Journey of a Thousand Miles
My Story
“Number One” was a phrase my father—and, for that matter, my mother—repeated time and time again. It was a phrase spoken by my parents’ friends and by their friends’ children. Whenever adults discussed the great Chinese painters and sculptors from the ancient dynasties, there was always a single artist named as Number One. There was the Number One leader of a manufacturing plant, the Number One worker, the Number One scientist, the Number One car mechanic. In the culture of my childhood, being best was everything. It was the goal that drove us, the motivation that gave life meaning. And if, by chance or fate or the blessings of the generous universe, you were a child in whom talent was…
David Ritz is a renowned writer and author who has worked with everyone from Ray Charles to Willie Nelson to Aretha Franklin. He’s written and cowritten sixty-five books, fifteen of which have been bestsellers, and is also a grammy award-nominated song writer.
Lang Lang was born in 1982 in Shenyang, China. He has played concerts in all of the major music venues in the world with the world’s leading orchestras. He is the #1 selling classical artist in the world, and will serve as a musical ambassador to China throughout the Olympic year. He is UNICEF’s youngest international Goodwill Ambassador.