Editor's Note:
At 9:30 on May 15, 2020, the famous popular science writer Mr. Ye Yonglie died at the age of 80 in Shanghai Changhai Hospital. Mr. Ye has published more than 180 books and more than 35 million words in his lifetime.
Born in August 1940, Ye Yonglie, a native of Wenzhou, Zhejiang Province, is a famous novel writer and reportage writer, engaged in popular science fiction creation in his early years, pen name Xiao Yong, Jiu Yuan, etc., graduated from the Department of Chemistry of Peking University. He has served as a member of the Chinese Science Association, a standing director of the China Science Popularization Creation Association, a director of the World Science Fiction Association, a first-class writer and professor of the Shanghai Writers Association, a librarian of the Shanghai Museum of Culture and History, and an advisory member of the Guangming Daily Science Popularization Expert Committee.
After the death of Mr. Ye Yonglie, Zhao Zhizhen, former director of Wuhan Television Station, popular science writer and member of the first batch of advisory committee members of the Guangming Daily Science Popularization Expert Committee, contacted the Guangming Network reporter and exclusively provided a 30-minute interview material, which was the original material for the interview of Wuhan Television Station's "Light of Science and Technology" at Mr. Ye Yonglie's home on July 12, 2018, and is likely to be Mr. Ye's last TV interview.
On July 12, 2018, Mr. Ye Yonglie was interviewed by The Light of Science and Technology at home
Mr. Ye Yonglie reviewed his experience in popular science creation since 1958, from the iconic chinese popular science reading "100,000 Whys", to the "PHS Roaming the Future", which has influenced generations, to the 28-volume, 14 million-word "Ye Yonglie's Complete Collection of Science Popularization", Mr. Ye witnessed the storm of China's popular science creation.
In the video, Ye Yonglie talks about his historical relationship with Guangming Daily, which has not been fully released to the public before, and is a precious video historical material. In July 2015, when Guangming Daily established a science popularization expert committee, Ye Yonglie sent a congratulatory letter, saying: "Guangming Daily has always attached importance to science popularization work and the cultivation of popular science writers... The most valuable thing is that on February 15, 1979, guangming daily published a report by reporter Xie Jun on the front page, entitled "Fighting in Difficulties -- Remembering Ye Yonglie, an amateur writer of popular science", and the newspaper also distributed a commentary entitled "Striving to Strengthen the Four Modernizations", which gave me great encouragement and support. As a popular science writer, I am deeply grateful to Guangming Daily. ”
In 1979, reader Zheng Yuanjie wrote to Ye Yonglie (image from the Internet)
The Scythians are gone, and they are never singing. With the personal authorization and proofreading of Mr. Zhao Zhizhen, while preserving the original style to the greatest extent and restoring Mr. Ye Yonglie's voice and smile, Guangming Network recently disclosed this precious historical picture to commemorate Mr. Ye Yonglie.
Zhao Zhizhen: Mr. Ye Yonglie's last TV interview
In the year of the pandemic, too much "stress" makes people emotionally numb. But the news of Mr. Ye Yonglie's death still made me feel like I had been shocked by electricity and fell into a lasting mourning. Open WeChat, the circle of friends is full of sorrow, and several friends in Shanghai have a phone call, and they sigh and sigh with emotion. Mr. Ye Yonglie was very famous when he was alive, but when he died suddenly, he felt even more greatly missing and collapsed.
Mr. Ye Yonglie is undoubtedly the most outstanding popular science writer of our time, and the height he has reached is not only difficult for his peers to reach, but for a long time, future generations may not be able to surpass. "100,000 Whys" has been a household name in China for half a century. How many of our talents today have joined the scientific army after reading "100,000 Whys"? The biggest mystery of the progress of human civilization is the inheritance and accumulation of knowledge, Mr. Ye Yonglie has left such a rich legacy for the world during the existence of his life, with the passage of time, he will increasingly become a bright star with high visibility in the firmament of human culture.
"100,000 Whys" (image from the Internet)
The man covered the coffin, and the model lasted forever. When we talk about learning Mr. Ye Yonglie today, in fact, many things cannot be learned. Mr. Ye said that he "only worked as a code word worker in his life", but he can use 35 million words of "code" to produce a series of high-rise buildings, which requires extraordinary talent, diligence and perseverance? Moreover, there is no ready-made word to "code", and each of his words is the crystallization of learning, thinking and creation. Even if the pen is not waved for 50 consecutive years, it will "code" more than 600,000 words every year. It should be noted that most of the words are "coded" in the hot and unbearable burrow, "coded" by the white manuscript paper pad on the blue copy paper, and "coded" under the dilemma of 800-degree myopia in the left eye retina falling off the right eye. At the age of 80, he was admitted to the hospital and was still planning two long plans after discharge. When we study Mr. Ye Yonglie, we can only learn his spirit and his realm. Even this is difficult to learn, for Mr. Ye Yonglie, writing is already his way of survival. It becomes the same signs and vital signs of life as the heartbeat, breathing, and metabolism.
