Speech time: 2015-10-10

-Li Yanhong, founder and CEO of Baidu Company, gave an inspirational speech in issue 156 "Let's Talk".

I have been very interested in computers since I was a child. I remember it was at 1984, when I was in Yangquan City, Shanxi Province. In my school, I bought several computers. There are more than 400 students in our grade alone, and there are only a few such Apple computers, so only a few students have the opportunity to learn the use of computers. At that time, the school used a method, that is, exams. Whoever is good at math, we will choose him to study computer. At that time, I went to learn computer with confidence. After studying for a year, our school conducted an exam and selected the top three. Select the top three to participate in the national youth programming competition. I remember the teacher who led the team to take the three of us to Taiyuan by train. On the train, the teacher told me that as long as one of you three can make it into the top ten in the province, I won't teach you for nothing. I said, don't worry, teacher, we will win honor for you. The next day we had an exam in Taiyuan. After the exam, I did one thing. I went to Xinhua Bookstore in Taiyuan and looked at the books there. As soon as I entered Xinhua Bookstore, I was shocked, because there were several shelves of books about computer programming, and there was also a Xinhua Bookstore in Yangquan. I often go there to find them. All the books about computers that I can see are my textbooks for class.

Later, none of us made the top ten, and I know why we couldn't get in, because everyone was too unfair in front of information and resources. Of course, this defeat actually had a great influence on me later. I was a freshman at that time, and I had to be a volunteer when I came to the university of senior three. In fact, I like computers very much, but I don't think I can apply for this major, because I know there are too many people in bigger cities, Taiyuan and even Beijing, and their resource advantages are much more than ours. I don't know if there is any specialty that can be applied to many computers, but it is not entirely pure computers, and there can be application fields. I searched all the relevant majors in various universities and finally found a major, which is the information management department of Peking University today. Now think about it, that's why I was able to be Baidu later, so that people can find the information they want so easily, because I planted such a seed from my care, so that all people, all China people, no matter how far away you are, can get information and find what they want conveniently and equally like a professor at Peking University. (Applause)

But I soon found that there are few courses about computers in this major, and they are shallow and easy to learn. To make matters worse, there is no corresponding major in America. As we all know, the United States has always been ahead in science and technology, especially in our time, the United States is far ahead of China.

Then the best way to learn better and better technology is to go to America at that time. But I found that I was at a loss when there was no major in America. I need to make a new decision. What to do next? I did two things. The first thing is that I hope I can know my field better than others. When I was an undergraduate, I went to Peking University Library to read the latest papers about my major every day. The second thing is to apply for a computer major in the United States. Later, I was admitted to the Computer Department of new york State University in Buffalo. When I first arrived in the United States, it was particularly uncomfortable. On the one hand, that place is very cold, and it snows for half a year, so the homework is very tight. For example, I haven't taken some courses in undergraduate courses, and I don't understand graduate courses. I was at a loss after listening to their words. When I got down, I asked my classmates next to me. I didn't understand. What is a trigger? My classmate said, "You don't even know this. This is the fuse." Because I didn't learn these hardware things in my undergraduate course.

So the first year of study is very difficult, but I have the pressure to survive, and I want to make money as soon as possible. Once I saw a professor outside our department doing computer graphics and wanted to recruit an assistant graduate student, which is what we call RA, so I wanted to give it a try. I just sent my resume. Then he asked me for an interview. He asked me several questions about computers and computer graphics. I guess my answer is not very good. Finally, he asked me a question, which has impressed me so far. He said, does China have a computer? What do you mean?

He didn't mean "Is there a computer in China?" Because no one in China could afford a computer at that time. He asked, "Do you have a computer in China?" What will I tell him that I want to build the world's largest search engine in the future? I want hundreds of millions of people and everyone to find what they want conveniently. I want to buy a lot of computers to do this ...

Thank you for your applause, but I didn't say that at the time. I just said "yes" and left his office silently.

More than 20 years later, I don't think either the professor or myself thought that the number of smart phones in China today is twice that of the entire population of the United States.

The bosses of those chip manufacturers met me and said, "I'll customize whatever chips you want. Tell me what requirements you have for your computer and I'll tailor them for you." When they say this, I will really think of the question that the professor asked me at that time: Do you have a computer in China? Sometimes I wonder what happened in these twenty years, what brought about these changes, and how I gradually became an interesting person today.

In fact, I thought about it, which is nothing more than every choice on the road of life. You chose the right sea and sky, and you chose the wrong one, full of thorns. So how can we make the right choice? I think there are actually three conditions: first, this person can't be too stupid. No one is stupid to sit here today, so everyone meets this condition; Second, you must have a strong interest. If you want to make a correct judgment on this matter, you must be interested in it. Take time to think deeply if you are interested. Third, in fact, the third and most important point is to have rich sources of information.

After talking with that professor, I began to realize that I am not good at computer graphics, but I have my strengths and I am interested in information retrieval. I first entered Wall Street and worked as a real-time financial news retrieval system. I may have written the retrieval system used by The Wall Street Journal. Later, I realized that Wall Street was not my real destination. Because Wall Street really thinks that the most valuable person is not a programmer, but a trader in stock trading, so I decided to go to Silicon Valley.

I joined a search engine company at that time and began to make up my mind: as long as I stay in this company for one day, I will ensure that this search engine is the best in the world. I did apply the most advanced technology to that search engine at that time, but I didn't expect many things. These suggestions were not adopted because it was not my decision. After such a suggestion was not adopted, I realized that one day I needed to do something that I had the final say. This is the process of my final decision on 1999 to leave the United States and return to China to start a business. This is an opportunity for the birth of Baidu.

Listed in 2005, this year is just the tenth anniversary of listing. On August 5th, the 10th anniversary of our listing, the CEO of NASDAQ sent me an email. He sent me two photos, which were in Times Square, USA, with the words "happy10thlistinanivary Baidu" written in Chinese and English. Seeing these photos, I remembered the professor's words, does China have a computer? That's it. When you face one opportunity after another, when you face one choice after another, if you make the right choice, you will not be afraid of failure, frustration or rejection. You will stick to it until you succeed.

The following is the opening video of the full text of Li Yanhong's speech: