 Once upon a time, in a faraway land, there lived a little girl in a beautiful house with a courtyard and a garden where she traced dragonflies around. And it was a loving family, and she was very, very happy. And on her eighth birthday, a beautiful birthday cake was given with a picture of the garden on it. And she blew out the candles and made a wish. And the wish was that she could fly like the dragonflies in the garden. But she didn't blow out all the candles and a great darkness descended on the land. And cruel people took her away and kept her in captivity. And then she escaped. And this is the story of Ping Fu, who is now here with us in the Reuters studio in New York. Congratulations on this book. The title is Bend Not Break, A Life in Two Worlds. And the two worlds, of course, are China and the United States. Take us back to the beginning of the fairy story and bring us into real life. It's 1966 and you are... I was in Shanghai at the dawn of the Cultural Revolution. What's the first thing you know about this cataclysmic change which is coming into China? Well, first I noticed things going strange because there's a lot of litters in our land. And my German neighbor disappeared. And one day I heard this loud sound with boots marching into our house. I thought somebody's going to come to our house to make trouble. I know there was chaos around the neighborhood. And little did I know they were coming for me. Oh, they were coming for you? Yes. But you were only eight years of age? I was only eight years. I was in my grandfather's library. Then I heard my mom, Shanghai mom, say she's so little. I stick my head out. I heard they're coming in with red guards, they're teenagers. With a moss green uniform, with a red little red star on the head. And they said, she's there. And I ran back into the library but took only seconds for them to come up to the library to catch me. They took me away from the only home that I ever knew. So in a single day I lost both set of parents and I became a surrogate mother to my sister. How old was your sister, you said? She was four. And you were eight? Yeah. What did you do every day? First I went to the factory to peel plastic parts. I don't know what they are. And then when I was a little older I built radios, speedometers. You built radios? Yes. Oh, in a factory? In a factory. That's fast-forward as it were. Dowsher Payne comes in. The Cultural Revolution is abated. What happens to you then in terms of getting on in life? You're now 18, I think. Yes. When the Cultural Revolution ends. So what happens to you? I studied for a whole year. I heard the rumors of universities going to open again. I was known as the girl whose lights never turned off. I passed it. So you applied and you got in? Yeah, applied. I passed the national exam and I got in. So you're now stuck with Chinese literature which you probably enjoy. And that takes you into the countryside for some reason. You're writing your thesis. Yes. What happens? What do you see in the countryside? It was at the peak of China's one-child policy. One-child policy. One-child policy. Every couple can only have one child. At that time, China was still 90% agriculture. The farmers want sounds. So I heard this widespread killing of baby girls. You actually saw babies being killed? I saw it with my bare eyes. I saw babies being tossed into the river when the umbilical cords still fresh. I saw babies being put in the plastic bag and tossed into garbage. By the parents? By the parents or by the neighborhood leaders. That was an unspeakable cruelty. It is imaginable. So there's an international media storm about the fact that babies are being killed. What was your first awareness of the fact that you, a 20, 21-year-old, 24-year-old student, had created an international firestorm? I did not know that because we don't have access to international newspaper. I didn't even know my thesis was picked up putting the newspaper. I don't read newspaper every day. I was just walking on the college to go to class. And then somebody came behind my back and put a sack over me. A sack? Yeah, put a sack over me and then said, don't scream. And then took me away from the campus. Where were you taken to? Well, I was taken to this jeep or car. I think it's a jeep because I can feel the wind. And then we drove hours. And I was taken to this prison outside of Nanjing and put into this windowless room with no lights and no window and no bed and the smells like pneumonia. And then so we looked for different countries to find a place that I can study. And U.S. just happened to be the first one. Did you need a visa to get into it? I needed a visa. Back in 1984 it was very easy. We applied at the end of 1983. It was very easy. And how could you afford to come to the United States? Well, my mother used all of her savings to buy me a ticket. How much English could you speak? I spoke three words. I tried to learn more. But by the time I arrived, I only remembered three words. So what three words did you learn? Hello, thank you. Help. It's interesting. The education of Ping Fu is a story in itself. So you get a degree and now what are you going to do next? What is the next stage in this? What is actually a remarkable ascent in American life? You're a waitress. You're basically a refugee. You're not an American citizen. I couldn't study literature because I didn't have enough English. And I asked around what I can study because I thought I didn't have math and physics backgrounds, not strong. Somebody said, there's a new field called computer science. I said, what's that? They said, well, it's man-made language that used to make stuff. And I thought, great. I'm good with language and I know how to make stuff. That's what I would study. So I got into computer science, which is a new field. And if I didn't study computer science, I couldn't have started a business. I started Geomagic to combine internet technology with the traditional manufacturing. And I wanted to bring the manufacturing to 21st century as a customer of one and global resource of seven billion. So it's not built ones, not designed ones built millings, but designed ones and built one. I call it mass customization or personal factory. I mean, you worked, I know, on Bob Woodruff, who was blown up in Iraq. What did you do with him? So in that case, we take the CTMR data, which is just spatial points. I recreated his head, including the damage of his skull, and then designed a plate that's custom fit to the big hole on his skull, including all the jagged edges. And with the right symmetry for his head. And that tatania, steel tatania plate is placed on his head. Can you give me some examples of where making things fit? I can think of making my teeth fit or something like that. You can create shoes that fit your foot, rather than your foot searcher for a pair that fits. I think in 21st century, all products should be made starting from you. Not some product. So hearing aids, teeth. Hearing aids fits your ear canal, teeth repair fits your teeth shape. Looking back on this extraordinary life, a young child captured by the Red Guard, driving in America, knowing nobody, and yet somehow making a fantastic success in the United States. What do you learn and what advice would you give about how American educate? Because you've benefited by American education, and yet there's a sense of a crisis in American education today. You're on President Obama's Innovation and Entrepreneurial Council. What advice do you give? I do think that American has wonderful education. I'm a beneficiary of that. It's a very innovative education system. However, the curriculum that we are studying is old. We need to innovate the curriculum itself, because the curriculum we study is still 60, 17, 18-century curriculum. We are in already 21st century. Interestingly, university or school creates the most innovative people, but its system is the least innovative. Listen, one of the things that intrigued me about this fascinating and really warm book of yours is how at the age of eight you had a birthday in this lovely home with your Shanghai parents and a brother, and there's a birthday cake. I'd like to have a birthday cake for you today. So may we have a piece of a birthday cake here? Are we going to cry? Now, this is to ping-pong, little apple. We'd like you to make a birthday wish in all of us here in the United States. You admire you so much. Thank you. And the wish? Well, my one wish would be from John Lennon's sound, Imagine the world will live as one.