Mr. Ye Yonglie and I are not in the same city. In 1998, on the third anniversary of the broadcast of "The Light of Science and Technology", I can't remember why Mr. Ye Yonglie came to Wuhan, so I invited him to visit Wuhan TV station after hearing the news. And showed a few of our rather crude popular science TV films. Since Mr. Ye Yonglie has worked in Shanghai Ke film studio for a long time, we naturally have more common interests and topics, and even "talk about shallow and deep", talking about the helplessness and secrets of many lives and work.
In April 1998, Ye Yonglie talked with Zhao Zhizhen at Wuhan Television Station
A few days later, Mr. Ye Yonglie sent his article "Substation on the Screen" written for the third anniversary of the broadcast of "Light of Science and Technology" as scheduled, which was published in Wuhan Yangtze River Daily. Many of Mr. Ye Yonglie's insights on television science in the article seem to be far from outdated today, but on the contrary, they are more inspiring. He is kind and humble, simple and generous, and keeps his promises and keeps his promises, which can be seen from this small matter.
In May 1998, Ye Yonglie wrote an article to congratulate the third anniversary of the broadcast of "Light of Science and Technology", which was published in Yangtze River Daily.
After that, I asked Mr. Ye Yonglie a little, but it did not prevent me from looking up to him and paying attention to him. Fast forward 20 years. In 2018, in order to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the establishment of the China Association for Science and Technology, "Light of Science and Technology" was invited to shoot a 5-episode large-scale documentary "Chinese Science Popularization", and Mr. Ye Yonglie was naturally indispensable in the interview plan. As 20 years ago, when he heard that "The Light of Science and Technology" was coming, Mr. Ye Yonglie gladly agreed. At 3 p.m. on July 12, 2018, Liu Ying and Zhu Hongwei, editors of The Light of Science and Technology, came to Mr. Ye Yonglie's home in Xujiahui for a TV interview. For various reasons, the show has not yet aired.
When the bad news of Mr. Ye Yonglie's death came, in addition to the pain, naturally the first thing we thought of was the debt we owed him. I couldn't help but immediately find the material and read it carefully twice from beginning to end. On the computer screen, the voice of Mr. Ye Yonglie, whom I admire, is still there, but he has died twice, and my eyes can't help but get wet. One of the most pressing thoughts was to get this interview out as quickly as possible. I think this is about the last TV interview Mr. Ye Yonglie gave when he was alive, and the last time he systematically and comprehensively described his science popularization career. This video, which has not yet seen the light of day, is undoubtedly the most precious, authoritative, up-to-date and non-renewable first-hand information left by Mr. Ye Yonglie. Studying Ye Yonglie can not only become a doctoral student topic, but also should be the historical responsibility that our scientific and cultural circles should fulfill. Because Ye Yonglie is a towering tree that thrives in our time and in our land. (The author is a famous popular science writer and producer)
Attached: Ye Yonglie's interview with Wuhan TV Station", "Light of Science and Technology" at home (partial)
In 1958, I began to work on popular science. From Peking University, he came to Shaoyang County Iron and Steel Factory in Hunan Province to run a training class for laboratory technicians. The first time I stepped on the podium and gave a lecture to rural cadres for the first time, this was the first time I did science popularization work. "Shaoyang Daily" asked me to write a few popular science articles, that is when I really began to publish popular science articles.
After returning to Beijing, I began to submit articles to the "Science Tabloid" of the Beijing Municipal Association for Science and Technology, to the supplement of "Creation and Invention" of the State Science and Technology Commission, and to the supplement of "Guangming Daily", so I began to write scientific sketches.
Ye Yonglie when writing "100,000 Whys" (image from the Internet)
I've been able to write so many science sketches for two reasons. I grew up loving writing and literature. When I graduated from high school, I wanted to take the journalism major of the Chinese Department of Peking University, but because there were few journalism majors at that time, I had to go to Peking University, so I changed to the Chemistry Department. I have a mathematical and chemical foundation, and I have a good literary foundation, and the combination of the two has become my characteristic. So my scientific sketches can be published in national newspapers and periodicals such as Guangming Daily, Liberation Daily, and China Youth Magazine, and this is how the opportunity of life began.
