked their soul to think about themselves. All they could say is “OK, China is great and as an individual we should support it.” I believe that none of the great countries can be established without a great moral.
I thought that a lot of Chinese who did not know the truth, thought that materialism is most important if a country needs to be strong. That was a history that Nazis Germany and previous Soviet Union had been through. That is why it is a world crime that China Communist superseded Soviet Union, a world evil center. They describe the greatness of country to having Armies, money etc. they equaled being imperial to being great.
I don’t agree to it, since Churchill already pointed out during the World War II. He said that if a nation wants to be great, it has to be good, i.e. a great country must have ethics. Chinese Communist and many Chinese do not accept it. They do not believe the relationship between great and ethics. Today I cannot say that China is a great country. China is a nation ruled by Communist and I’ll never say it is a great nation, no matter how many nuclear bombs, how much money, how much foreign exchange reserve, how much exports, it is not a great nation. Being great must be ethical. If only being powerful, with no moral, it is not a great country. When you use the word “great”, you should understand what you want China to be: great or powerful(imperial). In fact, being great must have high moral.
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Episode 4 – Individual’s Strengh
4a – Beijing Olympic Games Revelation –
Olympic Games are a great convention. It promulgates individual’s talents to be fully displayed. It calls for competition in a fair way. It should be this way in human society. The individual’s talents should not be depressed. If you are talented, you should have your way to show it. Yao Ming is 2.3 meters high, but you are only 5 Chinese chi tall. You can’t win him. It is not a matter of fairness from God. God is fair to everyone indeed.
He has his gifted talents and you have yours. You can develop your talents as well as he can. Let the competition in all fields. It is a good idea to promote the Olympic spirit in our life, with fair competition to keep it equal to everybody, making you feel brother and sisterhood. There will be no any prejudice and bias in different races and cultures. The competition is fair to all. If I fail this year, I may not lose again next year. I fully support Olympic Games. As an athlete, I wish Olympic Games successful. Many athletes will deliver great performance, the greatness of the human kind, talent and challenge of unknowns to human kind. Every new world record is a challenge of the human self limits.
Olympic itself aims a spirit, a freedom that each individual seeks. However the Chinese evil government wanted to use it to prove the legitimate of their regime, at the same time it is a corrosion of people’s conscience in the world. It is a spirit invasion by hosting Olympic game in a dictatorship country. During the Nazi game, US sent an athlete delegation with two Jewish athletes. The German Nazi government protested it, and the US team expelled these two Jewish athletes as a result of it, for being coward or lack of moral. It is a lesson for the world conscience.
In 1936, Hitler tried to use Olympic Game to camouflage his racist theory right. However the Olympic spirit smashed his theory. Jesse Owens, an African American athlete won 4 gold metals during the Game, but Hitler refused to shake his hands with Owens. People demonstrated and smashed the racist.
4a – Freedom T-Shirt –
Kai Chen, founder of the Olympic Freedom T-shirt Movement, run ten cities across four continents. These cities are Los Angeles, San Francisco, Vancouver, Winnipeg, New York city, Melbourne, Sydney, Berlin and Taipei.
I called for this movement to display the true spirit of Olympic Games. The Olympic Spirit is freedom. I hoped that the Olympic Freedom T-shirt will be in China during the Olympic Games, to tell Chinese people and people around the world, such as athletes, tourists and sports enthusiasts etc. that “don’t be used and stand by the illegal Chinese government. When you go to Tiananmen Square, to take the competition, to go to swimming competition, to go traveling, you wear this Olympic Freedom T-shirt in order to demonstrate that you are with people who pursue freedom in China, not dictatorship. Don’t get used by the dictatorship regime to legalize their ruling.
Recently some western athletes delegations are “advised” not to speak anything that might irritate the Communist during the Beijing Olympic Games. After they received world condemnation for it, they changed to allow athletes to speak of freedom. There is no grey area in morality, it is black and white. It means that everybody should be clear about the morality. I believe that it is belief when we talk about truth, justice, freedom and dignity. If you don’t believe truth, why do you need science? If you don’t believe there is a justice, why do you need a court? If you don’t believe freedom, why do you pursue happiness? If you don’t believe the dignity, you will be insulted forever.
The most recent freedom run is very impressive, I started from Taipei Zhengrong Monument, after 8 kilometers, arrived the freedom square. There is a gate arch, I call it Freedom Gate. I run in the rain! and my tears were running down when I saw freedom gate. There is a freedom community in a Chinese environment, respecting freedom value. I wish in future there will be freedom statute in the Tiananmen Square, and Tiananmen Square will be named “Freedom Square.”
?The other one is run for freedom in Berlin, where it was the site for 1936 Olympic Games! . Hitler walked here and it is a historic place. Starting from the site to Berlin Wall, it means from moral and ethical chaos to a clear and clean moral and courage. It is because of the clean moral that German overthrow the dictatorship and fall of Berlin Wall.
I finished this run for freedom and I felt it meant a lot. I hope one day in future when the Chinese communist collapsed, a monument will be built to remember thousands of nameless and innocent people died for it. I feel very important to be here today and I’m very excited. I hope everybody remembers that the freedom will come after the dictatorship. When that day comes, I will go back to China to take another run for freedom to commemorate those people who were tortured to death by the Chinese Communist. That day will come soon.
