Bend, Not Break
A Life in Two Worlds
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Narrated by:
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Robin Miles
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By:
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Ping Fu
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MeiMei Fox
About this listen
“Bamboo is flexible, bending with the wind but never breaking, capable of adapting to any circumstance. It suggests resilience, meaning that we have the ability to bounce back even from the most difficult times.... Your ability to thrive depends, in the end, on your attitude to your life circumstances. Take everything in stride with grace, putting forth energy when it is needed, yet always staying calm inwardly.” (Ping Fu’s “Shanghai Papa”)
Ping Fu knows what it’s like to be a child soldier, a factory worker, and a political prisoner. To be beaten and raped for the crime of being born into a well-educated family. To be deported with barely enough money for a plane ticket to a bewildering new land. To start all over, without family or friends, as a maid, waitress, and student.
Ping Fu also knows what it’s like to be a pioneering software programmer, an innovator, a CEO, and Inc. magazine’s Entrepreneur of the Year. To be a friend and mentor to some of the best-known names in technology. To build some of the coolest new products in the world. To give speeches that inspire huge crowds. To meet and advise the president of the United States.
It sounds too unbelievable for fiction, but this is the true story of a life in two worlds.
Born on the eve of China’s Cultural Revolution, Ping was separated from her family at the age of eight. She grew up fighting hunger and humiliation and shielding her younger sister from the teenagers in Mao’s Red Guard. At 25, she found her way to the United States; her only resources were $80 in traveler’s checks and three phrases of English: 'thank you', 'hello', and 'help'.
Yet Ping persevered, and the hard-won lessons of her childhood guided her to success in her new homeland. Aided by her well-honed survival instincts, a few good friends, and the kindness of strangers, she grew into someone she never thought she’d be - a strong, independent, entrepreneurial leader. A love of problem-solving led her to computer science, and Ping became part of the team that created NCSA Mosaic, which became Netscape, the Web browser that forever changed how we access information. She then started a company, Geomagic, that has literally reshaped the world, from personalizing prosthetic limbs to repairing NASA spaceships.
Bend, Not Break depicts a journey from imprisonment to freedom, and from the dogmatic anti-capitalism of Mao’s China to the high-stakes, take-no-prisoners world of technology start-ups in the United States. It is a tribute to one woman’s courage in the face of cruelty and a valuable lesson on the enduring power of resilience.
©2012 Ping Fu and MeiMei Fox (P)2012 Penguin AudioListeners also enjoyed...
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Critic reviews
"She tells her story with intelligence, verve and a candor that is often heart-rending....Her life story is moving and inspiring. Like the people who gave her a helping hand, she is generous to share it with us." (The Wall Street Journal)
"In this outstanding testament to the resilience of the human spirit, Ping takes readers on a journey both heartbreaking and inspiring.... Ping’s eloquent prose and remarkable attitude shine through in every word." (Publishers Weekly, starred review)
"An inspiring story...the book reflects the tone of its author: clear, honest and unassuming." (KIRKUS REVIEWS)
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Daughters of the Flower Fragrant Garden
- Two Sisters Separated by China’s Civil War
- By: Zhuqing Li
- Narrated by: Nancy Wu
- Length: 11 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
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Scions of a once-great southern Chinese family that produced the tutor of the last emperor, Jun and Hong were each other’s best friends until, in their twenties, they were separated at the end of the Chinese Civil War. One became a model Communist, the other a model capitalist. On Taiwan, Jun married a Nationalist general, established a trading company, and emigrated to the United States. On the Communist mainland, Hong built her medical career under a cloud of suspicion about her family and survived two waves of “re-education” before she was acclaimed for her achievements.
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Wonderful Story of a Family’s Survival Through Political Change…
- By Marie G. on 04-12-23
By: Zhuqing Li
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Daring
- My Passages - A Memoir
- By: Gail Sheehy
- Narrated by: Bernadette Dunne
- Length: 14 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
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Candid, insightful, and powerful, Daring: My Passages is the story of the unconventional life of a writer who dared - to walk New York City streets with hookers and pimps to expose violent prostitution; to march with civil rights protesters in Northern Ireland as British paratroopers opened fire; to seek out Egypt's president Anwar Sadat when he was targeted for death after making peace with Israel.
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Enjoyed unexpectedly
- By Corinne O'Rourke on 09-06-23
By: Gail Sheehy
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Without You, There Is No Us
- My Time with the Sons of North Korea's Elite
- By: Suki Kim
- Narrated by: Janet Song
- Length: 8 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
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Every day, three times a day, the students march in two straight lines, singing praises to Kim Jong-il and North Korea: Without you, there is no motherland. Without you, there is no us. It is a chilling scene, but gradually Suki Kim, too, learns the tune and, without noticing, begins to hum it. It is 2011, and all universities in North Korea have been shut down for an entire year, the students sent to construction fields - except for the 270 students at the all-male Pyongyang University of Science and Technology (PUST).
