After Zheng Qiang stepped down as secretary of the party committee of Taiyuan University of Technology due to his age, where will he go? Recently, Zheng Qiang accepted an exclusive interview with The Paper.
On the Internet, Zheng Qiang has become a certain symbol, "Internet celebrity principal", sharp words, "down-to-earth", etc., are the labels on his body.
In 2012, Zheng Qiang, then deputy secretary of the Party Committee of Zhejiang University, went to Guizhou to become the president of Guizhou University, and in 2017, he left Guizhou University and returned to Zhejiang University. In April 2020, at the age of retirement, Zheng Qiang went to Shanxi to serve as the Secretary of the Party Committee of Taiyuan University of Technology.
On December 22, 2023, after stepping down as Secretary of the Party Committee of Taiyuan University of Technology due to age, where Zheng Qiang's "next stop" will go has also attracted the attention of netizens.
A few days ago, he appeared on the Hunan Radio and Television Tea Channel's "The Most Beautiful Tea Master" program as a judge for the finals, and his identity was "a well-known scholar and a distinguished professor of Qiushi at Zhejiang University".
On January 5, 2024, Zheng Qiang returned to his hometown of Wuyi Mountain, Nanping, Fujian Province to participate in the China (Wuyi Mountain) Bamboo Industry Expo. At the meeting, he delivered a speech on the theme of "Some Thoughts on the Development of Bamboo Materials". After the speech, he accepted an exclusive interview with The Paper.
On January 5, in Wuyi Mountain, Nanping, Fujian, Zheng Qiang was interviewed by surging news reporters. The Paper Chart
During the interview, Zheng Qiang was still in high spirits and his voice was loud. He thanked netizens for their concern for him. In response to the rumors about retirement, he explained that he was only retiring from an administrative position and was still a professor at Zhejiang University. In the future, he will "do more work on cultural popularization".
Compared with the symbolized image on the Internet, Zheng Qiang seems to be more pragmatic in reality. For the development of local colleges and universities, he believes that local colleges and universities should have the concept of serving the local area, run their own characteristic majors, and "run (majors) that Tsinghua University and Peking University do not have."
Talking about the difficulty of college students in finding employment, he raised his voice and spoke out for the shortage of talents in the western region: Western China needs a large number of talents, "it is not that you can't find a job, but it is not easy to find a job you enjoy, and you don't have the courage to do hard work", "It doesn't matter if you suffer a little when you are young."
The following is a conversation between The Paper and Zheng Qiang.
It's just that he retired from his administrative position, and thanked Shanxi for providing a stage for himself
The Paper: After stepping down as Secretary of the Party Committee of Taiyuan University of Technology, there are many rumors about your retirement on the Internet, and everyone is also very concerned about your next plan, can you briefly introduce it?
Zheng Qiang: I would like to express my gratitude to netizens through you, thank you for your concern for me. First, I'm not retired. It's just that I'm retired from an administrative position, after all, I'm an organizational person, and I'm actually overage, and the organization already looks up to me.
Of course, I have also expressed my opinion, bankers, entrepreneurs, medical scientists, educators, in fact, there are many people in 65 or 70 years old abroad. The current state of health and medical care, 60 years old (retirement) is indeed a little regrettable, a little early.
But my retirement now is only a retirement from the leadership position. I am a Qiushi Distinguished Professor at Zhejiang University, and my professor has not retired. Zhejiang University has set a wider age range for more outstanding professors and academicians, which is to give full play to some of the abilities and levels of educators.
I am now here to participate in the event, and it is normal to be a professor at Zhejiang University. When I went to Guizhou and Shanxi to become the secretary and president of universities, I was always a Qiushi distinguished professor at Zhejiang University, not a newly hired position. So there is some misunderstanding in society.
Recently left the leadership position, I am actually very grateful to Shanxi. It was Shanxi that gave me a stage, and in the past few years, it has given me a good stage, so that I have a full, close-up, and personal experience of the Sanjin culture, the Yellow River and the Fen River.
I still have to say that the beauty of Shanxi is something that people in the south have not thought of, and the beauty of the Fenhe River is also something that people in Hangzhou have not imagined. How good is the air in Taiyuan? Some southerners really wear colored glasses and say that they are gray. You should see for yourself that not only Shanxi, but in fact many places in western China have undergone radical changes. I am grateful to Shanxi.
Today's (speech) is about how to make the fiber of bamboo into the polymer, and I will have the opportunity to do more cultural popularization work in the future, which is our responsibility.
Zheng Qiang spoke in an interview. The Paper Chart
The Paper: What are your current short-term plans?
Zheng Qiang: There are not so many plans. In fact, the path of life is not planned, it is inevitable to get to that step. You didn't take this fork in the road, why did you go on? It's because you're still on the right track. So the plan is to go back to being a teacher according to the original plan, that's the plan.
