Under the sky of China, those teenagers who are chasing the starry sky

Source: People's Daily Online - People's Daily Overseas Edition

Picture ①: "China Sky Eye" panorama Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Ou Dongqu ②: Photo provided by the interviewees of the observation activities of the Astronomical Club of Pingtang County Minzu Middle School Photo ③: Photo by Liu Chaofu, a child visiting the Pingtang International Astronomical Experience Hall ④: In 2018, Liu Zhangtao gave a speech at the International Big Data Industry Expo held in Guiyang. Photo courtesy of the interviewees ⑤: Children experience "crossing the black hole" in the Pingtang International Astronomical Experience Hall. Photo by Liu Chaofu

In the spring of 2011, in a remote town in southern Guizhou, in a natural karst depression surrounded by mountains, the world's largest single-aperture and most sensitive radio telescope broke ground.

The 500-meter-caliber spherical radio telescope built here later is the world-famous "Chinese Sky Eye". This remote town is Kedu Town, Pingtang County, Qiannan Buyi and Miao Autonomous Prefecture.

Plant a "starry sky" seed

The start of the "Eye of the Sky" made Kedu Town hidden in the mountains famous overnight.

Change more or less begins to happen. The common people moved one after another and moved into new houses. The adults talked about the future development, and the children were full of curiosity about the mysterious "cauldron", such as Liu Zhangtao.

Liu Zhangtao is a boy of the Buyi nationality born and raised in Kedu Town. When the "Sky Eye" was started, he was in the fifth grade of elementary school. One day when he walked into the school, he found a poster on the wall with a row of large characters painted with white paint: "The 500-meter-caliber radio telescope is located in Kedu Town. "

"500-meter caliber", "radio telescope"...the words on the wall are strong and powerful. Liu Zhangtao read each word, but his mind was in chaos. What is a radio telescope? How big is the caliber of 500 meters? What does it mean to choose Kedu Town as the site? He was only in his teens, so he had no way of knowing, nor could he understand.

It wasn’t until junior high school that the head teacher described the appearance of the “Eye of the Sky” to everyone in class, and Liu Zhangtao gradually had a concrete understanding of it: Oh, it turned out that the radio telescope is not the cylindrical telescope with mirrors in his impression, “Eye of the Sky” "It is not by "seeing", but by "listening" to explore the universe.

How does "Sky Eye" work? And how to "listen" to the vast universe? One question after another came to the boy's mind one after another.

Like all children who are thirsty for knowledge, Liu Zhangtao seeks every opportunity to learn in order to solve the puzzles circling in his mind. Pingtang used to be a state-level poverty-stricken county with limited resources in all aspects. There were few astronomy-related books in the school library. Liu Zhangtao read everything he could. There is no computer at home, homework is stressful, and there are not many opportunities to surf the Internet. He can only seize the opportunity to learn more.

Once, he accidentally discovered the movie "Interstellar". Generally speaking, people of the same age are fascinated by the visual effects in movies, but what attracts Liu Zhangtao is the astronomical theory involved in the movie. He didn't quite understand the specific content of those theories, but he vaguely realized that using physics to study celestial bodies could change the world, and what he wanted to do was to study these esoteric theories.

For the Bouyei teenagers living in remote and impoverished areas, such an idea sounds unbelievable. Not to mention astronomers, before the construction of the "Sky Eye", Pingtang didn't even have an astronomy teacher, an astronomy class, or an astronomical telescope. But Liu Zhangtao feels that nothing is impossible. After all, for many local people who have never walked out of the mountains all their lives, who would have thought that the "eye of the sky" that can communicate with the universe will appear by their side one day?

Indeed, that day is getting closer.

In September 2016, Liu Zhangtao was admitted to Pingtang County Minority Middle School. Twenty days later, the "Sky Eye" was completed. Although there are still a few days before the National Day holiday, he couldn't wait to ask a few classmates to watch it together.

Several children were jumping for joy and couldn't help being excited, especially Liu Zhangtao. Although he has imagined its appearance countless times over the years, when the day really comes and he stands in front of the "Eye of the Sky", what he sees in front of him still makes him feel unprecedentedly shocked.

"There are many small pieces spliced ​​together on the huge antenna. There are three hexagonal patterns on it. The patterned surface shines brightly in the sun, and it has a special sense of beauty." The magnificence and magnificence that has never been seen before , Liu Zhangtao felt that he could remember it for a lifetime. At that moment, he also strengthened his dream, that is, he must learn astronomy in the future.

Popular science of astronomy is in full swing

Not only Liu Zhangtao, but the completion of "Sky Eye" set off a wave of astronomical enthusiasm in Pingtang, especially in the school. In May 2017, Pingtang County Minzu Middle School established the Astronomical Club for the first time. Liu Zhangtao also signed up to participate.

Pingtang County Minority Middle School is the only high school in Pingtang County, with more than 6,000 students, more than 90% of whom are ethnic minority students. When the Astronomical Club recruited new students, more than 600 people came to sign up, equivalent to 1/10 of the students signed up. Due to the limited number of places, only about forty students were admitted in the end.

