"I want my friends who care and support me to understand a real and comprehensive Shi Yigong." West Lake University | Shi Yigong | Friend
"Self Breakout - Moving towards Ideals" is the first collection of works by Shi Yigong, a structural biologist, former vice president of Tsinghua University, and first president of West Lake University. The book collects more than 50 articles by Shi Yigong. In the book, there are sincere articles about growth experiences, scientific research explorations, and facing major choices. The author believes that "self breakthrough" and "moving towards ideals" complement each other, and the two are like the wings of a bird, together depicting the rich and diverse, pragmatic spiritual world of this top scientist and educator. Shi Yigong's choices on key life events are a vivid portrayal of the spirit of contemporary scientists with the main connotations of "patriotism, innovation, pragmatism, dedication, collaboration, and education".
Shi Huailin, the father who passed away early, had high hopes for him to be "devoted to public service" and taught him by example. The spirit and teachings of his father are like a lighthouse, pointing the way for Shi Yigong to face critical decisions; Grandpa Shi Ping devoted himself to revolution and national construction in his youth, resumed work after the reform and opening up, and continued to contribute to China's development. When he was nearly 110 years old, he still cared about education and wrote a letter to support Shi Yigong's participation in the establishment of West Lake University... The strength given to Shi Yigong by his family is sincerely presented in "Self Breakout", which is also of great reference significance for current parents and family education.
During his more than 20 years of studying, going abroad, conducting scientific research, and obtaining a tenured teaching position at Princeton University, Shi Yigong personally experienced the prejudice against Chinese people abroad. While participating in scientific research and achieving fruitful results, he also reflected on himself and the education and research systems in China. Shi Yigong admitted in his postscript "Only Seeking Truth" that he wanted to publish a book 10 years ago, "to let my friends who care and support me understand a true and comprehensive Shi Yigong.". When selecting an article with a time span of half a century, colleagues suggested that he revise some of the content. But Shi Yi recognized that "the description of the article should reflect the situation at that time, and there is no need to deliberately conceal some immature thoughts and behaviors when young. Because reality is the life of a book.". Therefore, the book also includes several articles about Shi Yigong's personal growth experience and emotional journey. His diverse interests, willingness to challenge himself, and passion for life can be seen from them.
"The spiritual wealth given by the father - courage to take responsibility"
Shi Yigong comes from a family of educated youth, and his father and mother are both college students from the 1950s. He was born in Zhengzhou, Henan in May 1967. At the age of two and a half, he was sent to Xiaoguo Village, Yanzhai Brigade, Laojunmiao Town, Runan County, Zhumadian, Henan Province with his parents. He spent three years of his childhood here due to material scarcity and poor living conditions.
His father, Shi Huailin, was intelligent and hardworking, personally transforming the cowshed into a livable small house. He mastered the skills of doing farm work and could make clothes and haircuts; He is willing to help others, helping the villagers of Xiaoguozhuang to cut their hair during holidays and festivals. He also uses a Shanghai brand sewing machine to help the villagers cut and make clothes. As a result, their family gradually gained the respect and care of their neighbors.
Shi Yigong recalled his father teaching mathematics and physics in the commune and tutoring his cousin in mathematics, physics, chemistry, and thermodynamics after resuming the college entrance examination in "Self Breakout". "Although I didn't understand anything at the time, it felt cool and mysterious. This kind of immersive experience made me interested in science from a young age.". In the following years, his eldest brother and second sister took the college entrance examination one after another. Under the strong atmosphere of seeking knowledge at home, he was particularly competitive and in his third year of high school, he was admitted to Tsinghua University with excellent competition results, realizing the family's dream of Tsinghua.
His father is very humorous and often encourages them to "enjoy" the only food they have when supplies are scarce - "listening to his father's speech during meals is a pleasure, and his words are always innovative and exciting." His father is also optimistic and enthusiastic about life, and these qualities have a profound impact on him.
Unconsciously, his father became the idol of Shi Yigong. His father is both strict and kind to him, and he has always worked hard to make his father proud of him. My father passed away in a car accident in September 1987. This accident made him, who was in his third year of college, suffer a lot. As he grew up overnight, he began to seriously consider how to "inherit his father's business" - "If I really have ambitions and dare to take responsibility, then I should use my own actions to change society", "I should use my own strength to make the world around me a better place" - such feelings accompanied him to drift abroad for 18 years.
