Episode Details

“There is no such thing as a new person, only a new beginning.”

“世上没有全新的人，只有新的开始。”

Kaohsiung in 1982 was the second-largest city in Taiwan, with a population of about 1.2 million. It was a typical industrial port city, where the air was always filled with the scent of machine oil and the salty sea breeze. Cranes busily loaded and unloaded containers, while the sounds of factories echoed across the city. For Taiwan, it was an era of rapid economic growth, and it was in this very atmosphere that I was born.

1982 年的高雄，是台湾的第二大城市，大概有一百二十万人口。那是一座典型的工业港口城市，空气里总是带着一点机油味和咸咸的海风。吊臂忙着装卸货柜，工厂的声音此起彼落。对台湾来说，那是一个经济快速起飞的年代，而我，就是在这样的氛围里出生的。

For my parents, my arrival was a big event. During an ultrasound, the doctor had told my mother that I would likely be a boy. My father was thrilled when he heard the news, believing that having a son as their first child was a great blessing to the family. But when I was born and turned out to be a girl, his expression reportedly grew complicated. Later, he often laughed when recalling: “The moment you were born, you cried so loudly, like a little boy. Too bad you turned out to be a little girl!”

对我的父母来说，我的到来是一件大事。当时妈妈去照超音波，医生说应该是个男孩。爸爸听到这个消息非常开心，觉得第一胎就是儿子，这对家庭来说是很大的祝福。可是，当我出生那一刻，他看到其实是个女孩，他的表情据说变得有点复杂。后来他常常笑着回忆说：“妳一出生就哭得特别大声，像个小男孩，可惜偏偏是个小丫头！”

As a child, my cries were especially loud—so loud they felt like they could blow the roof off. My father often joked, “Your crying drove me crazy! I almost wanted to throw you out of the window a few times!” Of course, my mother always stopped him. Looking back now, I realize that was just my father’s unique sense of humor.

我小时候的哭声特别响，常常哭到好像要把屋顶掀翻一样。爸爸还常开玩笑说：“我都被妳哭到快崩溃了，几次差点想把妳丢出窗外！”当然这句话每次都会被妈妈阻止。现在回头想，那其实是爸爸独特的幽默。

I weighed over four kilograms at birth, truly a “giant baby.” My mother suffered greatly in labor because she gave birth naturally, and she was completely exhausted afterward. What’s more, since she had taken some Chinese medicine during pregnancy, I was born covered in golden hair. My father joked that I looked like a “little golden monkey.” Though everyone found it funny at the time, no one could deny that I was a healthy and adorable baby.

我出生的时候超过四公斤，是个名副其实的“巨婴”。妈妈为了自然产吃了不少苦，生完累坏了。而且因为她怀孕时吃了太多补品，我一出生全身披着一层金色胎毛，爸爸笑说我像一只“