In recent years, the mainland's comprehensive economic and technological national strength has developed greatly, and now China's new patented inventions every year surpass that of the United States, and in addition to the crumbling global hegemony of the United States, almost many people believe that the decline of the United States has become inevitable. However, objectively speaking, although the mainland is a global leader in some scientific and technological fields, there is still a gap between its overall scientific research strength and that of the United States.
In October 2022, the words of Shi Yigong, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, caused the people to think deeply. At the 10th Annual Meeting of the Association for Science and Technology, in a speech on the development of science in the United States, Academician Shi Yigong said: "American science is more powerful than you can imagine, and it will lead the world in the next few decades." As soon as this remark came out, it sparked heated discussions among everyone, some people thought it was alarmist, and some people agreed with this point of view, so what is the truth?
Academician Shi Yigong
On May 5, 1967, Shi Yigong was born in Zhengzhou, Henan Province. His parents were both highly educated, and he, like most children, was curious about everything in the outside world. Ask why, especially when it comes to academic knowledge, if you don't understand anything. Whenever my father was explaining the topic, he would listen intently.
So, in such a family atmosphere, Shi Yigong developed a strong interest in science. After going to school, Shi Yigong also worked very hard. At the same time, there is still a spirit in him that does not admit defeat. He not only has excellent grades in the industry, but also attaches great importance to his all-round development. When he discovered that running was his weakness, he began exercising every day until he became a strong runner.
He studied at Henan Provincial Experimental High School. Later, he also won the first prize in the National High School Mathematics League, which is the first place in Henan Province, and he was also admitted to the Department of Biological Science and Technology at Tsinghua University. But excellent people always work so hard, he didn't lose his mind after entering Tsinghua University, he still maintains that love to learn.
When the opportunity to study abroad presented to him, he did not hesitate to choose to study abroad. Not that he yearns for the life of a developed country, but because he is patriotic. Judging from the situation at that time, Shi Yigong hoped to learn some advanced knowledge abroad, because at that time, China still had shortcomings in many aspects, and was even in a blank stage.
He believes that it is necessary to enrich oneself first, and then serve the motherland and cultivate more talented people for the motherland, so that practical problems can be solved. In 1990, Shi Yigong first entered Iowa State University and then transferred to Johns Hopkins University for further study. Since he didn't understand the language, he learned a foreign language. He has made great progress and achieved one research result after another.
Just as his career was booming, he made a decision that shocked Americans. In 2008, Shi Yigong resolutely chose to return to his motherland. You know, at that time, he was already a tenured chair professor at Princeton University in the United States, but he still chose to return to China to serve as an academician of the School of Life Sciences of Tsinghua University.
This makes many people wonder, why did he give up this great prospect? In fact, his actions have already given the answer, what he cares about is not how many scientific research results he has, but cultivating talents. He hopes that through his personal efforts, he can cultivate one scientific and technological talent after another for the country.
Perhaps it is precisely because of such a study abroad experience that Shi Yigong has a deep understanding of the scientific and technological gap between the mainland and the United States, so he has these words at the 10th annual meeting of the Association for Science and Technology in 2022. Some people think that he is admiring foreign countries, and why does he come to belittle his motherland and blindly praise foreign countries when China's scientific and technological development is so good. But is it that simple? Are his words groundless?
The road to science and technology
As a top scientist who has been in the United States for 18 years, Shi Yigong is still very familiar with the level of science and technology in the United States. Its technological prowess is not as declining as we thought, because it has laid too good a foundation in the past. Although the mainland has been catching up in many fields, it has even broken through to the international leading level in many fields. However, it started late, and in general, there is still a certain gap with the scientific and technological development of the United States.
These gaps are not something that can be made up in a day or two, but the gaps are not terrible, the scary thing is that no one realizes this and no one makes up for it. Shi Yigong is well aware of this, and his speech is not to increase his popularity, but to let the students in the mainland clarify the direction of their efforts on this road, not to read dead books, just to obtain graduation certificates, degree certificates, etc.
On September 5, 1988, Deng Xiaoping put forward the thesis that "science and technology are the primary productive forces", and later he repeatedly emphasized this point, which shows the importance of science and technology. The development of science and technology and economic strength are closely linked, and scientific research is not the business of one person or a group of people, but the business of one country.
In the process of scientific research, it is necessary to invest not only manpower, but also a large amount of money. Without sufficient financial support, it is very likely that scientific research will not be able to proceed smoothly. Failure is the mother of success, that is, not every scientific research can be successful, and perhaps behind the success is the experience accumulated from countless failures.
Therefore, it is not necessary to invest money to ensure 100% success of scientific research. If the research fails, the money will go down the drain, so this is also a risky thing. At present, the biggest problem in the mainland on the road of scientific research is the lack of qualified personnel, and we can find that although the mainland is developing very rapidly in science and technology at this stage, it is still almost hot in terms of science, technology and education.
