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Born Strong: From Surviving the Great Famine to Teaching Tai Chi to Millions
orn in Vietnam, Bon Trong—meaning “born to be strong”—was only ten months old when he was left with his grandmother in China in place of his father to fulfill an ancient Chinese tradition that required a male heir to see his parent off to the next life. Little did anyone know that soon thereafter, the Communist Party under Mao Zedong would overtake China, and change life as they knew it forever. For sixteen years, Bon Trong suffered abuse and terror from the Communist rule and narrowly escaped death from starvation during Mao’s disastrous Great Famine. In a small storeroom with his beloved aunt and older cousin, Bon Trong learned the meaning of love and family in the harshest of circumstances. But his destiny was not in China.
When Bon Trong was sixteen, his father managed to get him out from under the Communists in China. He escaped to Hong Kong, where he was welcomed by an uncle and aunt but was distressed by the shock of the new culture and his heart-wrenching separation from his aunt. However, he was determined to win approval from his parents, from his family, but most of all, from himself.
As fate would have it, a brother living in Australia paved the way for him to find his future there. Excited by the Western culture and kindness of the people, he finally experienced freedom for the first time in his life. Paul, as he was now known, chose the path of healing early on when he decided to become a doctor. He came to realize how much he loved medicine, and it became clear his calling was to heal people.
Dr. Lam was far from well, however, as he suffered many debilitating effects from the years of starvation and malnutrition in his childhood. He began studying tai chi with his father-in-law hoping to ease his painful arthritis. Moved by the art and the movements that began to improve his health and spirit, Dr. Lam became an avid learner and expert in tai chi. Feeling he could help others through tai chi, he started workshops to teach those who wanted to learn, and also instructed others how to teach the methods he had developed. From workshops to lectures to creating DVDs to writing books, Dr. Paul Lam has dedicated his life to spreading the health benefits of tai chi around the world. He has changed the lives of millions of people who seek to connect their mind, body, and spirit through tai chi, fulfilling his destiny to become a true healer.
Born Strong is a story of survival, persistence, and love.
When Bon Trong was sixteen, his father managed to get him out from under the Communists in China. He escaped to Hong Kong, where he was welcomed by an uncle and aunt but was distressed by the shock of the new culture and his heart-wrenching separation from his aunt. However, he was determined to win approval from his parents, from his family, but most of all, from himself.
As fate would have it, a brother living in Australia paved the way for him to find his future there. Excited by the Western culture and kindness of the people, he finally experienced freedom for the first time in his life. Paul, as he was now known, chose the path of healing early on when he decided to become a doctor. He came to realize how much he loved medicine, and it became clear his calling was to heal people.
Dr. Lam was far from well, however, as he suffered many debilitating effects from the years of starvation and malnutrition in his childhood. He began studying tai chi with his father-in-law hoping to ease his painful arthritis. Moved by the art and the movements that began to improve his health and spirit, Dr. Lam became an avid learner and expert in tai chi. Feeling he could help others through tai chi, he started workshops to teach those who wanted to learn, and also instructed others how to teach the methods he had developed. From workshops to lectures to creating DVDs to writing books, Dr. Paul Lam has dedicated his life to spreading the health benefits of tai chi around the world. He has changed the lives of millions of people who seek to connect their mind, body, and spirit through tai chi, fulfilling his destiny to become a true healer.
Born Strong is a story of survival, persistence, and love.
318 pages, Paperback
First published March 3, 2015
12 people are currently reading
241 people want to read
About the author
Paul Lam
39 books18 followersDr Paul Lam, an Australian family physician and tai chi expert, is a world leader in the field of tai chi for health improvement. He has trained thousands of instructors all over the world. You can find your closest Master Trainer to you on his website www.taichiforhealthinstitute.org His Tai Chi for Health programs are easy to learn and effective for all ages and abilities, including people with chronic conditions. Over five million people enjoy the benefits of his programs. The Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (www.CDC.gov) recommend his Tai Chi for Arthritis program for fall prevention, Arthritis Foundations around the world including that of USA, Australia, Singapore and UK support his programs.
