I have a senior colleague Academician Wu Qi (Figure 1), who is the doctoral supervisor of my classmates and an international authority in the field of laser light scattering, and has made important contributions to the in-depth understanding of the conformation, dynamics and phase changes of the chains in polymer solutions. Born in 1955, he entered the Department of Chemical Physics of the University of Science and Technology of China in 1977, studied at the State University of New York at Stony Brook in 1982, received his Ph.D. in 1987, received a Humboldt Research Fellowship in 1989, worked for the Laser Light Scattering Laboratory of BASF in Germany, was hired by the University of Chinese in Hong Kong in 1992, and was employed by the University of Science and Technology of China in 1995. Recently, I saw a 2004 interview with him entitled "The Magic of Sculptors Writing Magic" (Sculptors Write Magically - An Interview with Professor Wu Qi, a Polymer Scientist - China University of Science and Technology News Network), which contained a lot of content that made people deeply moved. A few excerpts are taken below.
Wu Qi: ... We really want to go back to China, I'm not saying the big truth, I really want to go back to China after I finish my studies. Then something else happened, and that was another story. I had the opportunity to do research with Paul Christian Lauterbur , an American chemist who won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2003 , Figure 2 ) , but he did MRI , the equipment cost $ 1 million , in 1982 , which is astronomical in China, and I want to learn from him, and I can't do anything back home! So I gave up and prepared to learn nitrogen chemistry, a classic direction that only requires glass and pipes. Professor Benjamin CHU (Figure 3) was the head of the department at the time, talking to me reminded me that this topic is too old, I hope I think carefully, I wanted to choose molecular spectroscopy, and finally chose Mr. Zhu as a mentor, which is crooked, because his stuff is between chemistry and physics. Mr. Zhu and the students knew I was going back. We once had dinner at Mr. Zhu's house and got into a fight. Mr. Zhu said a sentence for me: "There is nothing wrong with patriotism. ”...... Before I left the United States, Mr. Zhu specially invited me to dinner, and he said, "The door of the laboratory is always open to you; if it is not smooth to return to China, you can come back at any time." I remember his words very clearly, but I have no intention of going back.
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Wu Qi: ... I have two children and I hope they will return to traditional Chinese culture. If they had grown up in Germany, from mind to language, they would have become fully German; in the United States as well. But others still see you as Chinese. I don't want that, you say I'm not American, I'm not wronged at all, I'm Chinese. If the child doesn't see it that way, he will think that I grew up here, why not American? I now find that the effect I envisioned has been achieved.
I want to work for myself in both a broad and a narrow sense. Broadly speaking, it was in this land of my own, and I am grateful to my wife. If it wasn't for her support, it would have been difficult for me to come back.
Wu Qi: ... The outlook on life is important, otherwise it is difficult to succeed. Things can take decades and a lifetime to get things done, and if there is no ambition, how to do it well? When I talk to HKUST students, I also want to aspire. Many students have no ambition, and I ask students, what are you going to do? Answer: Go to the United States; then ask what to do in the United States? Answer: Get a job and stay. I can understand, but with this as an ambition, can it be successful? There are various reasons why some international students in the United States do things that they don't like.
I wish HKUST students would enjoy what they do, but they lack it right now. Therefore, to say that a generation is not as good as a generation, the lack is not in intelligence, but in ambition. When I returned to Hong Kong in 1992, many people said that Hong Kong was returned to Hong Kong in 1997, and I didn't know if there would be chaos. Classmates call me crazy. My answer is simple: I know what I want. It is not that it is relatively smooth now that it is said. Even if it didn't go well, I tried it, but no, I wasn't capable enough. Give up without trying and I'll regret it.
Reporter: Academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences is the highest academic honorary title in China, and the recent decline in the level of academicians has caused some discussion, and some views believe that the level of some academicians is not higher than that of overseas assistant professors. ......
Wu Qi: ... Academicians of the Chinese Academy of Sciences are honors and should not be linked to many things, and it is precisely because domestic academicians are linked to too many interests that they have caused trouble. Overall, I don't think it's fair to people abroad who say this. First of all, the scientific contributions of the older generation may not be as good as those of their American counterparts, but they have cultivated a large number of talents for China and made great contributions to the Chinese nation, otherwise many disciplines in China may be blank. For example, many deceased scholars in the polymer discipline, without them, China would not have had this discipline in the first place. They are unfair in terms of scientific contributions alone. Second, the academic conditions are also different. An associate professor at Harvard University is probably much better than many professors in the country. China's selection of academicians depends on its contribution to China's scientific research, education, economy and national defense, not only academic level. This is different from the United States, the United States selects academicians purely to look at academics, this is just my personal opinion, maybe not right. In my heart, I am full of respect for those scientists of the older generation, and I cannot look at that year from today's point of view, how many conditions they gave up abroad to go home in those years, which is much more difficult than today. Today we are not willing to give up the conditions to go home, they have much more difficulty to give up.
Domestic conditions and restrictions, may not be understood by foreign countries, the selection of academicians can only look at the relative level of the discipline, as long as his domestic discipline level is better, which is beyond reproach. In the United States, too, harvard professors are a minority, calTech chemistry department is not a member of the National Academy of Sciences, but other American universities can not be required to choose professors, take the same standard.
I don't deny our differences, I'm well aware of my position, and I'm at best second-rate compared to the truly first-class in the world. Overall, there is still a big gap between the academicians of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Sciences and the Soviet Academy of Sciences.
