When we rushed to the interview venue, Xu Xiaotian was playing Hearthstone with the phone. Noticing our arrival, he waved to us with a shy smile, saying“I've been here for a while and couldn't help but play a game. Shall we begin when this one is over?”After the game, he put his phone in the pocket and made a request before we could talk,“Let's talk less about research and study but more about literature and poetry, shall we?”This set the tone for our interview.
Biography
Xu Xiaotian, a senior student of English-teaching Innovation Class of Materials Science and Engineering, the owner of the WeChat official account of“a small carp", has four submitted SCI papers and has been recommended to the research group of Prof. Zhang Rui at South China Advanced Institute for Soft Matter Science and Technology.
It's not easy to stick to a simple thing.
We talked about his personal official account of “a small carp", which is the proudest thing he has done in the past three years in college and also the intention of this interview. He said candidly that he did not aim to go viral with some astonishing articles and that the whole thing was purely out of enthusiasm.
“It's not rare for college students to own a personal official account on WeChat. However, keep running is very hard compared to a brief passion. I'm just doing something I love.”In the past three years in college, he published over 60 poems and over 20 articles with different contents. On the days when no original works are published, he posts a recommended poem of others at 23:40.
“This idea comes to me in a flash. On the one hand, it can make the account more active. On the other hand, it forces me to read poetry constantly so as to share good pieces with readers. At the beginning, I needed to find some way to remind myself of it. Then it becomes a habit gradually. Even if there is an exam tomorrow or a party tonight, I won't forget to publish a poem,” Xu smiled,"‘a small carp’receives many messages, from exchanges of ideas to recommendation of poems. I feel like a tree hole listening to friends’or strangers' thoughts. I hope when someone is sleepless, he can find some comfort by reading the poems or articles in‘a small carp'. Of course, I will reread my works when I can't fall asleep and wonder, 'Wow, it is what I wrote. Can I still get it now?'"
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（Articles of Xu's Wechat account）
As the only long-term provider of the account, he receives conributions from many friends who favor writing as he does. “All kinds of contributions are welcome - poetry, film reviews, opinions on current events and papers. They are all very good..”In this way,“a small carp”serves as a communication platform for Xu and his fellows.
Poetry is light
During the interview,“poetry”was mentioned most frequently. From the blow of college entrance examination to his first disappointment in love, poetry was there to heal the wounds. He has learned to reconcile with bad mood with the intervention of poetry, “You read the recipe of life / a beaker of traditional Chinese medicine similar to coffee / three spoons of movies about revolution or love / eight milliliters of body honing / a few micrograms of Red Mansions / a few scoops of far-away sleep / a few wisps of Mishima* spiting smoke / dissolve with a whole bucket of solvent called meaningless / you stir carefully / worry about spilling even a drop of words or meaning.”
(* Yukio Mishima, Xu’s favorite Japanese writer)
He feels sorry that now few young people write poems.“Every college student was a poet in the 1980s. Who wouldn’t want to write a few words when in love? Cellphone does make people too impetuous.”
Xu has long been reading and writing poems. However, it was the volunteer teaching experience that provided him a thorough understanding and reflection on the essence of poetry.
(Xu and his students during volunteer teaching)
“I went to Shuanghe Town in the west of Guangdong Province to teach local rural children in the summer vacation of sophomore year. I taught Modern Poetry Appreciation. In the end, I found that the carefully prepared nursery rhymes and poems themed maternal love, life and nature didn’t really impress the local children since, beautiful as they were, they were too common to catch attention. On the contrary, I was moved by their wonderful metaphors and ideas.”He wrote in an article,
"For them, there are many things in life that are far more important and interesting than poetry. So, if they are a little bit touched or moved by poetry or even have the impulse to write a line at some point in the future, I will take the credits.”
I teach poetry to rural children
He said he wouldn't stop writing until he found life itself could be more fun than poetry.
