Accused of leaking state secrets, journalist Lei Cheng was imprisoned in China for more than three years, where she was detained in tight quarters and kept under constant supervision. “Freedom is wasted on the free,” she says, recounting how she and fellow inmates found joy in the smallest of moments: the smell of rain, a poem delivered in secrecy, kindness where it seemed undeserved. She distills the unexpected lessons that confinement taught her — and challenges us to rethink what freedom really means.For a chance to give your own TED Talk, fill out the Idea Search Application: ted.com/ideasearch.Interested in learning more about upcoming TED events? Follow these links:TEDNext: ted.com/futureyouTEDSports: ted.com/sportsTEDAI Vienna: ted.com/ai-viennaTEDAI San Francisco: ted.com/ai-sf Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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You're listening to TED Talks Daily, where we bring you new ideas and conversations to spark your curiosity every day. I'm your host, Elise Hu. For more than a decade, journalist Lei Chang built a successful career reporting on China's economic growth for outlets such as CNBC Asia and the China Global Television Network.
But in 2020, her career came to a sudden halt when the Chinese government jailed her under false accusations and kept her detained for three years. Lay took the TED stage to share lessons learned from her imprisonment, namely that only through losing freedom do we learn to truly appreciate it.
Tiesitkö, että joka neljäs yli 40-vuotias mies kokee virtsan karkailua? Se on todella yleistä, mutta siitä ei silti juuri puhuta. Tenamen suojat on suunniteltu erityisesti miehille. Huomaamattomat, varmat ja luotettavat. Ota tilanne haltuun Tenamenin avulla.
My talk is about what I didn't have for a long time. I received free accommodation from the Chinese government for over three years for so-called leaking state secrets overseas at the worst time for Australia-China relations. And the first phase was called RSDL, Chinese spelling for hell. Then in detention, the sort that makes jail seem like Ibiza,
And it was through that ordeal, called the wonder diet, that I realized freedom is wasted on the free. Let me explain. When you only have a few dollars, you know how to spend it. When you win the lottery, it's easy to squander and hard to get your priorities right. Same with freedom. You can be paralyzed by choice. You can't comprehend the vastness or the preciousness.
So how do you make freedom count when you're lucky enough to have it? To start, what it felt like to be not free. In RSDL, I had two guards glued to me front and side at all times. I was made to sit for 13 hours straight each day. I had to request permission to make the smallest movement. And you know what I wanted to do the most? I wanted to run. And usually I hate running.
I couldn't talk, which to me is major torture. I wanted to talk to anyone. But in real life, I have sometimes worn ear pods to shut people out. And I would have done anything to learn. except when I was outside, I wasted the chance. I was too busy. Then I moved to detention. I had three cellmates, and that already felt like freedom paradise.
Nobody in the cell regrets things like money or assets, but we were kicking ourselves over the travel we didn't do, the love we didn't show, the risks we didn't take. Imprisonment is like a mini-death. It's a taste of the real thing. It hit us that one day we'll lose the chance to do everything, even the stuff we hate now. So now I do things I want immediately.
Another way to value freedom is to be super aware of the forms of prison. My son asked me, if a kid goes to the same nursery, elementary, high school, is that a 13-year sentence? It got me thinking about life as a death sentence and the prisons we put ourselves in. Property, objects can tie us down. Relationships can be shackles too.
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