"I was deeply influenced by my grand-uncle who had been a member of the Taiping Army. He often told me stories about t…"

"The appalling poverty I experienced in my childhood and youth tempered me. In later years, I often recalled the pligh…"

"As World War I was then going on, the European and American imperialists had slowed down their aggression against Chi…"

"The Mandarin language lessons taught included such messages as cultivating self-confidence and valuing time. I was on…"

"When soldiers become conscious of what they are doing and are organized, they constitute a mighty force."

"I reached the age of 23 in 1921. Having been a cowherd, a child labourer, a dyke worker and a soldier, I had been thr…"

"History is always moving ahead in a wavelike fashion, and the people of today outpace those of yesterday in their con…"

"Born at a time when human history was moving forward by leaps and bounds, I was unable to keep pace with the tempo of…"

"China could only resist foreign aggression and develop its industry by instituting democracy and unifying the country."

"I was born into a lower-middle peasant family on the 10th day of the 9th moon on the lunar calendar in 1898. All my f…"