Dai Ling, an American, forged a tight bound with China thanks to an English edition of Chinese philosophical book Tao Te Ching.

Dai, a computer science graduate from Boston University, was given an English version of the masterpiece Tao Te Ching, or Dao De Jing, written by Chinese sage Lao Zi, founder of Taoism from the sixth century BC, by his philosophy history teacher. He instantly fell in love with Chinese philosophy and Chinese culture.

In 2003, Dai came to China with the book and settled down in Qingdao city, East China's Shandong province. He became a foreign teacher in a local university. But some years later, he quit the job and retreated to live in a small house deep in the mountain. There, he began devoting himself to the English translation of Tao Te Ching based on his own understanding of China and Qingdao.

Sometimes, Dai would visit Taoist priests in the Laoshan Mountain to discuss Taoism, and improve his translation.