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A tech star's book reveals how cancer showed him he was heading down the wrong path - and made the change. Xing Yi reports.
Google China's former chief Kai-Fu Lee never imagined he'd write a book about death.
So he explains in the preface of his new book, Finding Life in Death: My Credits for Death Education.
On Saturday, Lee returned to Beijing for the book launch.
The IT venture capitalist and micro-blogger with 50 million Chinese followers had largely vanished from the public eye since he revealed he was diagnosed with lymphatic cancer in September 2013. He has been receiving treatment in Taipei.
The book recalls Lee's battle with cancer over the past 17 months and his introspections on how to live a better balanced, and more meaningful, life.
"I am a workaholic, and I love my job," the 54-year-old said at the book launch.
"But faced with cancer, none of the thoughts flashing through my mind have to do with work. Death reminds me to live every day fully, rather than using them to chase fame and fortune."
Doctors discovered about 20 tumors when he underwent a medical examination at his wife's insistence.
His career was just peaking then.
Lee made Time magazine's annual list of the world's 100 most influential people in April 2013.
He was born in Taiwan and graduated from Columbia University in 1983. He earned his PhD in computer science from Carnegie Mellon University in 1988.
He worked as a Carnegie faculty member for two years, before joining Apple and then Silicon Graphics. He went to Microsoft in 1998 and moved to Beijing, where he helped establish Microsoft Research Asia, the company's fundamental research arm in the Asia-Pacific region.
In 2005, Lee jumped to Google and became the founding president of the US IT giant's China operation. His hiring made headlines because of Google's unprecedentedly high offer and Microsoft's subsequent court action against him for breaking his non-competition agreement.
Lee left Google in 2009 and founded Chinese tech startup incubator Innovation Works.
He has since devoted himself to helping young Chinese entrepreneurs start businesses. And he had posted actively on China's main micro-blogging platform, Sina Weibo, until he was diagnosed with cancer in September 2013.
"I'v always worked hard, and I've learned and gained a lot during my life," Lee writes in the book.
"But it seems life wants to teach me more."
Li's illness forced him to stop work and "earn credits for death education".
He initially thought fate was being unfair to him.
His friend took him to Buddhist monk Hsing Yun.
Their conversation changed his outlook.
" (It) woke me up," Lee writes.
"I'd long believed maximizing my influence and making a difference in the world was my purpose. But the master warned me that the quest for influence misdirects us toward seeking fame and fortune."
He realized his lust for fame drove him to work too hard. And objective-oriented work destroyed his health.
"It wasn't until my body fell ill that I realized my mind's illness was more serious."
The master's words made Lee reflect on his past.
Lee has learned to relax. His treatment has proven successful.
Now, his doctor allows him to work limited hours.
He said at the book launch that some of the seven "credits" he has learned are knowing health is priceless, everything happens for a reason and how to live in the present.
Lee also confesses he'd neglected the emotional needs of his family and parents, and will spend more time with them.
"If not for cancer, I'd probably continue with my old ways," he says.
"I'd perhaps become richer, and more famous and successful. But the illness and facing death have taught me a lot. I'll still work to make the world better. But now I know how to live a happier and more fulfilling life."
Contact the writer at xingyi@chinadaily.com.cn
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Kai-Fu Lee and his mother at a wedding banquet of his nephew. Lee says he'd neglected the emotional needs of his family, and will spend more time with them.Provided To China Daily |
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