I entered Tianjin University in September 2018 as a Master student of Translation and Interpretation at the School of Foreign Languages and Literature. The first lesson of my postgraduate study was to watch Hou Debang, an original play created and performed by TJU students, telling the story of how Hou Debang, a pioneer of China's heavy chemical industry and one of the founders of modern chemical industry bound his own fate with that of the nation and the country and pursued his chemical dream relentlessly all his life.

This play later became a compelling factor in my decision to suspend my study for one year and serve instead as a voluntary teacher at a senior high school in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. The one year long voluntary experience then helped me figure out where my life interests lie and choose my career accordingly, that is, to work at the grassroots level in the less developed western area and cater to people’s needs there.

I’d like to be a fish, swimming my life in the big ‘ocean’ of the west land; and I’d like to be a bird, seeing the work, the country and the world from an altitude my Alma Mater raised me to.

Contributed by Zhu Jianglin

Editor: Eva Yin