There was a Chinese child born in Henan who dropped out of elementary school, but later won the Nobel Prize in Physics. So, what exactly did this child go through? Why did you end up with the highest honor in the world of physics? Later, when Yang Lan interviewed him, he asked him if he was given a chance to choose his life again, would he pursue the Nobel Prize or stay in the countryside? At that time, he told Yang Lan in tears that he would rather stay in the countryside. So, what's going on here?
The child's name was Cui Qi, and he was born on February 28, 1939, in Baofeng County, Pingdingshan City, Henan Province. At that time, when he was born, his parents were in their 40s, which was considered to be a middle-aged child. Cui Qi's father, Cui Changsheng, had only an average family situation. However, his mother, Wang Shuangxian, was a bridesmaid of a large family, and the family was relatively solid. However, although Wang Shuangxian is a bridesmaid of a large family, Wang Shuangxian's father is very conservative in his thinking, he only let Wang Shuangxian's three older brothers go to school, but did not give Wang Shuangxian the opportunity to study, and insisted on what "a woman without talent is virtuous", which can be said to have harmed Wang Shuangxian's life.
Wang Shuangxian's three older brothers, who were celebrities at the time, also achieved great achievements. When the eldest brother Wang Zhijun studied in Japan, he became acquainted with Sun Yat-sen and was later killed for participating in the revolution. The second brother Wang Zhi'an is a teaching gentleman, and the peach and plum are all over the world. The third brother, Wang Zhihuan, once served as the principal of a middle school in Henan County. After liberation, Wang Zhihuan went to Macau.
Wang Shuangxian did not get the opportunity to study, so she attached great importance to her son's study. At the same time, he has strictly disciplined Cui Qi since he was a child, so cui Qi has developed good moral character from an early age. Wang Shuangxian has strict requirements for Cui Qi's daily study and life. Every day you study, you must go to school in time and cannot skip class. During school, you must read carefully and devote yourself to your homework. After school, you must go home in time and definitely cannot stay on the road.
People who may not understand that period of history do not have a profound understanding of the importance of Wang Shuangxian's regulations. In fact, because Cui Qi needs to go to a distant primary school with other children in the village every day. And those children, most of them are greedy and playful children, do not love to learn, often skip class, go around looking for fun things, and do not take learning seriously at all. Therefore, Cui Qi and these children together, in such an environment, will inevitably be greatly affected. Once he is affected and becomes a person like those children, he will certainly not have anything to do in the future. The author lives in the countryside and grew up in that environment, and I have a personal feeling for this.
After Cui Qi finishes school, many children will go to a pond to take a bath. It's also a way for country kids to bathe. Usually, when children are bathing, they will play with them, grab the soil at the bottom of the pond, throw each other, and play. But Cui Qi is different, he will always hide in the upstream cleaning place, silently washed, and then go home in time.
Another time, farmers in the village caught a group of children stealing melons. Farmers send the children to their respective homes for parental discipline. And Cui Qi is among these children. After Cui Qi was sent back, Wang Shuangxian was angry and anxious, and beat Cui Qi fiercely. But he didn't argue, he just said that he wouldn't be with the kids again. Later, Wang Shuangxian learned from other children that in fact, Cui Qi was not involved in stealing melons. Only later, he met these children who stole melons and came together with them. Then he was caught by the villagers. He was wronged in this way, but he did not argue. Wang Shuangxian asked him, why not argue? He said that his mother was angry, and if she argued, her mother would be even more angry; besides, after all, he was with the children who stole melons, and the melon field and Plum Were not able to get rid of it, as long as they cleaned themselves.
It can be seen from here that Cui Qi has been very filial to his mother since he was a child, and he has great wisdom in dealing with people, and at the same time he is also a person who strictly demands himself and does not allow himself to make mistakes.
Perhaps it is precisely because of this personality that Cui Qi will have a big appearance later.
Although Cui Qi was only a child from a peasant family, he showed a high talent from an early age. At that time, the rural areas of Henan were already undergoing land reform, and it was necessary to measure the land. No matter what kind of irregular land Cui Qi faced, he could quickly turn it into various regular shapes and calculate the area. This made the villagers praise him as a genius. Now the people of Baofeng County talk about him and still relish this matter. At that time, Cui Qi's mother, Wang Shuangxian, was also very proud. Although she didn't understand it herself, she must have been very happy to see her children so prominent and praised by the villagers.
