Table of Contents
Author's Note ix
Prologue 1
Part 1 Laowai (Foreigner) 15
1 Clumsy Birds Have Need of Early Flight 17
2 Do Not Hope to Reach the Destination Without Leaving the Shore 33
3 Do Not Upset Heaven and Earth 51
4 To Move a Mountain, Begin with Small Stones 65
5 Pick the Roses, Live with the Thorns 77
6 A Good Beginning Is Half the Journey 87
7 Enough Shovels of Earth, a Mountain; Enough Pails of Water, a River 101
8 Unless There Is Opposing Wind, a Kite Cannot Rise 115
9 A Burnt Tongue Becomes Shy of Soup 129
10 Push One Pumpkin Under Water, Another Pops Up 141
11 One Who Is Drowning Will Not Be Troubled by a Little Rain 157
12 Wait for Roast Duck to Fly into Mouth, Wait a Long Time 169
Part 2 Guoji Youren (Foreign Friend) 177
13 Why Scratch an Itch from Outside the Boot? 179
14 A. Sparrow Sings, Not Because It Has an Answer, but Because It Has a Song 197
15 Eat the Wind, Swallow Bitterness 215
16 One Who Rides a Tiger Cannot Dismount 233
17 Our Lucky Star Is Shining 251
18 Every Day Cannot Be a Feast of Lanterns 267
Part 3 Zijiren (One of Us) 281
19 If the Sky Falls on Me, Let It Be My Quilt 283
20 Count Not What Is Lost, but What Is Left 299
Epilogue 315
Acknowledgments 317
Credits 319