Seeing the enthusiastic applicants, Yang Zhufei, a geography teacher, and Ren Chuangui, a Chinese teacher at Pingtang Minority Middle School, felt that they had done the right thing. They are the two earliest founders of the Astronomical Society. Yang Zhufei is from the Miao nationality, and Ren Chuangui is from the Buyi nationality. One is a "post-80s" and the other is a "post-90s".

When talking about astronomy, Yang Zhufei's speech speed became very fast, and he couldn't finish talking. In 2008, he graduated from Guizhou Normal University, majoring in Geography Science, and his love for astronomy was buried in his heart early. Because of a job transfer, he came to Pingtang just in time for the construction of the "Eye of the Sky" project.

"How many times can a person have such an opportunity in a lifetime! Now, the opportunity has been presented to us, and we must do something." Every time he talks about the original intention of establishing the Astronomical Society, Yang Zhufei always has a sense of mission.

The idea of ​​Yang Zhufei and Ren Chuangui received strong support from the school. Although the conditions are limited, the school still supported the club to buy some astronomical books and equipment, including 2 astronomical telescopes. In addition to the astronomical telescope donated by an astronomy enthusiast in the county, the community currently has a total of 3 astronomical telescopes. This kind of equipment, looking at the whole province of Guizhou, can be regarded as very professional.

As the hardware goes up, the software has to keep up.

The Astronomical Club regularly organizes activities once a week, which include explanations of basic astronomical knowledge, practical operation of disassembling and assembling telescopes, outdoor observations, expert lectures, etc.

Teachers especially encourage students to teach independently. Deng Guotao, a classmate of the Bouyei nationality who joined the Astronomical Club with Liu Zhangtao, was once the head of the academic department of the Astronomical Club, and was responsible for teaching independently: "The students are very motivated. Everyone collects materials by themselves, and makes PPT speeches on stage. Some people talked about the eight planets in the solar system, some people talked about black holes, and some people talked about the life of stars, and the classroom atmosphere was lively and enthusiastic."

Independent teaching fully stimulated students' curiosity about science, and outdoor observation opened another window for everyone to look at the world.

After the establishment of the Astronomical Society, the first time to organize outdoor observations was to go to Guilan Mountain to camp and observe the moon. Deng Guotao was very afraid of the dark when he was a child, but that was the first time he saw the moon with its bumpy surface through the telescope. "It's amazing, it's different from what I saw in textbooks. It's so close, it seems to be right in front of my eyes, and I can touch it with my hands. It's mysterious and beautiful."

It is during this study and observation again and again that the students are deeply attracted by the vast starry sky and the universe, and are determined to explore the unknown magic and greatness. In one activity after another, Yang Zhufei and Ren Chuangui also strengthened their belief that "interest and curiosity are the best teachers for children".

"Astronomy does not seem to help the test scores, but it helps everyone open up the world view and cosmology. Especially for children in ethnic minority areas with relatively backward development, astronomy has broadened everyone's horizons and patterns." Ren Chuangui said.

In the past, students in Pingtang never participated in any astronomy-related competitions or activities, and rarely went outside to communicate, let alone meet any astronomers and scientists.

After the "Sky Eye" was completed, astronomers and scientists from home and abroad often visited it. Physicist Yang Zhenning is here, "Mother of Pulsars" and Academician of the Royal Society Bell is here, Director of the British National Space Center Anu Ojiha is here, Academician Wu Xiangping of the Chinese Academy of Sciences is here, and Chief Scientist Hu Jingyao of the National Astronomical Observatory of the Chinese Academy of Sciences is here... …They not only came to see the "Sky Eye", but also went to the school to give lectures to students, teachers, cadres, etc., to popularize scientific knowledge.

In October 2017, when Yang Zhenning visited "Sky Eye", he specifically mentioned that while "Sky Eye" brought development opportunities, Pingtang should do a good job in popularizing astronomical science knowledge among young people and stimulating their desire to learn astronomical science knowledge .

In recent years, relying on the "Sky Eye", Pingtang has established the "China Sky Eye" children's research base, supporting a series of activities and functions, focusing on "China Sky Eye", Astronomy Experience Hall, Nanrendong Memorial Hall, Aerospace Museum, etc., the design High-quality courses, innovatively launched astronomy research products. Since the completion of the "Sky Eye", the National Astronomical Observatory of the Chinese Academy of Sciences has also held astronomical science popularization activities in Pingtang and other places in Guizhou Province every year.

Changing the life trajectory of a generation of teenagers

Under the influence of "Tianyan" and embraced by Tianwen, Pingtang students stepped up their pace of going out.

In 2018, Liu Zhangtao, Deng Guotao and other members of the Astronomical Club represented Pingtang for the first time and participated in the National Astronomy Olympiad for Middle School Students. .

In 2018, the Astronomical Society selected 5 student representatives, together with more than 700 outstanding young students from home and abroad, to participate in the International Big Data Industry Expo held in Guiyang. At a forum for primary and middle school students across the country, Liu Zhangtao, as a student representative of Pingtang County, gave keynote speeches on astronomy, life science, and artificial intelligence with two middle school students from Guiyang and the United States.

