"More often, we can readjust our way of thinking and tactics so that we can survive the annoying situations while maintaining a peaceful mind. For that matter, those simple truths can help us a lot," said Yu, who began learning Confucian classics at age 4.

Yu admitted that she lived a lonely and somewhat painful childhood along with her grandma in a courtyard in Beijing when her parents and grandpa, victims of political turmoil in the 1960s, were exiled to rural areas thousands of miles from Beijing.

But now, Yu is grateful for the early education she got during those lonely years.

"As the only daughter to politically incorrect parents, I failed to find my friends among small kids. I had to pour all of my heart into reading books and reciting excerpts from Chinese literature, including Confucian classics and Tang Dynasty poems. Besides, my grandma taught me to sing the Kunqu Opera and to write calligraphy with a brush. Traditional Chinese culture took root in my heart from that time on," Yu recalled.

Though always impressing people with her memory and eloquence, Yu admitted that she remained reticent until she enrolled in Beijing No 4 Middle School, where she was encouraged by teachers to express herself and befriended her classmates in the dormitory.

"Perhaps, what I am doing now as a talkative media consultant and lecturer on TV is guided by an unconscious urge to make up for my quiet and unhappy childhood," joked Yu.

(China Daily, Nov. 27, 2006)