The west needs a large number of talents, "you can endure some hardships when you are young"
The Paper: Many college students are facing great employment pressure, what do you think of the current situation of these young people?
Zheng Qiang: Don't blame young people. Nowadays, young people have their own requirements and their own realm and vision, which are the inevitability of the times. But as elders, we are taught that we can endure hardships when we are young. When you are young, it is unrealistic and unreasonable to want to enjoy the material conditions that people in their 50s and 60s get.
So now I have two words to my close children and friends: when you are young, you have to endure some hardships, and when you are young, you can't find the most satisfying job for life in one step, and often the first job is not the most satisfying, it doesn't matter. The first job you are not satisfied with may be the foreshadowing and conditions of your later satisfactory work, so you must have the courage to face the society.
Of course, I'm going to talk about it for the western region. Everyone is piled up in the most developed areas, and it is really difficult for doctors in developed areas to find jobs now, because the positions are full. However, there is a huge need for qualified personnel in China's western region. So sometimes I take it a little bit heavier, and I say to college students: what kind of work do you have to do first, it's not that you can't find a job, it's that the job you enjoy is not easy to find, and you don't have the courage to do hard work. That's what we should be talking to college students right now. I think this kind of heavy talk is the real love for college students.
Local colleges and universities should serve the local community and run "characteristic majors that Tsinghua University and Peking University do not have"
The Paper: At Taiyuan University of Technology, you put forward the slogan of "Guizhou University's surname is Guizhou". How can local universities better resonate with local development?
Zheng Qiang: Universities have common goals and values, leading human civilization and promoting social and cultural progress. It can't be said that local colleges and universities can't become "Peking University Tsinghua University", if you meet an educator like Cai Yuanpei and a local governor who understands education, maybe it will be Peking University Tsinghua University in 100 years.
At this stage, there is only one Peking University, Tsinghua University, and Zhejiang University in China, and not every university is Peking University, Tsinghua University, and Zhejiang University. In particular, if local colleges and universities do not have strong support from the local government and strong support from the central government, how can they develop? Therefore, if they want to receive support, they must have the concept of service, and Wuyi College must have the surname Wuyi, Wuyi College must have the surname Nanping, and Wuyi College must have the surname Fujian.
Wuyi Mountain has such good bamboo resources and tea resources. Peking University Tsinghua University does not have a Department of Tea Studies, but there is a Department of Tea in Zhejiang University, because the tea in Hangzhou is good, and the tea in Zhejiang is good. Therefore, (local colleges and universities) should do mathematics, physics and chemistry, because everyone should study science, use a little humanistic spirit, and also teach some history and philosophy, but can these majors be better than Peking University, Tsinghua University, Fudan University, Jiaotong University, and Zhejiang University? Can they do Xiamen University? Therefore, in addition to some common things, they should run schools here that have their own characteristics and are not available at the same time. Therefore, the fundamental way out of Wuyi College is surnamed Wuyi, surnamed Wuyishan, and surnamed Nanping.
It is necessary to promote the development of local industries through scientific and technological innovation
The Paper: The event you participated in is the China (Wuyishan) Bamboo Expo, you are an expert in the field of materials, how do you view the bamboo development path of Wuyishan from a professional point of view?
Zheng Qiang: Bamboo materials are ecological, degradable and friendly, and we should use our bamboo materials as much as possible in the areas where our traditional materials are used. However, there is a premise that only the native bamboo material cannot be replaced, and the original bamboo material must be chemically and physically treated and improved to allow the bamboo material to be used in these fields.
I think it is right for Wuyishan to take the road of tea and bamboo, because this is a characteristic and a characteristic development that we should take. However, the value of the original ecological agricultural and sideline products is often not high, so we must use high technology and improve its added value. For example, coal is very valuable, but if the raw coal is wasted and the added value is not high, it is used as a raw material for the production of high value-added products in economically developed areas. We must take the road of scientific and technological innovation and high added value, and hope that scholars and experts in various fields can intersect and communicate with each other.
The Paper: How should each region choose its own development path?
Zheng Qiang: Every place must have its own development concept. I think that the road taken by Wuyishan is the road of green mountains and clear waters, and China does not need every place to be heavy industry, and it does not need every place to develop at the expense of the environment.
I think that's a state of mind. After I came to Wuyi Mountain, I saw the countryside here and the calm mood of the people in my hometown. Have you watched "Impression of the Big Red Robe"?" "Have you let go? Have you let go of the world? Have you let go of fame and fortune? Have you let go of money? A cup of tea is put down, I came, I let go." ”
Column Editor-in-Chief: Qin Hong Text Editor: Lu Xiaochuan Title Image Source: Visual China Photo Editor: Zhu Rong
Source: Author: The Paper