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My name is Jin Long Yao.

I was born on July 22nd, 1946, in Anqing, a city along the Yangtze River in China’s Anhui province. My father was Yuan Zheng Yao and my mother was Ayu Chen. I had 3 younger sisters. Unfortunately, my father died when I was only 12 years old. One of my biggest regrets to this day is that I wasn’t able to spend more time with him in my youth.

In August 1971 I married LianYing Fei, and we had two children, YiBin Yao in 1972 and Zheng Yao in 1975. YiBin Yao stayed in Shanghai and had one daughter, while my younger son Zheng moved to the United States in 2002 and had two children with his wife Chuan Lai. Their two sons are named Kevin and Derek Yao.

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My mother, father, and 3 sisters. I am standing in the center. (1957)

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The most important day of my life was September 1st, 1963.

That was the day I went to college, a day bringing hope and promise. I knew that at college, I would have the chance to change my life and prepare for a better future. I still remember boarding the bus from Anqing to Hefei very early in the morning. The trip took eight hours, but I didn’t mind; I looked out the window and imagined in my head what I would find at my destination.

When I finally arrived at the school, I met thirty-one classmates, all eager to learn and begin a new chapter in our lives. I was both extremely nervous and excited of what was to come.

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My first job was social-related work, albeit I was never paid a salary.

It was 1960. I was fourteen years old and just finished one year of high school. Life in China was rough. Survival was always a struggle for families due to lack of food, so every day, I traveled to the Yangtze River to grow vegetables and cultivate what used to be wasteland. I would dig the ground using a shovel and a hoe, clean the area of weeds, and plant seedlings; then I would have to water, fertilize, and trim the plants as they grew. Every day I would harvest a singular basket of vegetables. At that time, vegetables were eaten as entire meals. And if for whatever reason the vegetables didn’t grow, you would go to bed hungry. If it weren't for that job and for my grandmother leading me to do this work, it would have been very difficult to get by.

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The image at the left is of my accepted application to China's Hefei University of Technology.

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The three images above are of me at different points of my youth.

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My wife was always very inspiring to me. When she was still young, she was very strong-willed and capable. At the time I was working as a laborer in the workshop, she was an official. She helped me find a partner and for that I am very grateful.

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Old photo of me and my wife, 1971

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I eventually went on to work as the Vice General Manager for Harbin Electric Corporation. My main task was to represent the company and try to sell ourselves as the best candidate. I will always remember the joy I felt after winning each bid. Every time, it meant so much to me... I had to work to introduce our product, promote it, and make users feel that our product was the best choice among all competitors. Even if the process was always exhausting, the sense of pride I got in securing each bid made it worthwhile every single time.

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To describe my philosophy, I would use three phrases.

The first is “坚持学习”, to persist in learning. Only through learning can we acquire knowledge and master the skills of work. So we must persist in learning; that is, we should learn from childhood to old age, and learn until we are old. After all, learning is a lifelong journey that transforms how we see everything else.

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The third is “广交朋友”, to make friends extensively. There is an old saying in China that if you have friends, you can travel all over the world. With many friends, you have connections and support no matter where you go. Outside, whenever you encounter work problems, there will always be people to help you, support you, and offer solutions. This is the strength that comes from building friendships whenever possible.

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The second is “锻炼身体”, to stay healthy. Only when you have good health can you persist in work. There was a famous saying in Tsinghua University in China (rank #1 in Asia-Pacific region) that you should work for the motherland for at least 50 years in good health. If you didn’t have a strong body, you couldn’t possibly attempt that. Playing ball, swimming, skipping rope, running… being active is key to living a long and productive life.

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Passion, to me, means liking to take on new challenges. When I was working, I changed jobs often, from one job to another, and then to another job and another; these changes were often quite drastic. However, I was passionate about every job and wanted to do my job well, and was full of enthusiasm in every new job. After retirement, my passion shifted to two topics: compiling family history and compiling self-memories. Looking at family history gives me an understanding of my ancestors. Compiling my memoirs is to summarize the situations I experienced during the working period of my life, around 50 to 60 years long.

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When did I become interested in this? How did I get interested?

In the early 2000s, I went to the Macungie Library in the United States and read a Chinese book that recorded the history of Chinese workers building railways in Western America in the 18th century. I was inspired by their history; these people were recruited from the Fujian and Guangdong provinces in China to build the Transcontinental Railroad. The history that these people wrote recalled the growth of their ancestors of past generations. So, I wanted to understand the history of our family, the Yao family.

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It took me about 10 years to complete family research, and I poured my heart and soul into it. The process wasn’t easy—some historical materials were incredibly hard to find. I traveled to places like Zhejiang, Shanghai, Suzhou, Anhui, and of course the United States, all in search of details to complete my family's story. I combed through book after book, historical records in moldy basements, and pent countless hours interviewing family members and locals. Only after visiting so many places and getting to know all of them in great detail was I able to be satisfied with my work.

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My 92-page book was titled “往事的回忆”, or “Memories of Everything”. The history section started from my grandparents. Then I moved on to my father's generation, which had four sisters, my uncle, my father, my uncle, and my aunt. Then, to our generation, my son’s generation, my grandson’s generation…

I wrote down the memories of the people, and wrote about my childhood, growing up, working, and retirement. Inside, I included photos of myself and family members, photos of life. The purpose of writing these things? When my successors grow up and see this material, they’ll know that their roots are in China.

After all, once time passes, you can't ever find your roots again.

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My favorite song is the 1990 saxophone song “Going Home” by Kenny G. To me, this piece is one of the best saxophone pieces ever created. The melody is very beautiful and soothing. It always touches my heart.

However, it also carries a deeper meaning: "Going Home" reminds me of my family, many of whom live too far away for me to travel and visit at my current age. I wish that they can come home more often so that we can be together.

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“Live until old, learn until old.”

From my pursuit of education, to dedication to work and self-improvement, I always follow the idea of lifelong learning, whether in learning to grow food, refining skills in presenting my company’s product, or preserving my family’s history.

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The cover of my work, “往事的回忆”.

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My favorite song is Going Home by Kenny G, 1990.

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Here is a stick-figure drawing of some of the places I have been to.

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Me with my married sons Zheng Yao (center left, top row) and YiBin Yao (center right, top row), 2001

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Picture of me and my wife from recent years

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Selfie of my travels, 2005

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Presenting at the Asia-Pacific Summit, 2005

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Qinshan Phase 2 Nuclear Power Plant ceremony

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Harbin Power Company Gas De-sulfurization Technology Transfer Agreement Ceremony, 2003

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Photograph of me, my wife, and my two sons, 1981

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Working as a laborer at my first salaried job

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Another time, when I was hospitalized due to illness, she came to take care of me. She only had one day off every week, and she had to put aside caring for our two sons (only a few months old at the time) to visit me at the hospital. She went on every week to care for me while I was sick. She always raised our kids without complaint, even when she had to work so hard for so much of her time every week.

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As for my first job with a salary, it was working at the Harbin Boiler Factory in 1968. That was when I was working as a laborer in a workshop. While I was working in the workshop, my soon-to-be-wife always came to see me.

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I'm also very passionate about traveling. Traveling is a way for me to continue learning as I grow older, as I can better understand the history of other places in the world if I go to places physically.