Dialogue with Wang Pinxian, an 85-year-old academician who "drove away" after class: I am very angry with time

He is a marine geologist who has devoted himself to the study of the deep sea in our country and spent nearly ten years exploring the depths of the South China Sea; he is a teacher of preaching and teaching, willing to show the youth a larger world on one side of the podium; he is a radiant elderly man, he said: "I am very angry with time, only do what I want to do." ”

On the occasion of the 13th "World Oceans Day" on June 8, 2021, Nandu reporter interviewed Wang Pinxian, academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and professor of the Department of Marine Geology and Geophysics of Tongji University, who shared the research he had conducted in the depths of the South China Sea, and said that when he was almost 85 years old, he set a new five-year goal for himself, and scientific research and books were in this plan.

In addition to research, Wang Pinxian has not given up the cause of education, he opened elective courses, hoping to let students understand that science and culture complement each other. Mentioning that the video of "riding a bicycle 'open slip' in the rain after class" became popular on the Internet, he told the Nandu reporter that it was a normal after-class, "after exposure, I felt very fresh and very funny."

【Nandu Interview with Wang Pinxian】

As a scholar: "Spent nearly a decade studying the depths of the South China Sea"

Nandu: On this year's World Oceans Day, the Ministry of Natural Resources will carry out missionary activities around key topics such as coral reef protection.

Wang Pinxian: I myself am engaged in deep-sea research, and the protection of coral reefs is indeed a problem. In fact, from the work of the past few years, we have found that there are a wide range of deep-sea corals in the South China Sea, which is not a coral reef, but a coral forest, which is a new discovery.

At present, our understanding of corals is far from enough, and the protection of coral reefs we are talking about now mainly refers to shallow seas, in fact, there are corals under the deep sea. An important part of the protection of marine ecosystems also includes the protection of ecosystems on the deep seabed. If you want to protect it, know it first. So it's important for us to recognize the biota of the deep seabed, and that's what we're doing.

In fact, human activities have been extended to the deep-sea areas of the distant oceans. Therefore, as we explore the ocean, in the process of developing from shallow sea to deep sea, we must also pay attention to the protection of deep sea ecosystems.

Nandu: You have been deeply involved in deep-sea research for many years, what breakthroughs have you made so far? What are the goals for the future?

Wang Pinxian: In December 2020, the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) just accepted the largest marine project to date, the South China Sea Deep Project. We spent eight to nine years studying the depths of the South China Sea from 2011. The so-called deep part is the part of the 3,000-to-4,000-meter deep sea of the South China Sea.

The work was attended by more than 700 people from 32 laboratories and more than 60 projects. This is the first time that we have done a systematic study of the depths of the South China Sea. This is unprecedented in the South China Sea and the first in China.

The key is the new technology we use, we've done several ocean drills, we've done manned deep dive voyages. There are very few countries in the world that have deep submersibles, and our country has now built them, and we first use the South China Sea. At the same time, we placed hundreds of sets of deep-water anchor systems on the seabed, and some of them made long-term observations for ten years and eight years. These data are rare in the world, so we are very proud that we have now taken the lead in China's deep-sea research in the South China Sea.

Next, we're going to do even better than this. Our goal is to make the South China Sea a natural laboratory for marine science in the world. Because we have discovered many new phenomena, science is like this, the more research we find more problems, the more we do it. Making the South China Sea the best sea in the world for marginal sea research is what we want to do further.

Nandu: In 2018, you took the 4500-meter manned deep-sea diver "Deep Sea Warrior" and completed three dives in the South China Sea. What was the biggest takeaway from that dive?

Wang Pinxian: That was at the end of the "South China Sea Deep Plan" project, just like when the long-distance running was about to reach the last lap, I ran a part of the sports field myself.

The deep sea is without sunlight, and it is completely dark below 200 meters. In the western Pacific, there are very few people going down in the deep sea. When I went down this time, my main discovery was the cold-water coral forest.

Here's the analogy: Woods on land are made up of all kinds of plants, and we now find trees of coral branches in the deep sea of the South China Sea. Tall corals I compare to trees, short corals I compare to shrubs, some grow like grass on the seabed.

This is amazing, in fact, these corals are animals on the seabed, if there are other animals like squid, squatting on these corals, it is like "birds returning to the forest". So this is a new"garden" in a dark world. This is something we didn't know before, and I'm glad to go down and see it.

