"Listening to her lectures each day was the happiest moment of the day during that period of time After watching the TV lectures, I have suddenly found that what Confucius said are simple truths that are not at all lofty but can be applied to my daily life."

Li Yan, editor-in-chief of China Publishing House, told local media they knew the book would be a hit.

"After doing careful market research, we have decided to publish 600,000 copies of the book. We believe Yu Dan's personal charisma and her novel readings of the Confucian classic, which is no doubt hard to decode for average readers, will certainly boost the book's popularity," she said.

In fact, before lecturing to TV audiences this October, Yu, who studied ancient Chinese literature for her bachelor's degree in the mid-1980s, has already shared her thoughts with many teachers and students at Beijing Normal University and other colleges in the Chinese capital over the past decade.

Apart from her role as a doctoral tutor for students majoring in TV and cinema studies, Yu teaches undergraduates about classic Chinese literature at Beijing Normal University.

Almost every September, freshmen newly enrolled at Beijing Normal University would meet a "pretty and graceful female teacher" at a spacious auditorium where she would give mesmerizing orientation lectures, Xu Shanshan, a graduate of the university, wrote in her blog.

"Four years from now, I will be able to recall the warmth and excitement I felt when listening to her lectures," Xu wrote.

"She impressed me so much with her deft use of news stories, folk tales, anecdotes about daily life, a bulk of quotes from such classic as the Analects of Confucius, and, more importantly, her personal but insightful ideas about life and society. Looking at her from a distance, I was deeply moved by her passion and courage."

Living by simple truths

"At first, I shared my thoughts only with my students in the classroom. When I was first invited years ago to give a lecture to some 800 audience members in my university, I was not sure what their reactions were," Yu recalled.

"After I ended my first speech, I was greeted with thunderous applause, and, to my surprise, I found that many of my audiences were clapping their hands excitedly with tears in the eyes. That scene is always fresh in my mind and it gives me a strong sense of commitment."

Happy about the warm responses from her audiences, Yu keeps rearranging her lectures about classics and life. Each time she delivers them, she would add something new to make them more appealing.

"What attracts my audiences is not my personality but rather, the wisdom hidden in those dust-laden classics," Yu said.

At the beginning of a new century, many people are facing too many choices and value conflicts. They are simply disoriented. They must find something to live by, Yu said.

"I have found that an increasing number of contemporary Chinese scholars, writers, artists, business people and common folks are all seeking wisdom from traditional Chinese culture. This phenomenon may partly reveal the reason for the unexpected popularity of my lectures about the Analects of Confucius," she said.

In her eyes, Confucius the Sage is "an amiable elderly intellectual who is always in action to actualize his idealistic ideas about life and society."

Yu claimed that she has been living by all she has learned in history books and Confucian and Taoist classics.

"Those philosophical, inspiring ideas and arguments about human existence and societal life, as I see it, should not be regarded merely as interesting quotes, glistening with wisdom but of little use for day-to-day living. Instead, they are simple truths that can penetrate the barrier of time and space and shed new light for the future direction of every living human," she said.

Every one of us will have sorrows, setbacks and frustration in our daily life, but we cannot always take control of these situations, she said.