This book is an extraordinary portrait of one of the world's most beloved public figures. It contains snippets of Mandela's life, excerpts from diaries written in the darkest hours of his 27 years of imprisonment, and the draft of an unfinished sequel to Long Walk to Freedom. Here he is making notes and even doodling during meetings, or recording troubled dreams on the desk calendar of his cell on Robben Island, writing journals while on the run during the anti-apartheid struggles of the early 1960s, or conversing with friends in almost 70 hours of recorded interviews. The book is a rare chance to spend time with Nelson Mandela, in his own voice.

The author is an experienced teacher specializing in teaching Chinese as a foreign language. Based on a decade-long overseas teaching experience, Hao wrote a textbook targeted at African students, who are often gifted in language learning but sometimes have problems with memorizing Chinese characters and mastering tones. The two-volume book aims to help students master authentic Chinese oral expression in the shortest possible time. All the dialogues and conversations are designed to be practical and culturally acceptable.

In Western culture, a dragon is the symbol of evil power, but Chinese people have an obsession with this imaginary creature and even go so far as to call themselves "the offspring of dragons." This book examines, compares and analyzes the appearance and symbolization of the Eastern and Western dragons. It provides a fresh, new way to look at ancient Chinese mythology. This is a book about dragons, but it is also a collection of valuable insights about the nature and development of Chinese civilization in the context of world history and culture.