Today's story starts with an "old bookmark". How old is this bookmark? It's from 1957, so it's 67 years old. And the person who discovered it was a 2022 undergraduate student from the School of Physics of Zhejiang University, his name is Zhao Wenkai. Xiao Zhao borrowed an old English version of the 1956 book "Introduction to Solid State Physics" in the library, and in this book, he found the bookmark in it.
To Xiao Zhao's surprise, the bookmark was not only painted with exquisite patterns, but also handwritten with the words "Gift to my friend Zhou Jingqiu", and the payment was made on February 20, 1957. Touching this old bookmark, a wonderful feeling of time and space travel made Zhao Wenkai excited. He especially wanted to know who the owner of the bookmark, Zhou Jingqiu's predecessor 67 years ago, was, and what kind of story was behind the bookmark. Next, let's slowly open this dusty old time for 67 years.
Zhao Wenkai, a student at Zhejiang University: I was shocked when I got this book, it turned out to be more than five years old. I started the content, and then I found something sandwiched between the books. There is a bookmark, dated 1957, and a very beautiful pattern painted on the back.
Zhao Wenkai did not expect that the book called "Introduction to Solid State Physics" borrowed from the school library would have an old bookmark from 67 years ago.
Zhao Wenkai found that the bookmark clearly read: "Gift to my friend Zhou Jingqiu", which means that Zhou Jingqiu is the owner of this bookmark, and he also sandwiched this bookmark in this book during his college years.
Zhao Wenkai: The first one is to share my experience, discovering a bookmark of an old senior is the same joy as an archaeologist discovering cultural relics. The second is that I want to try to find this alumnus.
So, Zhao Wenkai posted the discovery of this old bookmark on the campus network forum, and he also expressed his excitement and curiosity in the WeChat circle of friends.
After discovering the old bookmark and forwarding it to the official website of Zhejiang University, people began to pay attention to the origin of this bookmark and the story behind it, and the comment area gradually became the scene of "revealing the secret". Some attentive netizens mentioned that there was the name "Zhou Jingqiu" in the book borrowing records, and with it, there were gradually more clues related to Zhou Jingqiu. At this time, an important piece of information caught everyone's attention.
Ouyang Yuxuan, a member of the student journalist group of the Rong Media Center of Zhejiang University: I received a photo backstage, which is an article in memory of his classmate Jingqiu. We also searched on the Internet according to some information in the article and some names, and we also followed this path to find the junior high school he studied in that year, which is now Xiaoshan No. 2 Middle School. Through my own classmates, I contacted Ms. Zhou Yan, who was teaching at Xintong Junior High School at the time, that is, Mr. Zhou Jingqiu's daughter.
Zhou Jingqiu's youngest daughter is named Zhou Yan, and she is now a science teacher at Xintong Junior High School in Xiaoshan, Hangzhou. Late at night on the second day of the "missing person tweet" on the official website of Zhejiang University, Zhou Yan received a message from a colleague.
The moment she saw the bookmark photo, Zhou Yan recognized her father's name at a glance.
Zhou Yan said that her father, Zhou Jingqiu, was a native of Dai Village, Xiaoshan, Hangzhou, graduated from the Department of Physics of Hangzhou University in the early 60s of the 20th century, and later worked as a junior high school teacher, and then entered Xiaoshan No. 6 Middle School as a physics teacher until his retirement in 1998. Unfortunately, Mr. Zhou Jingqiu passed away in 2014.
With the relay of many alumni and netizens, the owner of this "old bookmark" was finally found. Although Mr. Zhou Jingqiu passed away ten years ago, Zhao Wenkai, who found the bookmark, still entrusted the school to "return the bookmark to its original owner" and return it to Mr. Zhou Jingqiu's daughter, Zhou Yan. After discussing with her siblings, Zhou Yan decided to donate the bookmark back to Zhejiang University to more alumni as a souvenir, considering that this bookmark carries a youthful memory of her father's academic career.
The bookmark was eventually donated back to Zhejiang University, but the story didn't end there. This small bookmark seems to awaken the dusty memories of more people at once, and the people and stories related to this bookmark are getting closer and clearer to us. Everyone wants to know, what kind of person is Mr. Zhou Jingqiu? Where did this bookmark come from? Let's continue to look at the story behind this old bookmark.
Zhou Jingqiu's daughter Zhou Yan: In our hometown, my grandmother used to live here, but then my grandmother got older, so she always lived with my father, and we came back during the winter and summer vacations, and we usually lived in school.
In the memory of her daughter Zhou Yan, her retired father Zhou Jingqiu returned to his hometown in Dai Village, Xiaoshan, which was often full of small household appliances sent by villagers for maintenance. After my father repaired these objects, he would explain the principles in detail to everyone as if they were in class.
In the eyes of his daughter Zhou Yan, her father Zhou Jingqiu seems to have his own spiritual world, and rarely talks about his student days.
Dong Xiaochang, which Zhou Yan said, is a good friend of his father Zhou Jingqiu who grew up together. In the autumn of 1954, Dong Xiaochang and Zhou Jingqiu were admitted to the then Xiaoshan District No. 2 Junior High School.
Zhou Jingqiu's junior high school classmate Dong Xiaochang: In September 1954, on the first day of school, we were at the same table, Zhou Jingqiu sat on the left and I was on the right, and at the same time in the last row. I feel that he is a more introverted person, and he usually doesn't talk often.
According to Mr. Dong Xiaochang's speculation, this "old bookmark" may be the New Year's greeting card given by Zhou Jingqiu and his classmates when they were in junior high school.
Zhou Jingqiu's junior high school classmate Dong Xiaochang: This time was written on February 20, 1957. This is the year in our graduating class, I checked the time, it was the 21st of the first month. This bookmark is not an ordinary bookmark, it should be a New Year's card. The school held a class meeting for us in the evening, and everyone sat together to say goodbye to the old and welcome the new. At this time, the students will send New Year's cards.
Speaking of these past events more than 60 years ago, Mr. Dong Xiaochang felt a lot of emotion, and he still has some "New Year's cards" from junior high school classmates. In his memory, the exchange of "New Year's cards" was one of the ways to express blessings and enhance communication between students in that era. And between him and Zhou Jingqiu, they often talk about their hearts by writing poems, and the two of them are not only classmates, but also pen pals.
Dong Xiaochang recalled that in the third year of junior high school, Zhou Jingqiu was a full lover of literature, and several of their classmates had spontaneously set up a "literary interest group".
This is a letter written to Zhou Jingqiu by Han Zhonglin, a classmate in the same literary interest group after graduating from junior high school in 1957. At that time, the students traveled and met friends in addition to studying, which added unforgettable fun to life. And these memories of the old classmates also made Zhou Yan re-enter her father's spiritual world ten years after her father Zhou Jingqiu left.
Through this old bookmark, after learning about the stories of the seniors more than 60 years ago, Zhao Wenkai also has a firmer belief in the future.
Zhao Wenkai, student of Zhejiang University: Senior Zhou Jingqiu, hello. I'm your junior brother of the class of 2022, Zhao Wenkai, and I'm glad to meet you on a bookmark. It may sound strange to you that 67 years have passed, but I was particularly touched by the way I saw your life as a student through this bookmark. And then I want to maintain this friendship with my friends, and I want to be like you, to be a person who loves physics very purely, and then to be a person who can stick to a career for the rest of his life.