Dr Lam is the author of Overcoming Arthritis, Tai Chi for Beginners and the 24 Forms, Tai Chi for Diabetes and Teaching Tai Chi Effectively. He has produced many best-selling instructional tai chi DVDs. Dr Lam has conducted research studies into the positive effects of tai chi on health and chronic conditions. His autobiography "Born Strong" was published in early 2015.
Dr Lam is the author of Overcoming Arthritis, Tai Chi for Beginners and the 24 Forms, Tai Chi for Diabetes and Teaching Tai Chi Effectively. He has produced many best-selling instructional tai chi DVDs. Dr Lam has conducted research studies into the positive effects of tai chi on health and chronic conditions. His autobiography "Born Strong" was published in early 2015.
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
March 2, 2022
I read this book because I follow Paul Lam's online Taichi instructional videos. (I highly recommend them as they are the clearest online lessons available, if you cannot go to physical lessons with an actual teacher). The first half of the book is brilliant, the second half a disappointment. The first half narrates his malnourished childhood during the Great Famine, his escape to Hong Kong financed by his father, and his eventual arrival in Australia to study medicine. On the way, he learns Taichi from his father-in-law who turns out to have learned Taichi from the son of Yang Cheng-fu (in case you are interested in Taichi) and wins a gold medal in Beijing. But the second half of the book is a rather monotonous account of his time as a GP in Australia and his creation of a Taichi for Health programme which has now has millions of followers, mainly those suffering from arthritis, but which he describes in interminable detail.
December 7, 2017
I borrowed this book from our Tai Chi teacher who is a devotee of Paul Lam. It is an amazing autobiography and it's a wonder he survived at all. I found the English a little clunky at times but it is nevertheless an inspiring read.
July 1, 2018
Helped me!
I am 77 years old and had a complete knee replacement surgery three weeks ago and am already walking without a limp. I am a Tai Chi for Arthritis Instructor and have resumed teaching two classes. I credit much of my rapid recuperation to Tai Chi and Dr. Lam’s philosophy. My muscles allowed me to have good control even though I have never been what you would call athletic. The principles of Tai Chi are real - helping the Mind, Body, and Spirit. This book by Dr. Lam is wonderful. It has made me even more an enthusiast of his. It has helped me to understand him, his program and the influence he has.
I am 77 years old and had a complete knee replacement surgery three weeks ago and am already walking without a limp. I am a Tai Chi for Arthritis Instructor and have resumed teaching two classes. I credit much of my rapid recuperation to Tai Chi and Dr. Lam’s philosophy. My muscles allowed me to have good control even though I have never been what you would call athletic. The principles of Tai Chi are real - helping the Mind, Body, and Spirit. This book by Dr. Lam is wonderful. It has made me even more an enthusiast of his. It has helped me to understand him, his program and the influence he has.
February 13, 2020
In his memoir, Born Strong: From Surviving the Great Famine to Teaching Tai Chi to Millions, tai chi master and family physician Dr. Paul Lam describes his journey from a malnourished and arthritic child – helplessly trapped and completely powerless during Chairman Mao’s disastrous Great Leap Forward – to achieving his dreams of helping heal himself and millions of others. This inspiring account both documents the healing power of tai chi and assures us that a sense of curiosity and a will to learn and to work hard will allow us to overcome even seemingly insurmountable obstacles in our lives.
September 12, 2015
The wisdom and art in combining Tai Chi with health problems is its own dance. I believe in combining Eastern and Western influences to help strengthen our minds, bodies, and spirits. In this book, the author tells us about his childhood under the brutal regime of Mao Zedong in rural China. I was deeply humbled by the author’s Aunt Ma Xiang, who loved her nephew so much that she sacrificed herself over and over again. The truth is that words aren’t even good enough to express what Aunt did for her nephew; it was and is simply love.
