join me in welcoming eric lu. [applause] >> the question begs to be answered, why the title? >> first of all, thank you for having this conversation and thanks to the world affairs council and asian society for gathering us together today. i really excited to talk about this book, and the title in particular, the phrase "a chinaman's chance" many people noes phrase that has fallen into both disrepute and out of use. it is a slur in essence. and a phrase that has its origins from the earliest days when chinese immigrants arrived in the united states, and laborers from china were given some of the most thankless, dangerous, life-threatening jobs in laying the railroads, mining, such that they often had a slim to no chance of surviving. which got short-handed in the language of the time as china man's chance of surviving, and ironically, that phrase long survived its original usage. by the time, 100 pleasure years later, when my father immigranted to the united states in the late 1950s, my dad, as a real sponge for language and,d something with a playful sense of humor, he heard