ver since having the vaguest concept of right or wrong, I am more than familiar with my father's old-school lecturing which would always begin with the phrase "If you were living in my time." Born in the countryside with seven siblings while living just above the line of extreme poverty, my father was only one common figure among millions of Chinese people who lived in an era of challenge and difficulty.

However, given that he was brought up in such an environment, I was always amazed by my father's rich knowledge of literature, politics, history, and even international relationships. How come he receives such good education while "living in his time"? Eventually I got curious, and I asked, "Why do you know so much about liberal arts? Didn't you use to suffer as a kid?" My father answered without hesitation, "Yes, but I was born in a good time."

"Ha, what a good time!" I thought to myself. The very impression my father had given me of the Chinese society in the late 1970s, was nothing but poverty, hard labor, and the lack of basic education. It was a time when my father did not have a guarantee of the next day's meal, and it was a time when nobody of his family would support him to pursue better education.

Yet my father said that he was born in a good time. To further explain, it was a rather simple time while accompanied by major reforms and rapid changes. Even though he struggled for food and support once in a while, he was also lucky in a sense that he had a clear and definite goal, which was to climb out of poverty through the one and only means--education. So he worked hard, just in time to meet with the major educational changes brought along by the Reform and Opening-up, which made higher education accessible to all through a fairer, and more systematic examination. Starting from my father, the life of the next generation in his family began to change.

My father has been emphasizing on the importance of learning throughout my childhood, and he did not let his less-fortunate parentage to limit his outlook, as he had the vision that with the Opening-up policy, there would be a demand for well-educated, multilingual professionals. With the best of education supported by my father, I was able to use my language proficiency to act as a liaison interpreter for foreign friends ranging from statesmen to musicians, and to learn about their opinions on China and the world. I believe that it is only by having direct contact with people of all kinds can we get a sober and independent view of the world, which would help us solve existing problems from a different perspective.

My father was living in an era of reform, and I am truly benefiting from the process of Opening-up. Forty years after the implementation of this policy, enormous changes have been witnessed, and the great Chinese story is still to be continued.

This is one of the award-winning speech scripts in the 2018 China Daily“21st Century · Coca-Cola Cup” National English Speaking Competition Shanghai Final. The author, Li Yuqing, is an undergraduate student of SISU.