When Cui Qi graduated from elementary school, because there was no middle school in the local area, Cui Qi had to drop out of school and go home. Wang Shuangxian heard that he wanted to build a middle school, but waited for two years, and by 1949, it had not yet been built. And at that time, New China had been established, everything had changed, and Wang Shuangxian really couldn't wait, so he decided to send his children out to study.
At that time, Cui Qi's third uncle, Wang Zhihuan, had already gone to Macau. Therefore, Wang Shuangxian sent Cui Qi to Hong Kong to study. At that time, Cui Qi was only 10 years old. A ten-year-old child went to a foreign country, and when he went, Cui Qi did not understand Cantonese and did not understand English, and the hardships of his life could be imagined.
When Cui Qi was studying in Hong Kong, he also wrote letters to his home twice, saying that he missed home and hoped to go home. His mother wept with heartache every time, but did not agree to his return, leaving him having to concentrate on studying outside.
You know, at that time, New China was already established. Although Wang Shuangxian's family was originally a wealthy family, after the founding of New China, everything changed. Economically, Wang Shuangxian could no longer fund Cui Qi. Although Cui Qi's third uncle can give him some financial support, after all, he has just gone to Macau, and everything needs to start from scratch and need to work hard again. Therefore, it was really impossible for him to give Cui Qi greater help, and Cui Qi had to rely on his own efforts for everything.
Fortunately, Cui Qi did work very hard. While studying in Hong Kong, he received a full scholarship and in 1958, was given the opportunity to study in the United States.
In fact, when Cui Qi went to study in the United States, his family was suffering from major changes. China experienced the Great Leap Forward at that time, encountered another three years of natural disasters, and many ordinary people were in hunger and poverty. The composition of Cui Qi's parents is not good, so the blow to Cui Qi's parents can be imagined. Cui Qi's father, Cui Changsheng, also starved to death in the summer of 1959. However, despite this, Cui Qi's mother hid it from Cui Qi and did not tell him the news. Because Cui Qi had just gone to the United States at that time, if he told Cui Qi this news, Wang Shuangxian decided that it would definitely affect Cui Qi's studies.
In 1967, Cui Qi received a doctorate in physics from the University of Chicago. When he told his mother the news, although for Wang Shuangxian, who had been illiterate since childhood, she did not know what a "doctor" was, she was still in tears of joy.
Only a year later, in 1968, Wang Shuangxian died at the age of 81. Unfortunately, due to the Sino-US blockade, Cui Qi could not go home.
Cui Qi continued to maintain his style of striving for progress in the United States. After receiving his postdoctoral fellowship in 1968, he went to work at The Mori Hill Bell Laboratory in New Jersey, USA. In 1982, Cui Qi began to serve as a professor at Princeton University in the United States and was elected to the National Academy of Sciences. In 1998, Cui Qi won the Nobel Prize in Physics for his discovery and explanation of the special phenomenon of electronic quantum fluids.
When Cui Qi won the Nobel Prize in Physics, he was interviewed by Yang Lan. In the interview, Yang Lan asked him if he were to choose again, would he choose to stay in rural Henan or go to Hong Kong to study? At that time, Cui Qi said with tears in his eyes that he would definitely choose to stay in the countryside. He said that if he had stayed in the countryside, his parents would not have died.
Yang Lan later sighed and said that Cui Qi's answer changed her interview thinking. Because she felt that what Cui Qi wanted to answer was definitely no regrets about her choice. But he did not expect that Cui Qi actually said that he was willing to stay in the poor countryside of Henan and was willing to do filial piety to his parents.
After Cui Qi won the Nobel Prize in Physics, the leaders of Baofeng County in Henan Province twice invited Cui Qi to go home to see. However, Cui Qi did not make the trip, but he expressed his willingness to build a Cui Qi Hope Primary School. But later, when a reporter handed over a photo of Cui Qi's mother to Cui Qi, Cui Qi finally returned to his hometown after a 63-year absence in April 2013. When Cui Qi returned to his hometown and heard the greeting in a thick rural voice, he burst into tears for a while. Villagers said that although Cui Qi has been away from home for 63 years, his hometown voice has never changed.
Cui Qi was elected as a foreign academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in 2000 and was appointed honorary professor of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in 2005. At present, Cui Qi is still continuing to play a positive role in the friendly exchanges between China and the United States.