Chengdu, China

10:50 A.M. CST

MRS. OBAMA: (Applause.)  Ni hao.  It is truly a pleasure to be here at theNumber Seven School.  Thank you so muchfor your warm welcome.

Now, before I get started, on behalf ofmyself and my husband, I want to say that our hearts go out to all those withloved ones on Malaysia Airlines Flight 370. As I said this past weekend when I spoke at Peking University, we arevery much keeping all of them in our thoughts and our prayers at thistremendously difficult time.

So now, let me start by thanking yourPrincipal, Principal Liu, and your classmate, Ju Chao, for that wonderfulintroduction.  Your English, Ju Chao, isexcellent, and you should be very proud. Thank you so much. (Applause.)  And I want to thankall of the students here today, both those of you here in person and those ofyou joining remotely from across the region. I’m thrilled to be visiting your wonderful school.

Now, in preparation for this visit, beforeI left the U.S. I visited the Yu Ying School. It’s a public school near the White House in Washington, D.C., and allof the students at this school study Chinese. And I met with the sixth-grade class, kids who are 11 and 12 yearsold.  They had recently taken a trip hereto China, and they were bursting with excitement.  They were eager to tell me about everythingabout what they had seen.

But they admitted that before their trip,they had all kinds of misconceptions about China.  They thought they would see palaces andtemples everywhere they went, but instead they found massive cities filled withskyscrapers.  They weren’t sure thatthey’d like the food here in China, but they actually loved it, and theylearned how to use chopsticks.  And inthe end, one of the students told me –- and this is his quote -- he said,“Coming home was really exciting, but was at the same time sad.”

Now, meeting these students reminded methat when we live so far away from each other, it’s easy to develop all kindsof misconceptions and stereotypes.  It’seasy to focus on our differences –- how we speak different languages and eatdifferent foods and observe different traditions.  But as I travel the world, and I meet youngpeople from so many countries, I’m always struck by how much more we have incommon.  And that’s been particularlytrue during my visit here in China.

You see, the truth is that I grew up likemany of you.  My mom, my dad, my brotherand I, we lived in a tiny apartment in Chicago, which is one of the largestcities in America.  My father worked atthe local water plant.  And we didn’thave much money, but our little home was bursting with love.  Every evening, my family would laugh andshare stories over dinner.  We’d playcard games and have fun for hours.  Andon summer nights, I remember, when our apartment got too hot, we’d all sleepoutside on our back porch.

Family meant everything to us, includingour extended family.  My grandparentslived nearby, and my elderly great aunt and uncle lived in the apartmentdownstairs from us.  And when theirhealth started to decline my parents stepped in, helping my uncle shave anddress each morning, dashing downstairs in the middle of the night to check onmy aunt.

So in my family, like in so many of yourfamilies, we took care of each other. And while we certainly weren’t rich, my parents had big dreams for meand my brother.  They had only a highschool education themselves, but they were determined to send us both touniversities.

So they poured all of their love and all oftheir hope into us, and they worked hard. They saved every penny.  And Iknow that wasn’t easy for them, especially for my father.  You see, my father had a serious illnesscalled multiple sclerosis.  And as he gotsicker, it got harder for him to walk, and it took him longer to get dressed inthe morning.

But no matter how tired he felt, no matterhow much pain he was in, my father hardly ever missed a day of work, because hewas determined to give me and my brother a better life.  And every day, like so many of you, I felt theweight of my parents’ sacrifices on my shoulders.  Every day, I wanted to make them proud.

So while most American kids attend publicschools near their homes, when it was time for me to attend high school, I tookan exam and got into a special public high school where I could get a better education.  But the school was very far from my home, soI had to get up early every morning and ride a bus for an hour, sometimes anhour and a half if the weather was bad. And every afternoon, I’d ride that same bus back home and thenimmediately start my homework, often studying late into the night -- andsometimes I would wake up at 4:30 or 5:00 in the morning to study even more.

And it wasn’t easy.  But whenever I got tired or discouraged, Iwould just think about how hard my parents were working for me.  And I would remember something my motheralways told me –- she said:  “A goodeducation is something that no one can take away from you.”