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The King and I meets Mary Poppins
- By Michael on 02-22-15
By: Suki Kim
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The Pursuit of Happyness (Abridged)
- By: Chris Gardner
- Narrated by: Andre Blake
- Length: 5 hrs and 42 mins
- Abridged
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At the age of 20, Chris Gardner arrived in San Francisco to pursue a promising career in medicine. However, he surprised everyone and himself by setting his sights on the competitive world of high finance. Yet no sooner had he landed an entry-level position at a prestigious firm, Gardner found himself caught in a web of incredibly challenging circumstances that left him part of the city's working homeless with his toddler son.
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Very Good Story!
- By Lito Da Critic on 06-02-06
By: Chris Gardner
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China in Ten Words
- By: Yu Hua, Allan H. Barr - translator
- Narrated by: Don Hagen
- Length: 7 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
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From one of China’s most acclaimed writers, his first work of nonfiction to appear in English: a unique, intimate look at the Chinese experience over the last several decades, told through personal stories and astute analysis that sharply illuminate the country’s meteoric economic and social transformation. Characterized by Yu Hua’s trademark wit, insight, and courage, China in Ten Words is a refreshingly candid vision of the “Chinese miracle” and all its consequences, from the singularly invaluable perspective of a writer living in China today.
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Best Popular Book on China
- By taylor storey on 09-21-14
By: Yu Hua, and others
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No Greater Love
- By: Levi Benkert, Candy Chand
- Narrated by: Kelly Ryan Dolan
- Length: 5 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
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Levi Benkert was playing with his children in the park when he received an urgent phone call from a friend asking him to drop everything and fly to Ethiopia to help organize a rescue orphanage for children destined to be murdered as part of a tribal superstition known as "mingi". In tribal culture, children and infants with even the slightest defect are considered "cursed" and are killed by their own parents, who fear allowing the children to live will cause bad luck to descend on the village. Moved by his friend's story, Levi packed his bags and left.
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Amazing!
- By Amazon Customer on 01-22-18
By: Levi Benkert, and others
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Daring to Drive
- A Saudi Woman's Awakening
- By: Manal al-Sharif
- Narrated by: Lameece Issaq
- Length: 10 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
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A ferociously intimate memoir by a devout woman from a modest family in Saudi Arabia who became the unexpected leader of a courageous movement to support women's right to drive.
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The rain begins with a single drop
- By Sara on 07-01-17
By: Manal al-Sharif
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The Fox Hunt
- A Refugee's Memoir of Coming to America
- By: Mohammed Al Samawi
- Narrated by: Assaf Cohen
- Length: 10 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
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Born in the Old City of Sana’a, Yemen, to a pair of middle-class doctors, Mohammed Al Samawi was a devout Muslim raised to think of Christians and Jews as his enemy. But when Mohammed was 23, he secretly received a copy of the Bible, and what he read cast doubt on everything he’d previously believed. After connecting with Jews and Christians on social media, and at various international interfaith conferences, Mohammed became an activist, making it his mission to promote dialogue and cooperation in Yemen. Then came the death threats....
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Engaging and informative memoir
- By Mark on 08-02-18
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Chicken Soup for the Soul - Find Your Happiness
- 101 Inspirational Stories about Finding Your Purpose, Passion, and Joy
- By: Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen
- Narrated by: Cynthia Barrett
- Length: 11 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
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What makes you happy? Others share how they found their passion, purpose, and joy in life in these 101 personal and exciting stories that are sure to inspire and encourage listeners to find their own happiness. Chicken Soup for the Soul: Find Your Happiness will encourage listeners to pursue their dreams, find their passion and seek joy in their life with its 101 personal and inspiring stories. This book continues Chicken Soup for the Soul’s focus on inspiration and hope, reminding us that we all can find our own happiness.
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I got even more depressed
- By Tom on 09-08-14
By: Jack Canfield, and others
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The Song and the Silence
- A Story About Family, Race, and What Was Revealed in a Small Town in the Mississippi Delta While Searching for Booker Wright
- By: Yvette Johnson
- Narrated by: Robin Miles
- Length: 9 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
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"Have to keep that smile", said Booker Wright in the 1966 NBC documentary Mississippi: A Self-Portrait. At the time Wright was a waiter in a Whites-only restaurant and a local business owner who would become an unwitting icon of the civil rights movement. For he did the unthinkable: Before a national audience, he described what life was truly like for the Black people of Greenwood, Mississippi.
