The content of the acknowledgements of a doctoral dissertation at the Chinese Academy of Sciences has ignited public opinion. The author’s detailed account of his difficult childhood and struggle for education was used by the official media to promote it as an inspirational story of positive energy. However, the public believes that this is only a reflection of the reality of the lower class on the mainland, and that the incident reflects the government’s disregard for the lives of the lower class, and that behind the official media’s promotion is a cover-up of the government’s dereliction of duty.
The screenshot of the dissertation of Huang Guoping, a doctoral student at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, went viral on Sunday (18). In the acknowledgement section of the doctoral dissertation, it details the author’s unfortunate childhood, from the loss of his mother at a young age, his father’s death in a car accident when he was a teenager, his persistence in pursuing education under poverty and illness, his arduous journey from a rural elementary school to Southwestern University, and then to the Chinese Academy of Sciences to obtain his doctoral title.
The author’s experience was widely publicized on Monday (19) as an example of positive energy by the official media Xinhua, People’s Daily, and Wen Wei Po. And Huang Guoping also released the full text of the acknowledgement in various media.
Mr. Liu, a former Southern newspaper reporter, believes that many people regard Huang Guoping’s suffering as an inspirational story, but in fact it is a reflection of the government’s disregard for the lives of the lower class, the so-called positive energy rhetoric, behind the government’s failure to cover up.
Mr. Liu also pointed out that Huang Guoping’s success is only a very lucky few among rural children, the vast majority of rural children basically just drop out of school to work.
Mr. Liu said: he graduated from the doctorate four years ago, now Tencent well. That China’s compulsory education law, from July 1, 1986, the implementation of well, then he went to elementary school, junior high school, his mother left home, he went to work everywhere, then, the family this situation, where is the government ah? How did this become an inspirational story? This is clearly an accusation. He is lucky to have a PhD, but what about the vast majority of people? The majority of people in rural areas, more than 60% of them graduated from junior high school and went to work, so why can’t the sun shine on them?
Mr. Lin from Sichuan pointed out that this matter has become the focus because it has resonated with many rural children. But with the increased publicity, the matter has quickly become sensitive and may be officially blocked.
Mr. Lin said: this thing has caused everyone to empathize, so it has formed a craze well. I think that if the forward, the hype is too hot, the official will also be quickly blocked him. I think this is very normal, you know many places are not as developed as we thought, or the development of well. The rural areas are basically in this condition.
Ms. Liu, who works for a government department and is involved in grassroots work, also confirmed to the station that the poverty situation described by Huang Guoping is still very common. She pointed out that the problems of education, health care and pensions are the root causes of the pressure on the people, and even though the country has announced that it has completely eradicated poverty, the phenomenon of not having money for medical treatment is still alarming and even continues to worsen.
Ms. Liu said: It should be the case for poor students in rural areas, and it is more obvious. Inside the rural areas, medical care, education, pension, these things, so many people who are poor because of illness. My circle of friends have got a major disease without money waiting to die kind of. Every other period there are. There is also the problem of supporting the elderly in the countryside. Those old people, when they get sick, they can only let them die. I tell you, our poverty alleviation is all a numbers game.
Our reporter was not able to contact Huang Guoping himself to comment on the public opinion triggered by his ordeal. Neither the government of Yilong County, Sichuan Province, where Huang is from, nor the county education bureau responded to requests for an interview.
Chinese officials have been advocating positive energy and concealing the poor lives of the underprivileged in order to achieve their mission of whitewashing. Civil society organizations that care for the underclass often avoid criticizing the government.
Link to read.
Full text of acknowledgement.
I have traveled a long way and suffered a lot to deliver this doctoral dissertation to you. Twenty-two years of schooling, all the way to the wind, rain and mud, many not easy. It is like a dream, as if the family had been reunited only yesterday.
I was born in a small mountain pass, and my mother left home when I was twelve. My father was not at home much, even when I was too sick to go to the hospital by myself, he left barely enough money for medical treatment and then left again. When he died in a traffic accident when I was seventeen, I cried my eyes out because there was no one to take care of me when I got seriously ill again. That same year, my mother-in-law, who lived with me, died of an illness and there was really nothing she could do. She took care of me for seventeen years, but was buried in a thin coffin. Another family member was the old dog Xiaohua, who guarded the graves of my father and mother-in-law, and then died when I went to high school in the city. As a brother like computer teacher Qiu Hao did not see my college acceptance letter, to my care of the mother also left in a hurry before not confused. Every time I go back to see them, the graves are a reminder that every minute of life is precious.
While human feelings, life and death are certainly painful and helpless, poverty can make people lose hope. At home, doing homework or reading under a kerosene lamp was the most enjoyable thing at night. If it was raining, the reserved program was to use bamboo shoot shells to plug the cracks of the tiles to prevent leakage. Before high school, the main source of income was catching eels at night, fishing on weekends, raising piglets and renting out water buffaloes. During those years, I measured the paddy fields and small rivers in a 10-kilometer radius with my feet countless times. Being chased by dogs and snakes, falling into the water in the middle of the night, escaping home in the dark because of water in the storage battery; not paying school fees while eels were stolen and sold by my father, who then bought meat and wine, were all unavoidable.
The suffering behind people can still be overcome, but the dignity in front of people is incredibly fragile. When I attended classes, I was often called out of the classroom for an interview by the teacher for defaulting on tuition. When it rains, I go to class wet, and my buttocks may still be muddy. Walking barefoot on hot roads in summer. Walking through the long aisles in winter in shabby clothes and shivering to get your workbooks. All of this could be the last straw that broke the camel’s back. I would have given up long ago if I hadn’t been able to receive a bonus from the podium after exams, and incidentally, be able to put up a wall of awards to satisfy the last vanity.
Being in the vortex of fate, exhausted to fight for things that may have been rare, each turn of events seems so uncontrollable. Fortunately, fate has a touch of mercy in the end. After entering high school, the school waived all tuition and fees, and Uncle Hu’s family helped with living expenses. After I entered college, computer finally became my life’s work and hope, and my stomach ulcer and stomach bleeding finally left me.
It took two and a half hours to get to the county town by bus from home, and I always looked forward to getting out of the mountains. From Torchlight Township Primary School, Dayin Township Middle School, Yilong County High School, Nanshan Middle School in Mianyang City, to Southwest University in Chongqing, and then to the Chinese Academy of Sciences Institute of Automation, I can not remember how many times because of the pressure of reality and feel that they can not carry on. This way, the belief is very simple, read the book, and then go out, not in vain to live a life. The world is unpredictable, and the future is destined to face more complex situations. But because of these little bits and pieces, I already have the courage and patience to face any difficulties and challenges. The ideal is not great, I just hope that after half a century, I will still be a teenager, and I hope that I will have the opportunity to know the world again and live up to the hardships I have suffered in this life. Finally, if I can still make something to make others’ life better, then I will have earned this life.
Remark.
On April 18, the official microblog of the Chinese Academy of Sciences released a message disclosing this paper as “Research and Implementation of Human-Machine Interactive Machine Translation Method” by Huang Guoping, a doctor of engineering who graduated from the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences in 2017. After graduating from the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences in 2017, Huang Guo-ping has gone to Tencent to work in the company’s artificial intelligence lab, Tencent AI Lab. After graduating from the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences in 2017, Huang has moved to Tencent to work as a senior researcher in the company’s AI Lab.
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