Discrimination can either strengthen or tear a person down. It was painful to read about the discrimination the author faced from children and adults throughout his life. All of this started with the “Black Label” unjustly inflicted upon the author and his family by the Communists. They were discriminated against for being landlords and had villagers, neighbors, and friends turn on them. During times like these, who truly needs enemies then? At any moment, the author could have given up, but he was motivated by the most important person in his life, his beloved Aunt.
Tai Chi instills inner and outer strength, discipline, flexibility, and harmony in the mind, body, and soul. The author always had these qualities within him, but he needed Tai Chi to bring them out into the open for all to see. I have always been curious about Tai Chi and am now inspired to learn. I don’t take this lightly at all, and need this in my own life. What the author’s Aunt taught him about inner strength and pure love goes beyond words. I just hope to be even a little bit like Aunt to my own nephew and niece.
I received a free copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.
Discrimination can either strengthen or tear a person down. It was painful to read about the discrimination the author faced from children and adults throughout his life. All of this started with the “Black Label” unjustly inflicted upon the author and his family by the Communists. They were discriminated against for being landlords and had villagers, neighbors, and friends turn on them. During times like these, who truly needs enemies then? At any moment, the author could have given up, but he was motivated by the most important person in his life, his beloved Aunt.
Tai Chi instills inner and outer strength, discipline, flexibility, and harmony in the mind, body, and soul. The author always had these qualities within him, but he needed Tai Chi to bring them out into the open for all to see. I have always been curious about Tai Chi and am now inspired to learn. I don’t take this lightly at all, and need this in my own life. What the author’s Aunt taught him about inner strength and pure love goes beyond words. I just hope to be even a little bit like Aunt to my own nephew and niece.
I received a free copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.
May 23, 2015
Born Strong is the incredible life story of Dr. Paul Lam, who grew up in the beginning of the communist regime in China and managed to survive the horrible conditions and constraints on his future, ultimately finding success outside of China and following and teaching the practice of Tai Chi.
The book starts out with Lam’s experiences growing up during the rise of communism in China, and his memories are heartrending. His family had been well off landowners, and were labeled traitors to communism, had their land and belongings stripped from them, and were treated as ‘garbage people’. His memories as a child are connected to historical facts concerning the Great Famine, and the story is illuminating on the circumstances and horrors that people faced during the period, little of which reached the world outside of China.
This is an incredibly powerful story, both in Lam’s account of the difficulties that he survived and in the journey he took to improve his and so many other’s lives.
I received a free copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.
The book starts out with Lam’s experiences growing up during the rise of communism in China, and his memories are heartrending. His family had been well off landowners, and were labeled traitors to communism, had their land and belongings stripped from them, and were treated as ‘garbage people’. His memories as a child are connected to historical facts concerning the Great Famine, and the story is illuminating on the circumstances and horrors that people faced during the period, little of which reached the world outside of China.
This is an incredibly powerful story, both in Lam’s account of the difficulties that he survived and in the journey he took to improve his and so many other’s lives.
I received a free copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.
August 27, 2016
Dr. Lam has made tai chi accessible to thousands of people around the world. The story of his childhood in China living through hunger and massive cultural and political change was both interesting and heartbreaking. I would have liked to know more about his tai chi teachers and what it was like studying different styles over his lifetime.
May 1, 2015
Excellent!
I've been doing tai chi forheath for manyqyears, untiii broke my ankle. I'm now trying to get back to it, and am having difficulties with my back. This has motivated me to try again!
I've been doing tai chi forheath for manyqyears, untiii broke my ankle. I'm now trying to get back to it, and am having difficulties with my back. This has motivated me to try again!
May 3, 2015
Paul Lam has lived an incredible life, and has come out on top to teach tai chi to millions as well as be a genuinely nice person. Even if you are not interested in the tai chi aspects of the book, understanding what happened to the people in China when Mao took over is a good history lesson.
May 21, 2015
Just be glad you weren't born in Chine when Dr. Lam was.
July 21, 2015
Good book if you're interested in the development of Dr. Lam's Tai Chi for Health.
May 11, 2023
Astonishing true story from a man who survived the Chinese Great Famine and is now a Tai Chi master. Very inspirational.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews