In front of the live streaming camera, Xiao Zhaohu is passionately sharing his knowledge about tea and related topics. Even though he is 52 years old, his eyes sparkle with joy, and his friendly smile seems to transcend the screen. In a remarkable feat, he successfully passed the entrance exam for a graduate program in tea studies in just 100 days.
Xiao Zhaohu, originally an executive at a media company, felt a desire to break free from the monotony of his life trajectory. With a longing to explore new horizons, he fully immersed himself in the tea industry. In order to systematically study tea and agricultural knowledge, he chose to pursue graduate studies at an older age. As one of the first users of ChatGPT in China, he maximized its utility during his exam preparation, leveraging its capabilities to enhance his learning experience.
Xiao's journey to pursue graduate studies was sparked by a dinner conversation with colleagues, during which one mentioned a classmate who had successfully switched fields to study calligraphy. This conversation resonated with Xiao, who was already contemplating new paths while seeking markets for the tea produced by his father in their hometown in Guizhou Province. Since 2007, his father had been cultivating Zheng'an white tea on several acres of land, yielding around 100 kilograms of tea leaves annually.
In the early hours of September 2023, Xiao Zhaohu experienced a sudden epiphany as the two threads of selling tea and pursuing further education converged in his mind. It was then that he had a moment of inspiration: "Why not pursue a graduate degree in tea studies?"
Transitioning into a new field at his age presented significant challenges, especially regarding memory retention.
To overcome this hurdle, Xiao turned to AI for assistance. He inputted all collected past exam questions into the AI system and used it to generate answers, continuously refining his approach based on his experiences with ChatGPT. He also scanned reference materials into ChatGPT to create a knowledge base, allowing the AI to prioritize using this content to answer questions. Furthermore, Xiao had ChatGPT go through the past exam questions again, adding more specific constraints to optimize the answers. In the week leading up to the exam, he had the AI summarize key points for each question and provide mnemonic devices, which he turned into rhymes or chants to aid his memory, effectively overcoming his memory challenges. The use of AI significantly improved Xiao's efficiency in exam preparation, boosting his confidence in achieving success.
For Xiao Zhaohu, passing the graduate entrance exam was just the beginning of a new chapter in his life. After completing the interview process, he returned to his hometown and embarked on a journey of public service through live streaming to support local farmers. Utilizing platforms like video-sharing apps and social media, Xiao has conducted numerous live broadcasts where he enthusiastically shares his knowledge of tea and promotes the unique tea products of his hometown, Zheng'an. Looking ahead, Xiao aims to inspire more young people from his hometown to join him in promoting local agricultural products through live streaming, thus establishing effective channels for promotion and sales.
Reflecting on his journey, Xiao acknowledges the accumulation of experience he has gained over the past thirty years in the media industry since graduating from college. With life expectancy increasing, Xiao sees his current age of 52 as just the beginning of a new thirty-year journey. In this next phase of his life, he embraces the role of a perpetual learner, eagerly exploring and accumulating knowledge in the tea industry.
Source:Yangcheng Evening News
52歲考研“上岸”的茶學新生
直播鏡頭前，肖朝虎正在介紹茶葉和相關的茶知識。他的嘴角始終挂着愉悅的弧度，笑意洋溢帶來的親和力仿佛能穿越螢幕。不同于其他直播間裡的主播，他今年已經52歲了；更加不同的是，這位52歲的“大叔”僅用了100天就考上了茶學專業的研究所學生。
肖朝虎本是一家傳媒公司的高管，卻覺得現有的生活軌道單一，“有種想要重新規劃一下的沖動”，于是全面涉足茶産業。為了系統地學習茶學和農業知識，他選擇大齡考研，他還是國内第一批使用ChatGPT的使用者，并在備考中充分利用了它一把。
考研這件事第一次在肖朝虎心裡埋下種子，是源于跟同僚的一次吃飯。同僚提到自己有個同學跨專業報考了書法研究所學生。彼時，肖朝虎正在為父親在貴州老家種出來的茶葉找尋銷路。肖朝虎的家鄉位于貴州省遵義市正安縣，他父親從2007年開始種正安白茶，茶園面積幾十畝，每年都能生産出100來斤茶葉。
賣茶，讀研，兩條線索在2023年9月的一個淩晨，突然在肖朝虎的腦海中交彙。他靈光乍現：“要不我考一個茶學的研究所學生？”
肖朝虎需要在短時間内學習一個全新學科的專業知識，這對于記憶力相對年輕時已大幅下降的肖朝虎而言，無疑是一個巨大的挑戰。
他想到了用AI備考。肖朝虎讓AI幫助他做題。他将收集到的所有真題輸入AI中讓AI回答，在這一過程中，他不斷總結使用ChatGPT的經驗。他将參考書目掃描入ChatGPT中形成一個知識庫，讓AI優先使用知識庫中的内容回答問題。之後，肖朝虎又讓ChatGPT再做一遍真題，并且添加更多的限定條件優化答案。在考前一周，他最後讓AI總結每道題答案的要點并給出助記詞，再将助記詞編成歌謠或順口溜，解決了他的記憶難題。AI的使用，大大提高了肖朝虎的備考效率，他上岸的信心也大大提升。
考研上岸并不是結束，而是一個新的開始。複試結束之後，肖朝虎回到家鄉，開啟了他的公益助農直播之路。目前，肖朝虎已經在視訊号和抖音上進行了多場直播。在直播中，肖朝虎總是笑吟吟地介紹茶知識和家鄉正安的特色茶葉。未來，肖朝虎希望帶動更多家鄉的年輕人進行直播，建設好家鄉農産品宣傳零售的管道。
肖朝虎說：“大學畢業到現在差不多三十年，在過去三十年，我在傳播行業有了一些積累。現在的人能活到八十幾歲，我從52歲到80歲，還有三十年。”在新的三十年裡，52歲的肖朝虎又成為一名新生，在茶行業中開始新的探索、新的積累。
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