When you believe you have a future, you think in terms of generations and years. When you do not, you live not just by the day — but by the minute.

Its a wonderful thing to see a segment of our population that is open and eager to learn more about Chinese culture. It has filtered into the mainstream. You see credit-card ads on TV with white couples and Chinese babies.

Books are the ultimate way for writers to reach immortality.

I have to finish this book tour of almost 30 cities.

There isn't much discussion of ruling class in America even in Boston, probably one of the most class-conscious cities in the country?

Somebody who was born in this country who visited China would later face difficulty getting back in to the USA. We have to keep in mind that the struggles of the Chinese against these exclusion laws really laid down the foundations of civil rights law.

Almost all people have this potential for evil, which would be unleashed only under certain dangerous social circumstances.