This also makes most students in the mainland have a great flaw, that is, the lack of innovation ability and practical ability. Some students are excellent and have excellent academic performance, but when it comes to areas that need to be explored by themselves, they become overwhelmed. Because he has a fixed mind, he will only answer questions by copying formulas, and will not explore himself.
But this can't be entirely blamed on the students themselves for not working hard, because some schools just don't pay attention to science and technology education, and students who haven't done an experiment for a few years abound. The school either didn't have the equipment or didn't take it seriously at all. This has also created a lack of innovation among students, forming a situation in which even if talents continue to be sent to society, society still cannot break through in some fields.
And some talented people choose to go abroad, they are interested in the foreign scientific research environment. Not everyone is like Qian Xuesen and Shi Yigong, who can give up their honor and status abroad and return to the motherland. In this way, the phenomenon of brain drain has been formed, and this is also a huge loss for the mainland.
In the United States, on the other hand, they value students' ability to think independently more than their grades. Many of the questions are answered by the students themselves, rather than waiting for the teacher to give them answers directly. Of course, this is not to deny the education of the mainland, because looking at various fields, there are still many top talents in the mainland. It's just that many schools are lacking in science and technology education, and if they can't do it seriously, how can they cultivate talents?
In the field of basic education, we are a global leader, and it can be said that in terms of learning efforts, we can rarely surpass the Chinese. But often we only focus on learning, only focus on grades, and ignore independence and hands-on ability. They often do well in high school, but once they study abroad and enter college, they have a gap in innovation and divergent thinking compared with American college students of the same age. That is to say, none of us is afraid of exam-taking education, but after college, we will fall behind.
Of course, it is not excluded that there are geniuses, but after all, it is a minority, which is also related to our educational philosophy, the Chinese population base is large, we must ensure mass education, the United States pays more attention to elite education, so, in this regard, we naturally have shortcomings. Moreover, by virtue of its strong national strength, the United States has attracted outstanding talents from all over the world to stay in the United States to work for them, while quite a few of our domestic talents have stayed in the United States, so it can be said that the whole world is the cradle of American talent.
Future outlook
Intuitively, the mainland is getting better on the basis of the original, while the United States is discovering new things in uncharted territory. Shi Yigong realized this and also contributed to it. In 2018, Westlake University was established in Hangzhou, which is the first new research university in the history of the People's Republic of China to be supported by the state, and the president of the school is Shi Yigong.
Since the establishment of Westlake University, a total of more than 30 "world first" achievements have been born in the university, and it continues to provide scientific and technological talents for the country. At present, the mainland is in a critical period of scientific and technological development, and the emergence of one innovative technology after another represents the efforts of our people.
For example, the successful experiment of interventional brain-computer interface, the completion of the world's deepest and largest extremely deep underground laboratory, and the "Jiuzhang No. 3" once again set a new world record for the "god machine", and many scientific and technological achievements have been made one after another. But we must not be complacent because of this, still less can we ignore the existence of the United States.
It is an indisputable fact that the United States is a scientific and technological power, after all, many top talents in the mainland have always had the experience of studying in the United States. It is not to say that we do not recognize the merits of others, but to learn from others, take their essence and eliminate their dross. It is not a blind imitation, but a skill to learn from it, so that you have the ability to develop independently.
Isn't Huawei's research and development of chips to reduce dependence and promote innovation? The United States has imposed a chip blockade on the mainland before, which has also made many people realize that the mainland chip market depends on foreign supply. The emergence of Huawei chips not only makes us more competitive in the international market, but also creates more possibilities.
At present, the mainland is also attaching great importance to these emerging industries, and the new goal of scientific and technological development is to promote the development of more emerging industries under the operation of the new model. However, the development of science and technology must not have an empty shell, that is, we cannot only focus on innovation without regard to practicality. If a scientific research cannot be applied in real life, it is meaningless. In general, the mainland's scientific and technological development needs innovation and creates more possibilities.
The road of science and technology is long and difficult, science and technology are closely related to our lives, and improving the level of scientific and technological development can also improve the living standards of mainland people. Innovation is a key element in the development of science and technology in the mainland, and the state has issued policies in order to retain talents. For the sake of the development of the motherland, scientific and technological personnel are also constantly innovating, and have made great achievements in many fields.
We are no exception, and we cannot afford to be arrogant when the mainland has made scientific and technological achievements. We can't be presumptuous, we have a gap with the United States, but we can surpass them through learning and public relations. Why does the United States want to suppress us in the field of high technology, isn't it because it is afraid of us Chinese? And every time the United States suppresses a field, we will quickly make a breakthrough, and it is not difficult for us to make a comprehensive breakthrough in science and technology. We should firmly believe that the motherland's scientific and technological development will get better and better, and as long as we are united, we believe that sooner or later we will surpass the United States in an all-round way!