"Xu Xiake" at sea: a journalist's deep-sea "battle" photo

Source: Xinhua Daily Telegraph

On July 5, Zhang Jiansong (right), chief reporter of Xinhua News Agency's Shanghai Branch, introduced the knowledge of the deep sea to children at the China Maritime Museum's 2021 Maritime Life Festival. Photo by Zheng Lin

Wang Pinxian

In the past decade, the tide of marching towards the ocean has swept across the land of Shenzhou.

The feat of exploring the ocean, especially the deep ocean, has aroused the interest of men, women and children in the whole society and won the common attention of the whole country. For the first time in thousands of years, Chinese civilization has lit the torch of exploring the ocean, and groups of Chinese sons and daughters have chopped waves and fought on the front line of the deep ocean, and one after another successful reports of scientific exploration have been transmitted. Zhang Jiansong's "Deep Sea Exploration - Looking at the Earth from aNother Perspective" is a portrait of this deep-sea "battle".

Unlike most news reports and popular science works, this book chronicles the personal experience of a "war correspondent" on the front lines of deep-sea exploration. The number of publications on the ocean has skyrocketed in recent years, but rare cultural people carry cameras and waves, enter the front line of the deep sea with scientists, and write works based on long-term investigation experience. Zhang Jiansong, the author of "Deep Sea Exploration - Another Perspective on the Earth", is a female journalist who braved the terrifying waves to explore the north and south poles many times, nearly 20 times in 12 years, more than 700 days of sailing on the sea, footprints throughout the Pacific, Indian Ocean and Southern Ocean, often living at sea for several months, and even spending the Spring Festival in the depths of the ocean. This kind of style and fighting spirit has also made the experts in the marine science community feel ashamed.

It is precisely because it is the fruit of "breaking into the dragon pond and entering the tiger's den", her works are extraordinary, and the words are permeated with the joys and sorrows of scientists in deep-sea exploration. She has participated in the International Ocean Drill twice, which allows you to experience the anxious mentality of the entire ship's scientists when the core is lifted from thousands of meters to the deck; she has participated in many deep diving voyages, which can make you feel the amazing joy of suddenly discovering deep-water coral forests on the dark seilestop.

Surprisingly, the liberal arts-turned-journalist was able to express geologists' questions about the evolution of the lithosphere and describe the biologists' tracking of the ecological characteristics of benthic fauna. This book not only makes you feel the life of oceanographers on the front line of science, but also relays the scientific content of the pursuit of deep-sea exploration. In this sense, this book can also be read as "Xu Xia's Travels" on the sea.

There are many travelogues in Chinese literature, but they are limited to land. "The benevolent leshan, the wise enjoy the water", the "water" here is not the ocean. Li Daoyuan's "Notes on the Water Classics" records more than 1,000 rivers, and Xu Xia's guests traveled all over the famous mountains and rivers, but unfortunately none of them included the ocean. The ocean in Chinese legends also seems to be dominated by negatives, whether it is prehistoric Jingwei reclamation or mazu youmin in the Northern Song Dynasty, the theme is inseparable from the shipwreck. The water surface in the Chinese painting is also difficult to see the boldness of "Kanagawa Waves". The marine genes implicit in The Chinese civilization need to be activated by the efforts of contemporary people. We hope that Zhang Jiansong's "battlefield account" of exploring the deep sea in the 21st century can help promote the marine component of Chinese civilization.

At the same time, "Deep Sea Exploration - ANother Perspective on the Earth" will also contribute to the integration of science and culture. The fault line between "literature" and "reason" is a roadblock that blocks China's scientific innovation, and it is urgently needed for people of insight in the scientific and cultural circles to set an example and make concerted efforts to bridge it through the efforts of both sides. At present, science news is very popular, but unfortunately, under the pressure of the task, journalists are often satisfied with "telephone interviews" and do not have time to understand the actual content of science. In this regard, Zhang Jiansong's article has an exemplary role, hoping that media colleagues can be interested in science, strive to understand the scientific content reported, and be able to say more about their own integration, rather than being the same.

The combination of science and culture, the ocean is unique in all disciplines. Especially in the deep ocean, people living on land know too little, and the insights of scientific exploration are extremely newsworthy. Moreover, the vast and endless ocean is itself the source of poetry. If it is said that "looking down on the grandeur of the category" is better than the land, then "looking up at the universe" is definitely the best on the sea. More than a hundred years ago, riding on the sea breeze on the deck, Liang Qichao sang "Pacific Song of the Twentieth Century", and Zhou Enlai sang "Dajiang Song Strikes Off the Head East", leaving an immortal verse. Speaking of which, let us wish the readers of this book to share the heroic ambitions of marine warriors with the author and jointly promote the growth of marine components in Chinese culture.