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Exceeded every expectation
- By ZeeJ84 on 05-23-21
By: Yvette Johnson
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Nothing to Envy
- Ordinary Lives in North Korea
- By: Barbara Demick
- Narrated by: Karen White
- Length: 12 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
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Barbara Demick's Nothing to Envy follows the lives of six North Koreans over fifteen years - a chaotic period that saw the death of Kim Il-sung and the unchallenged rise to power of his son, Kim Jong-il, and the devastation of a far-ranging famine that killed one-fifth of the population. Taking us into a landscape never before seen, Demick brings to life what it means to be an average Korean citizen, living under the most repressive totalitarian regime today.
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The man who wants to be GOD
- By Gohar on 05-08-10
By: Barbara Demick
What listeners say about Bend, Not Break
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Daryl
- 02-13-13
Bending, not Breaking
This book is an incredible story of resilliance during Mao's reign in China. It flashes back and forth between Ping's time in America and her growing up years in China. I am normally not a big fan of this biographical style, but it actually works well here, with an American life being transposed with Chinese life... very well done.
While I am normally a big fan of Robin Miles, her as the choice of narrator is an unusual one. This is not her best performance, stilted in spots, and having an African-American reading a Chinese biography is a bit odd. However, I have to say that Robin Miles on her worst day is better than many narrators on their best.
Enjoy this rich biography!
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2 people found this helpful
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- Patty Blue Hayes
- 08-17-13
Amazing Story of Resilience
What did you love best about Bend, Not Break?
The incredible journey of Ping's life absolutely captured my attention. It also gave me a glimpse into Chinese history that I was not familiar with. I absolutely loved hearing about her incredible resilience, strength and perseverance in all aspects of her life.
It is incredible to hear how much she accomplished given how little she had as a child and through her teenage years.
I love that she made a life for herself in spite of the atrocities and circumstances in her life. She did not break.
She is an inspiration to me.
What did you like best about this story?
The honesty, vulnerability and humility.
What does Robin Miles bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?
Beautifully narrated, her reading was personal and inviting.
Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?
Yes, and yes, as any well lived life does.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Marcia Nathai-Balkissoon
- 04-15-15
I learned much about human growth and resilience
I enjoyed the insights into how people surmount major challenges and build competence and resilience. The narrator did a good job, but she sometimes sounded so staid and serious that there was a little more that I found myself wishing for. I have read reviews that say not everything might be true in the book. I do not know if this is so, but I have learned much from the recounted experiences. I am also inspired by the analogy of the fir tree, plum blossom, and bamboo used in the book.
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- Christine R. Wiltsey
- 02-12-13
Life changing story
What made the experience of listening to Bend, Not Break the most enjoyable?
Listening to the life story and all Ping had overcome.
What did you like best about this story?
Her story about how mountain tops are different perspectives and how each of in order to get to the next mountain peak, we must first go down to rise up again.
What does Robin Miles bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?
Character & Voice
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2 people found this helpful
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- Chris Shipley
- 01-16-19
A remarkable story of perseverance and its rewards
Ping Fu's memoir is an incredible story. And important in today's context to see the hardship and grit of an immigrant entrepreneur.
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- Roy B. Paschal
- 01-14-13
A true account as good as any Horatio Alger story!
This is an incredible story. This is a true account that is as good as any Horatio Alger story with a heroine with a spirit and strength of a Scarlett O’Hara. Who would have thought that the biography of this, “Little Apple “ that takes us from the harsh world of the Chinese Cultural Revolution to the world of the entrepreneur would become a wonderful contemporary story. This is a story full of a menagerie of fascinating characters. From the wisdom of Shanghai Papa to stranger’s spontaneous acts of kindness this book weaves a fascinating tale.
Be prepared to set aside time to listen this audio book. Once you begin to hear the story you will not be able to stop, each chapter as exciting as the last.
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4 people found this helpful
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- Logan
- 03-19-13
Engrossing, illuminating, and beautiful.
Any additional comments?
This is nonfiction that reads like fiction - a storyline in winding, powerful currents, myriad, elegantly constructed settings, and a host of characters displaying the best and worst of their humanities. At the same time it is an informative and inspiring record of Maoist China, dot-com America, immigrant life, technology, business, and perhaps most of all, what a life can be made to be.
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2 people found this helpful
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- Dane
- 03-30-14
Beautiful
Any additional comments?
This book touches me. From the beautiful reading by Robin to the swaying back and forth through time as Ping narrates her life in a brutal revolution and a successful US business. I feel enriched by listening. I also appreciate the opportunity to evaluate the benefits of a Chinese woman's unique strengths as a CEO.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Victor T.
- 05-31-20
Such an amazing story of overcoming adversity
Such an amazing story of overcoming adversity the likes of which most of us will never experience. It's a great book about business, it's an even better book about life and it will put a lot of things into perspective for you personally.
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- michael
- 06-03-16
Inspiring for some, annoyed me.
Quit this many times. To and from time annoying. Only listened to it because I paid for it. Not sure how much I believe.
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