"Can I come back and study third grade lessons again?" asked Steve Chen, the co-founder of the video sharing website YouTube. Chen made the remarks on Monday morning when he returned to Jing-shin Elementary School in Taipei, where he went to school when he was young. He met with the students at the school. Having been away from Taiwan so long and used to speaking in English, Chen recited the “bo, po, mo” Chinese character pronunciation system with some difficulty. He also said he regrets that he was only able to learn a limited amount of Chinese. Chen said that if he has the opportunity, he hopes to be able to learn Chinese and be able to speak fluently someday. As to the most important thing that he learned while he was in Taiwan, Chen without hesitation said the multiplication tables. He said that even over 20 years later, he still finds them useful.
Chen moved to the United States with his parents after he completed second grade at Jing-shin Elementary School. The schools principal Chien Yu-ling said that when Chen was a student at the school, he did quite well in mathematics and natural science. Two years ago, Chen ran into his teacher at the entrance to the school and took pictures with the teacher around the campus. This year, he expressed his interest in returning to the school, creating quite a bit of excitement among the administration staff there.

The school bestowed on Chen an award called "The Light of Jing-shin" on Monday in honor of his being an outstanding alumnus. They also prepared a school uniform, hat and book bag to give to Chen. Chens eyes were filled with surprise at the gifts, and he said that he wanted to use the book bag immediately. Chien also presented Chen with a yearbook of the 29th class of the school, which featured Chien and his classmates at the time. Chen was visibly delighted to see his classmates from the time as well as the pictures of his teachers.

Chen spoke in English with the students presently at the school. He also went back and took a look around the classroom that he studied in over 20 years ago. The students at the school asked him about his memories of being at the school. They also wanted to hear what Chen had to say about the differences in education in Taiwan and the United States. Some also asked his about his future plans.

In speaking about his memories from his schooldays at Jing-shin, Chen spoke in broken Chinese, saying he remembers the lunch boxes from those days. Many of the kids screamed in surprise. He said he also vaguely remembers of having time after lunch each day to take a nap.

Chen said that his family moved to the United States when he was in third grade, and this had an enormous impact on his life. He said he was fortunate to be able to be educated both in the Taiwan educational system as well as in the United States, saying that this experience was of great assistance to him in his life.

He encouraged the students at the school, saying that no matter where you grow up or study, no specific place is considered the best or the worst. The most important is to how to best use the environment you are in and to have the proper attitude in learning.

He said that on this trip back to Taiwan, his goal is to better understand the Asian and Taiwan markets in order to provide even better services. He said he hopes in the future to continue to use technology to make peoples lives better.

As to the secret of success for himself as well as Jerry Yang, the founder of Yahoo! who is also from Taiwan, Chen pointed to the creative talent concentrated in the Silicon Valley. "That is the key factor in a successful enterprise," he said.