Li Yan, editor-in-chief of China Publishing House, told local media they knew the book would be a hit.

"After doing careful market research, we have decided to publish 600,000 copies of the book. We believe Yu Dan's personal charisma and her novel readings of the Confucian classic, which is no doubt hard to decode for average readers, will certainly boost the book's popularity," she said.

In fact, before lecturing to TV audiences this October, Yu, who studied ancient Chinese literature for her bachelor's degree in the mid-1980s, has already shared her thoughts with many teachers and students at Beijing Normal University and other colleges in the Chinese capital over the past decade.

Apart from her role as a doctoral tutor for students majoring in TV and cinema studies, Yu teaches undergraduates about classic Chinese literature at Beijing Normal University.

Almost every September, freshmen newly enrolled at Beijing Normal University would meet a "pretty and graceful female teacher" at a spacious auditorium where she would give mesmerizing orientation lectures, Xu Shanshan, a graduate of the university, wrote in her blog.

"Four years from now, I will be able to recall the warmth and excitement I felt when listening to her lectures," Xu wrote.

"She impressed me so much with her deft use of news stories, folk tales, anecdotes about daily life, a bulk of quotes from such classic as the Analects of Confucius, and, more importantly, her personal but insightful ideas about life and society. Looking at her from a distance, I was deeply moved by her passion and courage."

Living by simple truths

"At first, I shared my thoughts only with my students in the classroom. When I was first invited years ago to give a lecture to some 800 audience members in my university, I was not sure what their reactions were," Yu recalled.

"After I ended my first speech, I was greeted with thunderous applause, and, to my surprise, I found that many of my audiences were clapping their hands excitedly with tears in the eyes. That scene is always fresh in my mind and it gives me a strong sense of commitment."

Happy about the warm responses from her audiences, Yu keeps rearranging her lectures about classics and life. Each time she delivers them, she would add something new to make them more appealing.

"What attracts my audiences is not my personality but rather, the wisdom hidden in those dust-laden classics," Yu said.

At the beginning of a new century, many people are facing too many choices and value conflicts. They are simply disoriented. They must find something to live by, Yu said.

"I have found that an increasing number of contemporary Chinese scholars, writers, artists, business people and common folks are all seeking wisdom from traditional Chinese culture. This phenomenon may partly reveal the reason for the unexpected popularity of my lectures about the Analects of Confucius," she said.

In her eyes, Confucius the Sage is "an amiable elderly intellectual who is always in action to actualize his idealistic ideas about life and society."

Yu claimed that she has been living by all she has learned in history books and Confucian and Taoist classics.

"Those philosophical, inspiring ideas and arguments about human existence and societal life, as I see it, should not be regarded merely as interesting quotes, glistening with wisdom but of little use for day-to-day living. Instead, they are simple truths that can penetrate the barrier of time and space and shed new light for the future direction of every living human," she said.

Every one of us will have sorrows, setbacks and frustration in our daily life, but we cannot always take control of these situations, she said.

"More often, we can readjust our way of thinking and tactics so that we can survive the annoying situations while maintaining a peaceful mind. For that matter, those simple truths can help us a lot," said Yu, who began learning Confucian classics at age 4.

Yu admitted that she lived a lonely and somewhat painful childhood along with her grandma in a courtyard in Beijing when her parents and grandpa, victims of political turmoil in the 1960s, were exiled to rural areas thousands of miles from Beijing.

But now, Yu is grateful for the early education she got during those lonely years.

"As the only daughter to politically incorrect parents, I failed to find my friends among small kids. I had to pour all of my heart into reading books and reciting excerpts from Chinese literature, including Confucian classics and Tang Dynasty poems. Besides, my grandma taught me to sing the Kunqu Opera and to write calligraphy with a brushTraditional Chinese culture took root in my heart from that time on," Yu recalled.

Though always impressing people with her memory and eloquence, Yu admitted that she remained reticent until she enrolled in Beijing No 4 Middle School, where she was encouraged by teachers to express herself and befriended her classmates in the dormitory.

"Perhaps, what I am doing now as a talkative media consultant and lecturer on TV is guided by an unconscious urge to make up for my quiet and unhappy childhood," joked Yu.

(China Daily November 27, 2006)