(a flattering photo shot in the village that Xu volunteers as a teacher)
A poet and coder studying materials
When asked why he chose science, Xu said candidly that since his encounter with chemistry in high school, he has been fascinated by the unity of microscopic particles and macroscopic phenomena and wanted to trace the beauty of the world’s essence. Another slightly weird reason is that learning science, especially materials, a discipline focuses on the exploration of matter, enables him a unique style in writing poems.
He said that science was not only a major, but also the sources for his writing. “Once I was doing an experiment in the lab, a drop of THF* splashed into my left eye. Everything went black at that time and I thought I was going to be blind. Fortunately, it was a narrow escape since I dealt with it immediately, flushing my eyes with flowing water. I wrote a poem for the incident before bed that night, ‘the warm water pulls him back to the fume hood of life / he lies in a boat at night / and feels he has never been so close to this swaying water / he only remembers two things / flaming eyes and rhyming solvents’. There are some experiences that liberal art students can never taste.”
(*THF, tetrahydrofuran, is a commonly used but highly toxic organic solvent.)
Xu balances well the operation of the WeChat account and his academic life. He ranks top 20% in the class and has been awarded the first-class scholarship and as a merit student at the university level for two consecutive years. In the second semester of freshman year, he entered the research group of Academician Tang Benzhong for scientific research training in polymer chemical synthesis methodology, where he experienced for the first time the life of a scientific researcher. After continuous efforts, he has four SCI papers submitted and one accepted patent.
"These small achievements attributes to the much time spent in the lab helping senior schoolmates with their work. I am still green.” When talking about his accomplishment in study and research, humble as he was, Xu didn’t want to claim much credit as he hurriedly waved his hand. “My English was not good. ISAM’s all-English teaching cultivation model has helped me improve a lot, thus I dare to speak in English on various occasions now.”
Xu lives by the motto of“Anything is an experience". Therefore he is willing to try any new things and face any challenges as they will eventually become a part of his life. For Xu, all that is experienced may be reflected in his poems. Like other college students, he actively participates in student clubs and activities. For example, he is the current news director of Baibuti, an innovative student news center; made the finals of the school singer contest twice; won the hurdles in the school games three times, and plays various ball games. He is always ready for new experiences hoping to discover the fun out of them.
(Xu participates in SMSE football match in the cloudy day)
After three years of hard work with excellent results, Xu obtained the recommendation for postgraduate programs. He decided to study material calculation and simulation with Prof. Zhang Rui at South China Advanced Institute for Soft Matter Science and Technology. He admitted that this would be a new field where a lot of challenges awaited him. “During my undergraduate years, synthetic experiments take up most of my research. But, I feel a little overwhelmed. So I want to change my direction for further study. Many students majoring in materials, including me, do not have a solid foundation in mathematics and programming, so learning to do computational simulation will be full of challenges. ”
“Coding is inevitable in calculation and simulation; thus some of my friends call me ‘the poet who codes’. I think such a combination is quite interesting. Writers like Wang Xiaobo and Xu Zhiyuan both have a computer science background.” He realized that he might be very busy in the future, immersed in the world of 0 and 1, mathematics and physics, with limited time to read and write. “I think there should be no conflicts. What I learn will be internalized. Imagine me writing poems in programming language and programming in poetic language.” We were amused by his joke.
(Wang Xiaobo, one of Xu's literary idols, also types code)
A cloven person
“You have shared a lot about yourself with poems, literature and WeChat account. Well, as we are here for ISAM, would you mind telling us how we can relate your story to the school?” Xu laughed,“That’s easy. Ms. Huang Chunxian of ISAM is my loyal reader!”
“I’d like to share with you a book that I just read - Visconte Dimezzato by Italian writer Italo Calvino. In the novel, a viscount is split in two and becomes two people: the Good and the Bad. People always have multiple personalities. In many cases, they need an opportunity to talk with themselves. What we see and hear in our lives often has more than one side and needs to be carefully identified and tasted." Xu showed a sly look.
It is just Xu being himself, again.