And when it was time for me to apply touniversity, I had many options, because in America, there are many kinds ofuniversities.  There are four-yearuniversities.  There are two-yearcommunity colleges which are less expensive. There are universities where you take classes at night while workingduring the day.  So you don’t have to bea top student to attend a university. And even if your parents don’t have much money or you live in a tinytown in a rural area, in America, you can still attend university.  And you can get scholarships and governmentloans to help pay your tuition.

So I attended Princeton University for myundergraduate degree, and I went on to Harvard University for my graduatedegree in law.  And with those degrees Iwas able to become a lawyer at a large law firm, and then I worked as anexecutive at a city hospital, and then I was the director of an organizationthat helped disadvantaged young people.

And my story isn’t unusual in America.  Some of our most famous athletes, like LeBronJames, and artists, like the singer Janelle Monae, came from strugglingfamilies like mine, as do many business leaders -- like Howard Schultz.  He’s the head of a company called Starbucks,which many of you may have heard of. When Mr. Schultz was a boy his father lost his job, leaving their familydestitute.  But Mr. Schultz workedhard.  He got a scholarship to auniversity, and eventually built the largest coffeehouse company in the world.

And then there’s this other guy I know whowas raised by a single mother who sometimes struggled to afford food for theirfamily.  But like me, this guy gotscholarships and loans to attend universities. He became a lawyer and a professor, and then he was a state senator andthen a national senator.  And then, hebecame President of the United States. This guy I’m talking about is my husband, Barack Obama.  (Applause.)

These stories are the stories of so manyAmericans, and of America itself. Because in America, we believe that no matter where you live or how muchmoney your parents have, or what race or religion or ethnicity you are, if youwork hard and believe in yourself, then you should have a chance tosucceed.  We also believe that everyoneis equal, and that we all have the right to say what we think and worship as wechoose, even when others don’t like what we say or don’t always agree with whatwe believe.

Now of course, living up to these idealsisn’t always easy.  And there have beentimes in our history where we have fallen short.  Many decades ago, there were actually laws inAmerica that allowed discrimination against black people like me, who are aminority in the United States.  But overtime, ordinary citizens decided that those laws were unfair.  So they held peaceful protests andmarches.  They called on governmentofficials to change those laws, and they voted to elect new officials whoshared their views.

And slowly but surely, Americachanged.  We got rid of those unjustlaws.  And today, just 50 years later, myhusband and I are President and First Lady of the United States.  And that is really the story of America –-how over the course of our short history, through so many trials and struggles,we have become more equal, more inclusive, and more free.

And today in America, people of every race,religion and ethnicity live together and work together to build a better lifefor their children and grandchildren. And in the end, that deep yearning to leave something better for thosewho come after us, that is something we all truly share.  In fact, there’s a Chinese saying that I lovethat says, “To achieve true happiness, help the next generation.”

And like so many of your parents, myparents sacrificed so much so that I could have opportunities they neverdreamed of.  And today, as a mothermyself, I want even more opportunities for my own daughters.  But of course, as I always tell my daughters,with opportunities come obligations.

And that is true for all of you aswell.  You all have the opportunity toreceive an education from this wonderful school, and you all have an obligationto take the fullest advantage of this opportunity.  And I know that’s exactly what you all aredoing. 

You’re winning prizes in math andscience.  Here, you are staging musicalperformances around the world.  You’revolunteering in your communities.  Andmany of you are working hard to get an education your parents never dreamed of.

So you all have so much to offer –- andthat’s a good thing, because the world needs your talent.  The world needs your creativity and energymore than ever before.  Because we facebig challenges that know no borders –- like improving the quality of our airand water, ensuring that people have good jobs, stopping the spread ofdisease.  And soon, it will all fall toall of you to come together with people on every continent and solve theseproblems together.

Now, fortunately, here at this wonderfulschool, you’re already well on your way. For more than a decade, you’ve been building special relationships with aAmerican school in -- an American high school, and many of you will attenduniversities in America or find other ways to reach out beyond your borders.

So in the years ahead, much like you and Iare doing here today, you will be creating bonds of friendship across the globethat will last for decades to come.  Andover the past week, as I have seen both the ancient wonders and the modernachievements of your fascinating country, and as I’ve met with extraordinary youngpeople like all of you, I am more confident than ever before in our sharedfuture.  And I cannot wait to seeeverything that you will achieve here in China and around the world.

Thank you again for hosting me and myfamily at this extraordinary school, and I wish you all the best of luck inyour journey ahead.  Xie-Xie.  (Applause.)