In 2019, Wang Wusi, a member of the Astronomical Society, once again represented Pingtang in the National Astronomy Knowledge Contest for Middle School Students, entered the semi-finals all the way, and finally won the "Xiaohe Award". At that time, it was Zhu Jin, director of the Beijing Planetarium, who presented him with the award.

In Zhu Jin's view, the "Eye of the Sky" has brought a historic opportunity to Pingtang's astronomical science education. Not long after the "Eye of the Sky" was completed, he proposed to the relevant leaders of Guizhou Province in a meeting that astronomy classes should be set up in Pingtang.

In August 2017, Pingtang County selected more than 20 primary and secondary schools as pilots, and invited four teachers from Beijing Planetarium and Tianjin Science and Technology Museum to conduct a one-week teaching training for teachers. In September, these schools started astronomy classes. After several years of advancement, as of the autumn of 2020, Pingtang County has achieved full coverage of astronomy science teaching in primary and secondary schools and kindergartens.

"Many students now spend their time on a few courses in the school. It is far from enough to only pay attention to the things in front of them and around them. Astronomy is concerned with things farther away, which can keep children curious about the unknown. These are very important for human development."

As an expert who has been committed to promoting astronomy education for decades, Zhu Jin always believes that there may be some differences between those who have studied astronomy and those who have not. If a place has many people who have studied astronomy, it will show a different look from other places.

This difference has already happened in Pingtang.

"Eye of the Sky" brought astronomy into the lives of young people in Pingtang, quietly changing their life trajectory——

In 2019, Liu Zhangtao was admitted to Sun Yat-sen University with honors, and studied in the School of Physics and Astronomy. Deng Guotao was also admitted to Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, majoring in aerospace. According to the data provided by the Pingtang County Education Bureau, from 2016 to 2019, a total of 5 students in Pingtang were admitted to majors in astronomy, and 493 students were admitted to majors in ecology, geology, environment, and energy. Most of them are ethnic minority students .

"I think the impact of 'Sky Eye' on minority children is to plant a seed about science and dreams in our hearts. This seed quietly germinates in our hearts, affects us silently, and will accompany us life." Liu Zhangtao said.

Today, the person Liu Zhangtao admires most is the astronomer Mr. Nan Rendong. Nan Rendong gave up his high salary abroad and returned to work in his motherland. He devoted the last 20 years of his life to the construction of "Eye of the Sky", overcame hardships one after another, worked hard, and finally built a world-leading national weapon. What moved Liu Zhangtao even more was that, as a great scientist, Nan Rendong still cared about the poorest people and supported several children studying in the deep mountains with his own money.

Liu Zhangtao, who came out of the mountains, also wanted to be that kind of person. He knows that there is still a big gap between himself and his goal, but he has been working hard to improve himself, trying every means to find outstanding people around him and learn from them.

"For future planning, I plan to do my best to study and engage in astronomical research in the future. My current goal is to strive for postgraduate study, and then go abroad to study for a doctorate, learn advanced astronomical knowledge abroad, and then return to China to contribute to the astronomical cause of the motherland."

In the hearts of Liu Zhangtao, Deng Guotao and more Pingtang minority children, the seed called "Starry Sky" has already grown tall and straight branches, ready to welcome the future of Lingyun.

Planting the Seed of a Dream (Reporter's Notes)

In the past few days in Pingtang, I have been looking for the impact of the "Chinese Sky Eye" on this county.

A former state-level poverty-stricken county has become a well-known "astronomical city" in the whole country and even in the world. When it enters the fast lane of development, something must be changing drastically.

The roads have become wider, the buildings have been raised higher, and there are more opportunities for development, all of which are visible to the naked eye. What is invisible but more profound is that people see the world differently.

Pingtang is located in the southern Guizhou area with high mountains and dense forests. There are nearly 60% ethnic minorities, with Buyi and Miao in the majority. Many ordinary people here have never walked out of the mountains in their lives, and suddenly there is a "Chinese Sky Eye" that can talk to the universe, and the world is opened at once, and the vast world rushes towards them.

Curiosity and desire to explore are the perpetual motors of human progress. They do not distinguish between ethnicity and gender, but there are differences in age. It has been scientifically proven that children have the most curiosity and desire to explore, and as they grow older, curiosity and desire to explore gradually decrease, and astronomy is precisely the one that most needs curiosity and cultivates the desire to explore.

The children of Pingtang are lucky. "Eye of the Sky" brings astronomy into their lives, enabling them to look up at the starry sky, have enthusiasm to explore the unknown, and walk a road that no one has gone before. I firmly believe that one day in the future, there will be astronomers and aerospace experts among them, as well as a group of astronomy teachers and astronomy popularizers. Among them, there will be Han, Buyi, Miao, and Maonan people... People of different nationalities come together because of their common pursuit, and Pingtang will become a city of astronomical talents, a city of astronomical science, and a city for the country. contribute more to the astronomy career.