Xu Yunfei was a Suzhou camper at the 2018 “Retrace the Path of Xuesen” Northwest Science and Technology Environmental Protection Summer Camp co-organised by Green Light-Year and the Qian Xuesen Library of Shanghai Jiaotong University. During the camp, her excellent performance was impressive. In the recently concluded Suzhou New Year’s Speech, she shared her personal experience and life thoughts as a high school student speaker.
Hello, my name is Xu Yunfei, I am sixteen years old this year, and I am an ordinary senior high school student.
Since I was a child, I was a portable object for my mum and dad, so I had more chances to touch this diverse society. I don’t know why, but when I grew up I gradually became a “weird” girl. I don’t like gossip stars, don’t like online games, chatting with friends, and often can’t get a word in edgewise. I always like to look out the window and giggle, so people can not understand.
“When mankind thinks, God laughs”, and God has laughed at me like this for more than ten years. I think my thinking is unfathomable, such as: man, why do we need to study? What is the meaning of life? Is this world real?
I enjoyed my pie-in-the-sky thinking, yet along with growing up, new perceptions hit my old thinking. I began to “doubt life”. I had a big obsession: maybe, I am not an ordinary human being, this world is a film made for me, everyone except me is an actor, where I go, others act. The place where I am not, does not exist, and the moment I die, the world disappears. This obsession sounds egotistical, but in fact, I’m so disturbed, I’m swimming in an illusion I’ve set for myself, unable to touch the reality of why I exist.
The first time I metamorphosed was during a summer holiday in junior high school. I went to visit the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre, a major aerospace centre in China. As soon as I entered the launch centre, I was shocked by the extremely strict security check: two little sisters in our team were not allowed to enter because of their foreign status; a volunteer teacher, because she didn’t bring her student ID card, made the whole car stuck in place for a few hours; and in the course of the visit, no photos were allowed. From this, we can see that aerospace is a key object of protection and development in China, and is a very important state secret that cannot be leaked at all.
We visited the underground command hall, which was the command room of the first artificial satellite in 1970, and the instruments used in that year are still displayed inside, and the slogans “We must catch up with and surpass the world’s advanced level in the near future” and “Independence and self-reliance” are brushed on the wall. “. This is the determination and unconquerable spirit of scientists. 48 years ago, dozens of scientific and technological workers came here under the attention of the whole country to witness the launch of China’s first artificial satellite, and their feelings must have been as excited as mine at that time.
In the 1950s, Mr Qian Xuesen returned to his motherland after unremitting efforts, leading a group of young scientists to struggle from zero, when no one in China knew what satellites and rockets were, but in just over ten years, China has received the attention of the world. Launch centre on the ground, the vast Gobi Beach only towers three towers, full of history and majesty, respectively: China’s “Dongfanghong” satellite launch tower, “umbilical cord tower”, “service tower “I stood below and felt small. Looking at the vast Gobi Beach, I seemed to see a group of spirited young people, give up everything to this barren land, they do not seek material, not to mention entertainment, no matter how harsh the environment, how terrible the wind and sand, they will always be focused on the work in front of them, it is this way to be able to cast our great aerospace industry. I was deeply touched by the dedication of the scientists, but also deeply proud of China’s rapid scientific and technological development. Maintaining the world’s leading high-tech development, China can become stronger and stronger, and the Chinese nation’s bottom will become more and more full!
Later, I participated in a summer camp to study the protection of the water quality of the Three Rivers and went deep into the hinterland of the Tibetan Plateau —- Yushu. The city rebuilt after the strong earthquake looks already prosperous, just no skyscrapers like the Suzhou Industrial Park, with many more Tibetan ethnic features. We walked in the alley, caught off guard, a few children scurrying out, are seven or eight years old, small hands clutching my sleeve, expectant little eyes looking at us.
Before I knew it, I heard my mother say, “Sorry, we don’t have any change!” Then it dawned on me that they were begging! However, kind as I was, looking at these poor children, how could I bear to refuse? I screamed to my mum, “I clearly saw you had change just now!” “Please! The smallest amount of money I have is $20!” “How can you be so cheap?!” I was so angry that I said as I went to grab my mum’s bag and fought to pull out a few. I gave the money to a few kids and they ran away excitedly, but to my surprise, in a flash, dozens of other kids appeared out of nowhere, they surrounded me heavily and couldn’t move at all, they cried and shouted and asked for money, I felt a tinge of fear. I don’t understand. Shouldn’t children of that age be in school, in hobby classes, enjoying their childhood? Shouldn’t they be developing their hobbies? Why would they be mobbing tourists in groups for begging? I was puzzled!
It was hard to break through the siege and we went to the biggest supermarket in the city. The supermarket was full of all kinds of food. But did you notice? I said: food of all colours. You can’t take your eyes off the bright and colourful ones. I know everyone here loves junk food, but the junk food there is so fake that it should be poisonous, right? Yet, there were a lot of young parents clamouring for it. In the subsequent days of the trip, I was also very touched: there were no bathrooms in the villagers’ homes, no public toilets in the whole village, piles of household rubbish at the entrance of the village for years and years, and some ruins from the earthquake were still left there. Children are still travelling over the mountains to go to school, as the legend goes, and the classroom only teaches word recognition and simple arithmetic. I heard from the locals that after the earthquake, Yushu received a lot of favourable policies and donations, making life much richer. However, good food, environment and education have not been given to them adequately. More importantly, they have suffered greatly without realising it, and the economic upliftment has not changed the nature of their poverty, because their spirit has not been sublimated accordingly.
When I think of this, I suddenly have a strong sense of impact in my brain. High technology is fire, people’s livelihood is water, this water and fire can be compatible? The development of cutting-edge technology can make the country stand at the top of the world; and “people’s livelihood is the foundation, the foundation is solid, the state is peaceful”. The development of high-tech huge cost can help how many poor families ah, but the development of people’s livelihood, the country can only be a world of peace, can not be called a strong country. How should we weigh the proportion of high-tech and livelihood development? How can we do water and fire?
The country put forward the slogan of science and technology to develop the country, but also introduced the policy details of precise poverty alleviation; college students start their own business, using the network to help people in closed areas to sell agricultural products, are like what I think, so that high-tech and people’s livelihoods are complementary and mutually reinforcing.
Today’s high technology has continuously penetrated into our lives, influencing our lives and making our world more colourful. As a post-00s, I do some social practice activities of teaching with my buddies, using nowadays high-tech means, it is very convenient to give online lessons to children in remote areas with the support of the Internet. However, I also found that many of these classes teach children English, maths, drawing and other skills, and few people would think about what those children need most. Shouldn’t we help them explore their spiritual world? To help them develop a correct outlook on life? I thought about it. In my future online courses, I will lead them to travel the mountains and rivers of our country, tell them about the deeds of scientists such as Qian Xuesen, tell them interesting stories around me, and tell them how today’s high technology has infiltrated and influenced our lives and our world. Cultivate them to explore the wonderful diversity of the outside world with the vision of a global citizen and to discover their own inner self.
This world is full of infinite possibilities, and I will continue to observe, think, explore and transform myself in the future.