October 20, 2019
Speech analysis
On March 31, 2009, Yansong Bai gave a speech at Yale University. He shared the Chinese dream behind his personal story with true feelings, and condensed the profound changes in china-us relations over the past four decades.
In his opening speech, Yansong Bai mentioned that the three presidents of the United States all graduated from Yale University, pointing out that Yale is a very excellent university. He also humorously said that the graduates’ qualities of Yale University are uneven. This interaction attracted audience’s attention. Next, Yansong Bai clearly stated the theme: my story and the Chinese dream behind it, creating a grand but not heavy atmosphere.
In 1968, Martin Luther King’s words “I have a dream” stood up all over the world. However, at that time, it was difficult for Chinese people to have their own dreams, because the problem of food and clothing had not been solved. With sincere, equal attitude and objective language, Yansong Bai clearly presents the life in China in 1968 to his audience. He mentioned the cultural revolution, saying he was put in a cowshed with his parents and his grandfather had to fight with the guards to deliver milk. He conveyed information in humor and expressed heavy topics in non-heavy language, so that the audience could understand the life of China at that time while laughing.
Later, by sincerely telling the story of what happened to him when he was ten, Yansong Bai brought the audience into the life of the poor family in 1978. In 1988, Yansong Bai passed the college entrance exam and came to Beijing. By mentioning American imperialism, Coca-Cola and Chinese medicine, as well as Michael Jackson, he provided a clear picture of the transformation of the relationship between China and the United States: the United States is no longer out of reach, but has become the details of life.
By mentioning “in 1998, when I was 30 years old, I had become a news program host of CCTV”, Yansong Bai naturally introduced his identity. He then referred to 2008 as the year when the American dream and the Chinese dream developed together. “I had my fortieth birthday during the Beijing Olympics. I was filled with emotion on that day, because when the time came to my birthday, I was broadcasting a wonderful game. Twenty-four hours later, when it’s time to go out of my birthday, I’m still on air. Then I realized the Chinese dream behind my story.” From the rapid development of China in the past 40 years, audience could understand the opportunity that the Chinese dream gives to every Chinese.
Throughout the whole article, Yansong Bai gave the speech with a sharing attitude. His full text focuses on his own personal experience as well as the difference and connection between the United States and China. While keep interacting with the audience, he also conveyed a lot of information about China. In addition, Yansong Bai always used the first person in his speech to emphasize his Chinese characteristics. The use of associated words is also a highlight of this speech. “But” “although” “not only” emphasize the logical relationship between sentences, magnify the effect of humor.
Cili7@blog.com 