"Behind the Broken Circle Choice - Thick Planted Patriotic Feelings"
The author believes that the grandfather's influence on Shi Yigong mainly lies in the deep roots of his patriotism that he has planted in his heart. Shi Ping, the grandfather of Shi Yigong, was an "old revolutionary" who was born in Yunnan in 1911. The Shi family was once a prominent family in Yunnan. At the age of 15, Shi Ping left his hometown to study in Kunming and was inspired and influenced by revolutionary ideas. In 1931, Shi Ping was admitted to Zhejiang University and actively participated in the "129th Anti Japanese Salvation Movement" during his studies. In 1938, Shi Ping joined the CPC and successively served as the county party secretary of Yunhe County and Qingyuan County in Zhejiang Province, organizing the anti Japanese work. In 1941, Shi Ping joined the New Fourth Army.
After the reform and opening up, Shi Ping was appointed as the Secretary of the Party Committee of East China Normal University. In 1983, Shi Ping served as the Executive Vice Chairman and Secretary General of the Standing Committee of the Eighth People's Congress of Shanghai until his retirement in 1985.
In 2006, Shi Yigong planned to give up his tenured teaching position at Princeton University and return to China. Relatives and friends hardly support it, except for Shi Ping who said over the phone, "You graduated with a PhD in 1995, and now it's 2006. It's time to come back and build the country!"
After Shi Yigong started participating in the establishment of West Lake University in 2015, his grandfather Shi Ping also gave high attention, "having many aspirations and hopes for the school.". In 2017, during the 120th anniversary celebration of Zhejiang University, Shi Ping, as an old alumnus, recorded a commemorative video in which he encouraged all Zhejiang University alumni to help and support West Lake University.
In 2008, Shi Yigong returned to his alma mater Tsinghua University full-time to lead the construction of the life sciences, which attracted great attention both domestically and internationally. From an external perspective, he had already realized the "American Dream" at that time. But Shi Yigong wrote his innermost thoughts in "Self Breakout": "I always feel like something is missing, and my heart feels lost. What am I missing? I lack the sense of achievement that inspires me to help my fellow countrymen!"
In 2001, Shi Yigong and renowned biologist Wang Xiaodong coincidentally met on a plane from the United States to Beijing. He calmly said, "One Gong, we all owe China 15 years of full-time work." This sentence expressed Shi Yigong's long-standing melancholy and once again shocked him.
Shi Yigong's self-awareness of "owing China 15 years of full-time work" comes from his ancestors and parents who are full of patriotism; This understanding is also derived from the profound spirit unique to Tsinghua University, which is carried by the school motto of "self-improvement, perseverance, and virtue".
The time spent studying at Tsinghua University was a time that Shi Yigong recalled with countless emotions - "Even today, if I were to walk the path of youth again, I would still choose Tsinghua University without hesitation, not Princeton University.". He recalled his time at Tsinghua University with deep affection: Tsinghua University was "the place that had the greatest impact on my outlook on life.". Shi Yigong recalled that as the first undergraduate students admitted after the resumption of the Biology Department at Tsinghua University in 1985, their classmates studied hard and were very ambitious. "Several students repeatedly inquired about the situation related to the field of life sciences in this year's Nobel Prize during their first discussion with Mr. Pu Muming, revealing their lofty aspirations."
Years later, Shi Yigong has shouldered the banner of life sciences at Tsinghua University and strode forward on the road to building a world-class life science. However, he still does not forget to use "soul questioning" to convey the spiritual power that Tsinghua University has passed on to him to the new generation of Xinhua students: "If the goal of life is only to find a job for oneself and one's family, don't you think this is really narrow? Your path will only get narrower and narrower." "I sincerely hope that each of you, while pursuing your 'little self', has a 'big self' in your heart - even in times of difficulty, you must have an ambitious ambition to help the world!"
"From Scientific Research to Education - Self Breakout"
In 1987, in the face of his father's unexpected death and pain, Shi Yigong, who was in his third year of college, began to seek a way out for himself. He tried his luck in both business and entrepreneurship, and ultimately chose to study abroad. In the early stages of going abroad, he went to two restaurants to work and experience life, encountered robberies, bought a car and changed cars, and was eventually stolen. These experiences also represent a common foreign experience for a group of international students.
After this period of confusion and exploration, Shi Yigong began to find some "feelings" in his studies and research. In the second year of his doctoral studies, as he gradually adapted to the "boredom" of scientific research, he began to "have a little interest in scientific research" and gained a bit of confidence in his research abilities. By the third year, Shi Yigong had "begun to understand the logic and mysteries of scientific research".