4b – human right torch relay –
The Human Right Torch Relay is an another movement, a simultaneous one as my run for freedom. I thought it carries same moral, especially it is a voice for justice and ethics where no such thing in Chinese sports industry. Almost none of Chinese ex-athletes and coaches dare to stand up to condemn China Communist and its regime using Olympic Games by making any kind of announcement. If they did not stand up, I should do it. I said it before that “let yourself be a torch if you are surrounded in dark, to bright the way to the freedom.
I dreamed one day I am holding this torch on the Great Wall, waving my hands, shout out my lung and say thanks for God’s will, we are free finally!
Now the Chinese Communist regime condemned a bunch of international group that they made Olympic political. It is completely like that a bandit robbed in his whole life and suddenly he shouted that somebody was stealing.
Mao Zedong’s books claim that entertainment industry serves the politics, sports serves the politics. In 60’s, the Chinese Communist was not acknowledged in the world sports. They organized a sports game called Xin Xing Li Liang (new rising force sports game). The game was hosted in Jakarta. Early 70’s, premier Zhou Enlai sloganed let sports serve politics. They realized that the sports was a card for them to play and could help them to break through the diplomatic bottleneck. In another word, sports can be used to serve politics. In 1972, the Pingpong Diplomacy led a visit of China by Nixon. They were related. China regime obtained the right to attend Olympic Games was Moscow Olympic in 1980. But they boycotted it. In 1984 China attended the Los Angeles Olympic Games, also it was related to the politics. The Beijing Olympic Games was also political related, an illegal crime regime invested more than billion of dollars to host the game. It proved that it was a political event. What we are doing today is to bring the truth of Olympic spirit.
If a player wears this freedom T-shirt for a run, he will make a choice in terms of moral. Of course they have taken some risks as well. Some people cursed me in my blog. I am not afraid of it. I believe I represented the future of China since! we call for moral. Even though we are minority, only couple of us, run quietly, wearing the freedom T-shirt, disclosing the Communist regime’s crime to the public. These include persecution of Falungong, stealing organs, persecution of Christian followers and Tibetan lama. All of these represented that China Communist regime is weak. They have to use Olympic Games to pretend being ethical. If the whole world thought that we were qualified to host the Olympics, it meant that we were legal and ethical. It is not the case. Therefore I hope IOC to set a rule for hosting countries that a nation is not qualified to host the games if there is no general voting.
4b – One individual’s strength –
with reference to some benchmark, I was a successful person. I got what I wanted. I wanted to play basketball in China, I made it to the highest level. I came to US and graduated from university. I wanted to write a book and got it published. Why did you promulgate the freedom T-shirt movement?
My rely to these people is that it is a call for conscience from God. When I realized the happiness of freedom, I realized my responsibility for it. When I realized that I am a happy free man, I even can’t tolerate the slavery system. A free man will never to slave others and cannot be slaved as well. A slavery community is a dictatorship and they want to slave people. A person who’s been slaved has more chance to slave others in return. Therefore I feel responsible for it when I realized I am free. When I see any unfair stuff, I just want to stand up. In US I did it too, such as attending the jury. I’m very active on any events. A free man cannot be an observer only. A slavery will take being slaved for granted, he is an onlooker.
Why do I do all of these? My motivation is my experience in China, my survival in China, career and success, and away from the slavery… they are the motivation for what I’m doing today. I don’t believe slaved human and slavery culture, I believe freedom spirit.
One in the Billion. What I’ve been through in China is something that many people cannot imagine that an individual could overcome such an incredible resistance. That’s why I changed from “One in the Billion” to “One versus the Billion.”
In English one vs one billion has two meanings: one is that only few people can do it. The other meaning is that an ordinary person has done an extraordinary stuff. Applying One in Billion rule for life, it means that you have accomplished the most important thing in your life when you realized the importance of life. I always say a billion untrue “him” is far away from a true him. If a person is pursuing freedom, happiness, and truth, he will not consider any comments from people who don’t have any value.
Many people don’t understand value. He would challenge me that Kai Chen tried to cheat for money, for his fame. I was famous but I didn’t care about it. They didn’t know me and didn’t know who I am and my value.
In English, I am only one, but I an not alone. I know I am standing with truth. There is another saying about majority, i.e. your conscience plus yourself is majority. Let’s regardless the number of physical bodies, but think about idea, moral. When you have such a feeling, you won’t think too much. I thank my wife. She says: I’m proud of you and I admire you.
I’m very satisfied when I heard it. I have too much. In China I thought I was cursed and have been through so much. Now I feel I’ve been blessed. I am very comfortable, with no torture, fear, afraid of walking alone. I thought that there would be myself run with nobody joined me, maybe at that moment that was the beauty of individual importance. I don’t think too much in this regards, I just think what should be done.
I hope people don’t give up, don’t give up any hope for future, the pursuit for freedom. Don’t give up. Stick to your belief, your pursuit and cost, you won’t be disappointed.
When you have freedom, you will realize what you get is far more than what you give. It is worth pursuit. I hope Chinese people who live in the despair to do something. Silent despair means that they talk, they eat but there is no hope in their heart. They are only live in their body. You must wipe out this despair from your heart. You must sacrifice to pursue the eternity. Don’t be afraid. This cost is worth it. When you get it, you will know what you get is much more than what you give.
Today I run for freedom to tell people: if I can get freedom, dignity, and happiness, you can too.
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