We are the kind of people who obsess over one word... but we have only one shot to get it right in concert. It was hard the first time I practiced with them. I was so nervous that my vocal chords were paralyzed for about a half-hour.

Shanghainese people are good negotiators, they're very persistent, and you grow up in an atmosphere like that - very competitive. That becomes part of your personality, Shanghai personality becomes part of yours.

Her education only made her unhappy thinking about it - that no matter how much she changed her life, she could not change the world that surrounded her.

With each passing day, I didn't lose hope. I fought to have more.

I thought I was clever enough to write as well as these people and I didn't realize that there is something called originality and your own voice.

Language is the tool of my trade -and I use them all - all the Englishes I grew up with

I was intelligent enough to make up my own mind. I not only had freedom of choice, I had freedom of expression.