"To be an honest scholar and an upright person" is the title of an article by Shi Yigong in "Self Breakout" that recalls his postdoctoral research experience, and it is also a concentrated reflection of his scientific research spirit and ethics. He recalled his journey from confusion to gradually adapting to the pace of the laboratory and enjoying scientific research. "The postdoctoral period in New York was the hardest two years of my life... Although it was tough, I was proud to know that I was creating the future through action and starting a hard business... The seven and a half years of hard work and progress during my doctoral and postdoctoral studies laid a solid foundation for the success of my independent scientific research career."
Regarding his attitude towards scientific research, he warned young people that the investment of time is necessary; Must possess critical thinking - correctly analyzing negative outcomes is the key to success, time-consuming perfectionism hinders innovation and challenges traditional thinking; Scientists often need independent personalities and a little bit of temper; The untouchable academic moral bottom line - seeking truth from facts, respecting the authenticity of original experimental data, and only those who have made corresponding contributions to specific experimental topics should be signed in relevant academic papers.
Starting from reflecting on his personal educational experience, Shi Yigong constantly reflects on his gains and losses in his academic and research journey, and regards responding to Qian Xuesen's question as one of the important breakthroughs in his own breakthrough. He affirmed the universality and fairness of exam oriented education as a talent selection model, and also ensured that students have a solid knowledge reserve and a solid foundation for future development.
During his 5 years as an assistant professor and associate professor at Princeton University, Shi Yigong "applied the problem-solving thinking of exam oriented education, actively selected research topics with stable expectations and rich returns, and subconsciously avoided high-risk basic cutting-edge topics.". Sure enough, scientific research has been advancing rapidly. From 1998 to 2002, he published more than ten articles as the corresponding author in the top three journals in the scientific community, quickly establishing his academic reputation.
In 2002, at the age of 35, Shi Yigong was appointed as a tenured full professor at Princeton University. But he also calmly reflected on his path to scientific research: "The ideas given to me by exam oriented education have to some extent constrained my most precious original spirit in scientific research."
Therefore, in 2008, Shi Yigong, who returned full-time to his alma mater Tsinghua University to teach and educate, made a bold decision: in scientific research, the laboratory used a small portion of its strength to continue research projects from Princeton, and invested most of its strength in new, high-risk, exciting, and fascinating research directions with any chance of success. However, from 2008 to 2011, for four consecutive years, almost all four major directions were folded and no substantial progress was made. "I once seriously considered retreating, but the consequence of doing so was to completely give up my dreams, return to the main axis of choosing research directions with exam oriented thinking, and return to the old path of following the rules in scientific research. I asked myself: What is the meaning of such repetition? Innovation is taking a path that no one has walked before. After making up my mind to take the path of innovation, Shi Yigong led the team to adjust their strategies, persist in research, and finally achieved breakthroughs in all four directions.".
On one hand, focus on scientific research, and on the other hand, think about educating people. After returning to Tsinghua University, Shi Yigong combined his experience of studying, researching, and teaching at top universities in the United States with the actual situation of Tsinghua University, focusing on student development, especially in terms of methodology and thinking. Shi Yigong demanded that students should not blindly follow others, and also believed that schools and teachers should treat students differently from person to person. He then took action and offered some thought-provoking courses at Tsinghua University; A batch of small class elective courses have been offered.
At the same time, Shi Yigong did not forget to reflect on the shortcomings of China's scientific research system and mechanisms. He believes that "for Chinese science, there is only one path ahead, which is to take the path of internationalization without hesitation, or more precisely, to take the path of internationalization with Chinese characteristics without hesitation.". He also commented on certain negative value orientations in domestic scientific research, emphasizing the criticism of "blindly valuing article quantity, SCI impact factors, and paper citation frequency.". For the sake of fairness, Shi Yigong suggested that SCI papers should be viewed truthfully by field and industry, and their role should not be exaggerated, let alone used as the sole criterion for evaluation.
In 2018, Shi Yigong resigned from his position as Vice President of Tsinghua University and started his own business again. He and a group of colleagues worked together to establish West Lake University, aiming to pave a new path for national scientific and technological innovation and the cultivation of top talents.
In 2022, 45 years after the resumption of the college entrance examination, West Lake University has for the first time recruited 60 undergraduate students in Zhejiang through the innovative class model, hoping to cultivate young scientists who are responsible for the future through personalized teaching. Shi Yigong's breakthrough in scientific research and education is gradually being implemented.
From growth, success, to self breakthrough, leading the reform of scientific research system and education mechanism: implementing practical actions for common use, we have solidly practiced the spirit of "patriotism, innovation, pragmatism, dedication, collaboration, and education" as scientists.
"Self Breakout - Moving Towards Ideals" by Shi Yi, published by CITIC Publishing Group