As a teacher: "The most important thing for young students is to think independently"

Nandu: In 2017, you launched a public elective course on "Science, Culture and the Ocean", and this year you are teaching "Science and Culture" again. What do you want to convey to your students?

Wang Pinxian: Our education system separates the liberal arts and sciences. But if we want to innovate scientifically, we must have cultural soil. To do modern culture, we must absorb the progress of modern science. What I want to do is hope that these two things can be integrated in the student.

This time, I chose eight themes, eight nights, and two weeks to talk about, and I prepared very carefully. The main thing is to let students open their eyes, your major is very important, but science has a larger scope, and science and culture are one thing. I talked from "the emergence of science" to "the future of the earth" and talked to the students from a big perspective. Students put the questions online and I answer them.

I have great hopes for this course and am very happy to receive feedback from the students. The last lesson left is "The Future of the Planet" and I am seriously preparing for my last lesson. In every class, I think the feedback from the students is good, and when your class sees the response in the students, it is a kind of enjoyment for the teacher.

Nandu: What suggestions and hopes do you have for contemporary young students?

Wang Pinxian: I think the most important thing is to learn to think independently. Don't always be limited by what your teacher specifies, or don't just think about the things in front of you. Because as a young person, your future is behind you, and you are just beginning your life now.

Some people have passed without knowing it for a lifetime, and some people have grasped themselves in their hands from the beginning. Your time is yours, your experience is yours, and if you are discerning, you will know what is true and what is false, so that you can go your own way.

I once mentioned a phrase to my students, called "Moral education advocates faith, and science is precious in doubt." I'm encouraging students, people who study science, that you start with doubt, not with faith.

Nandu: We noticed that you have also opened multiple social accounts in the past two years.

Wang Pinxian: This was opened, not by me, and I have no objection. I think that there are too few opportunities for Chinese scientists to directly face the public, and we often talk to ourselves there in some language that we don't understand, which cannot produce social effects.

I'm happy to see that there are still hundreds of thousands of followers online. This shows that our stuff is accepted. There are so many people online who are willing to look at my stuff, it's worth it, and the time I spend is worth it. When I am older, I can still play this role, and I feel very excited.

As an elder: "Life is made up of time, and I am very angry with time"

Nandu: Recently, you became popular on the Internet because of a video of riding a bicycle "driving away" in the rain after class.

Wang Pinxian: That is actually very common, and some classmates took a video. Because this is my normal working hours at night, 8 o'clock is not the end of work. After the exposure, I felt very fresh and funny, and I also knew that the communication power of the media was so strong now.

Nandu: Netizens praised it as "cute and respectable", and the video spread quickly.

Wang Pinxian: New technology has changed the relationship between people, and as a teacher, there is no more happy thing than that the things he wants to teach and the influence can be expanded.

Nandu: There is also a topic #Academician Wang once worked 14 hours a day and said that he lacked the most time#Also attracted attention. You've said you've planned what to do before you turn 85 and what to do after that.

Wang Pinxian: I have always been like this, but I had a medical illness last year, and after 38 days in the hospital, my working hours were reduced. I used to be able to go home at eleven o'clock, and now my wife doesn't agree to go back so late, so my working hours are contracted. The doctor also warned me that your age should not be like that. I was admitted to the hospital last year for the first time in my life, and I said that I really became an "academician" and lived in the hospital.

So I'm paying more attention now, but how many years I've been like this, I think life is made up of time, everything else can be generous, but I'm very angry about time. I counted down things and only did what I had to do. In the near future, I have pushed my own time forward again. Soon I will turn 85, I will push for another five years, if I can live for 5 years, what things will I do, this is my new goal now.

Nandu: How is the daily work arranged now?

Wang Pinxian: I am basically doing two "fronts" of work now, I should talk about science and culture. In terms of science, the "Deep South China Sea Plan" that we just concluded still needs to be continued. Of course, I can no longer be the leader of the expert group, but I will also promote the project.

Early next month, nearly a decade has passed since the organization of the Earth System Science Conference in Shanghai. This is a general direction, not to study a discipline in isolation, but to study the earth as a system. We have made a great effort to promote this direction, and I will continue to do this kind of thing in the future.

The other is the soft science aspect, the class I am taking, ready to write a book. So starting in the second half of this year, when I turn 85, I'm ready to write a new book. The style of this new book will also be like "Deep Sea", using light language to explain serious issues, which is also a test for myself.

Producer: Nandu Instant

Written by: Nandu reporter Ao Yinxue Zhang Linfei