Rejuvenating China through science and education makes much headway

Eugenio L.G., an expert in atomic physics, and also a professor at the National Autonomous University of Mexico , has just wrapped up his fifth visit to china at the invitation of the related Chinese authorities. When asked about the differences he felt this time compared with his previous visits, he grinned, 'China has seen a radical change in the past decades.'

'I can say that I have witnessed what has taken place in China since its reform and opening up to the outside world, and especially what has happened since China endeavored to achieve its goal of revitalizing the country through science and education,' Eugenio L.G. was cited as saying when he reminisced the days he and his wife spent in China in 1970s and 1980s, when the country initially ushered in the reform and opening up policies.

The couple came to China in 1973, when China and Mexico has just established the diplomatic relationship. Eugenio took considerable interest in his debut visit to the ancient country he had long been attached toward, as he made a hurried journey to lecture at almost every privileged university across China and shared with his Chinese counterparts the latest development in physics of the time. 'Even if it was my first visit to China, I wished I had stayed any longer,' he smiled.

In 1981, he paid a second visit to China, and this time worked as a visiting professor at University of Science and Technology of China teaching modern physics. He said his second visit to China coincided with a time when China began to open its door to the outside world, and more and more Chinese youths were dreaming of going abroad for further study. Therefore, he found his English- speaking wife was even more popular then, as the entire campus of the USTC was bathed in a frenzy of preparing for assorted tests of English levels, and both professors and students there were bent on English study in order to win scholarships and fulfill their dream to go abroad.

Eugenio could not help but express his worries about China's 'brain drain', which he thought could result in the shortage of talents, and affect China's ongoing progress in science and technology. But his worries were finally settled in 1986 when he came to the university again, as he found most of the Chinese scholars who had gone with the rush of 'going abroad' returned, and some of them even became lecturers and professors at the USTC. Much to his pleasure, many returning Chinese scholars have grown more mature in their research work and some have established notable academic positions. He quoted the returning Chinese scholars as saying, 'by going abroad and absorbing others' advantages, we have greatly sharpened the competitive edge in the academic studies and research,' which Eugenio thought would also greatly contribute to China's scientific development and speed up China's link with the most advanced international science and technology.

In 1995, before his departure for China as a fourth visit, Eugenio learnt from some authoritative international journals that China has made much headway in particle physics, and this later proved to be a much broader platform for his exchanges of scientific ideas with the Chinese academia. Through the effective exchanges of academic ideas and closer contact with the Chinese scientific staff, he was convinced that China's science and technology are thriving with each passing day, and China's younger generation of scientists is exhibiting a much broader horizon in thoughts as well as in the actual research work.

In Eugenio's eyes, the year of 2008 acts as the milestone to China. He felt quite proud that he made the fifth visit to China in such a colorful year. He especially felt delighted to find that both work conditions and living conditions for the Chinese scientists and technological staff have greatly improved. Most of them now boast spacious and computerized offices and labs, which Eugenio thought not only indicates a significant change to facilitate the scientific research work but also embodies the governmental determination to revitalize the country through science and technology.

He also noticed that China's government has attached great importance to the transfer of the fruits from scientific research into productivity. 'The Chinese people have fully realized the significance of converting the wells of knowledge into the resources of wealth,' said Prof. Eugenio L.G.

The senior scholar also touched on the recent success China has made in space exploration, saying, 'the space walk is a splendor, and I believe China will fulfill its dream to land on the moon in the foreseeable future.'

By People's Daily Online