On March 21, 1962, Liberation Daily reported "100,000 Whys" (picture from the Internet)
"100,000 Whys" is successful because each one is a wonderful scientific sketch. It tends to be written from small stories, starting from the things around it, with lively language and rich metaphors. These "whys" have inspired young readers in various primary and secondary schools to ask questions, so these "whys" are very grounded.
Title page of volume 2 of the first edition of "100,000 Whys" (image from the Internet)
"100,000 Whys" has influenced my whole life, and I am very happy to be the most and original author of "100,000 Whys". Today, "100,000 Whys" has become a classic of Chinese popular science, with a circulation of nearly 200 million copies, making it a book that touched the republic.
After the publication of "100,000 Whys", I had a little ambition, thinking that "100,000 Whys" were short articles of 1,000 or 2,000 words, and I wanted to write a fictional novel, so I wrote "PHS Roaming the Future".
Ye Yonglie and "PHS Roaming the Future" (image from the Internet)
In the late 1980s, "PHS Roaming the Future" was adapted by CCTV into a 48-episode children's series. The mobile phone of Datang Company of the United States wants to enter the Chinese market and must take a popular name. So he called me to write a power of attorney and registered the trademark "PHS" in China. At first, there was no feeling at all, but later the PHS mobile phone developed to 100 million users, making the name "PHS" a household name. Therefore, to be able to bring a science fiction novel or science fiction character to this extent is an opportunity of the times.
When I was doing shows, I met a lot of people. For example, The host of Hong Kong Phoenix TV, Xu Gehui, the first thing he said when he saw me was "Mr. Ye, your "PHS Roaming the Future" was a prize for my fifth grade in elementary school. "Cui Yongyuan, Bai Yansong, and Lu Yu all first told me about "PHS Roaming the Future", and they were all enthusiastic readers of "PHS Roaming the Future", so it can be said that "PHS Roaming the Future" really influenced the generation at that time.
Popular science creation is very important, science to penetrate into thousands of households, we must rely on popular science writers to use popular language to tell science to everyone, so that everyone understands science. Especially in today's high-tech era, everyone can not do without science, especially to cultivate a group of innovative young people, the basis of innovation is to understand science, understand technology. Therefore, science popularization workers and popular science writers bear a very important responsibility.
Sichuan People's Publishing House and Sichuan Science and Technology Publishing House After four years of hard work, published the twenty-eight volumes of Ye Yonglie's Complete Collection of Popular Science, I added the word count of each volume on the copyright page, which made me know that I wrote 14.08 million words in popular science, and after the book was published, it was also a summary of popular science creation for me.
"Ye Yonglie's Complete Collection of Popular Science" 28 volumes (picture from the Internet)
To this day, I am still trying to write continuously, although I am soon 80 years old, but I said that I am a "post-70s", to maintain the enthusiasm of "post-70s", continue to work hard, and constantly write new works. (Guangming Network reporter Zhan Zhao, Wu Yuetong)
Ye Yonglie's life
Born in 1940 in Wenzhou, Zhejiang.
In 1951 (at the age of 11), he began publishing poems.
In 1958 (at the age of 18), he began publishing scientific sketches.
In 1959, the first collection of scientific sketches was published in Shanghai Children's Publishing House, Carbon Family.
In 1960 (at the age of 20), he became the main author of "100,000 Whys", completed "PHS Roaming the Future" in 1961, and then engaged in popular science creation, and in 1979, he was concerned by Fang Yi, former member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and vice premier of the State Council.
In 1963, he graduated from Peking University and married his wife Yang Huifen on August 25 of the same year.
In March 1979, he was jointly awarded the title of "National Advanced Science Popularization Worker" by the Ministry of Culture and the China Association for Science and Technology, and was awarded a bonus of 1,000 yuan.
In the spring of 1976, Ye Yonglie, then a screenwriter at the Shanghai Film Studio, published his first science fiction novel "Petroleum Protein" in the late decade of turmoil, marking the second climax of Chinese science fiction in mainland China.
In 1981, Ye Yonglie's film "Under the Traffic Lights" won the Best Science and Education Film Award at the 3rd Hundred Flowers Film Awards.
After 1983, it began to shift from the creation of popular science and science fiction works to the creation of documentary literature.
In 1984, he published "PHS Revisits the Future", followed by "PHS Three Journeys to the Future".
After 1984, he became a professional writer, writing mostly well-known figures, high-level figures, and historical biographies, and was known as a "journalist of old news".
On July 21, 2015, the Guangming Daily Science Popularization Expert Committee was established, and Ye Yonglie was invited to serve as an advisory member of the Guangming Daily Science Popularization Expert Committee.
At 9:30 on May 15, 2020, Ye Yonglie died at the age of 80 in Shanghai Changhai Hospital.