HIGH-PROFILE IT venture capitalist and Google China’s former chief Kai-Fu Lee has written several books on IT trends and success, but he never imagined he’d write a book about death, as he explained in the preface of his new book “Finding Life in Death: My Credits for Death Education.”

    On Saturday, Lee returned to Beijing for the book launch, China Daily reported.

    The IT venture capitalist and microblogger with 50 million Chinese followers had largely vanished from the public eye after revealing he was diagnosed with lymphatic cancer in September 2013. He has been receiving treatment in Taipei.

    The book recalls Lee’s battle with cancer over the past 17 months and his introspections on how to live a balanced and more meaningful life.

    “I am a workaholic, and I love my job,” the 54-year-old said at the book launch.

    “But faced with cancer, none of the thoughts flashing through my mind had to do with work. Death reminds me to live every day fully, rather than chasing fame and fortune.”

    Doctors discovered about 20 tumors when he underwent a medical examination at his wife’s insistence. His career was just peaking then.

    Lee made Time magazine’s annual list of the world’s 100 most influential people in April 2013.

    He was born in Taiwan and graduated from Columbia University in 1983. He earned his Ph.D. in computer science from Carnegie Mellon University in 1988.

    He worked as a Carnegie faculty member for two years before joining Apple and then Silicon Graphics. He went to Microsoft in 1998 and moved to Beijing where he helped establish Microsoft Research Asia, the company’s fundamental research arm in the Asia-Pacific region.

    In 2005, Lee jumped to Google and became the founding president of the U.S. IT giant’s China operation. His hiring made headlines because of Google’s unprecedentedly high offer and Microsoft’s subsequent court action against him for breaking his non-competition agreement.

    Lee left Google in 2009 and founded the Chinese tech startup incubator Innovation Works.

    He has since devoted himself to helping young Chinese entrepreneurs start businesses. He was an active microblogger on Sina Weibo until he was diagnosed with cancer in September 2013.

    “I’ve always worked hard, and I’ve learned and gained a lot during my life,” Lee wrote in the book. “But it seems life wants to teach me more.”

    Li’s illness forced him to stop working and “earn credits for death education.”

    He initially thought fate was being unfair to him. His friend took him to meet Buddhist monk Hsing Yun. Their conversation changed his outlook.

    “(It) woke me up,” Lee wrote. “I’d long believed maximizing my influence and making a difference in the world was my purpose. But the master warned me that the quest for influence misdirects us toward seeking fame and fortune.”

    He realized his lust for fame drove him to work too hard. Objective-oriented work destroyed his health. “It wasn’t until my body fell ill that I realized my mind’s illness was more serious.”

    Lee learned to reflect on his past and to relax. His treatment has proven successful. Now, his doctor allows him to work limited hours.

    He said at the book launch that some of the seven “credits” he has learned are knowing that your health is priceless, that everything happens for a reason and how to live in the present.

    Lee also confessed to neglecting the emotional needs of his family and vowed to spend more time with them.

    “If not for the cancer, I probably would have continued living my old way,” he says. “I’d perhaps become richer, more famous and more successful. But the illness and facing death have taught me a lot. I’ll still work to make the world better, but now I know how to live a happier and more fulfilling life.”(SD-Agencies)