For Zhang Chengwen, there were many highlights in the first 61 years of his life.
For example, 38 years ago, he took the exam from Yan'an countryside to Beijing with a score of several tens of more than the admission line of Tsinghua University and Peking University, and entered the missile design major that was very popular in the past. For example, more than 20 years ago, Zhang Chengwen, who just came to Chengdu, started from scratch and earned his first 3 million yuan in his life by selling repeater machines. Or maybe now, at the age of 61, he is preparing to step onto the "battlefield" of the postgraduate entrance examination at the end of December and challenge the application for Peking University .
The small coffee table and a wooden chair in the corner of the terrace in the home are the places Zhang Chengwen uses to study every weekend. After he posted his experience preparing for the postgraduate entrance examination on social media, he became a little popular on the Internet.
Most of the netizens who follow Zhang Chengwen are young people. They will send private messages to Zhang Chengwen and tell him to cheer up. They are telling their thoughts here and are inspired by Zhang Chengwen's story. Zhang Chengwen said: "What you are doing can inspire young people and become their role models. It is a very valuable thing to society."
Zhang Chengwen prepares for the postgraduate entrance examination
"Beihang, entrepreneurship and the first half of the ups and downs "
Put aside the filter of 61 years old choosing the postgraduate entrance examination, Zhang Chengwen's life is also colorful enough.
Zhang Chengwen said that he was a well-known "school master" in the village since he was a child. When he was a child, his family was not in good condition, and all nine people in his family depended on his father who was a rural teacher to support him. In 1984, seven years have passed since the college entrance examination resumed. Zhang Chengwen from the old revolutionary base in Yan'an was admitted to the missile design major of , Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, and in that era, this was definitely something worth showing off.
But 4 years later, when the young Zhang Chengwen stood at the threshold of graduation assignment, he found that he was facing the dilemma of not having a final assignment. In September 1988, Zhang Chengwen, who had lived in the Beihang dormitory for two months, lost his patience. I heard from my friends who were sleeping in Shenzhen that there were many opportunities and high wages. My mother was sick at the time and the family urgently needed money. He took the train to Shenzhen south.
In Shenzhen, Beihang's title did not allow Zhang Chengwen to easily find a high-paying job, but instead made him face walls everywhere. The positions of teachers, mechanical engineers and other candidates rejected him because of their mismatched majors. Finally, relying on his English skills, he settled in a foreign-funded factory in Shenzhen and started translator. During his six years in Shenzhen, Zhang Chengwen has been to many companies and has changed several jobs, with his salary rising from 800 yuan to 5,000 yuan. In that era, it was an enviable enough income. But Zhang Chengwen felt that in the factory, life is like a pool of stagnant water and there is no hope.
Zhang Chengwen’s undergraduate diploma
Zhang Chengwen recalled that during that time, I often went to the book stall outside the factory to read books, and a book completely changed his concept. From the current perspective, it is a book of success. The experience of Li Ka-shing and Run Run Shaw in and Run Run Shaw in made Zhang Chengwen urge to start a business. So he chose to resign, went to a company that produces repeater machines, and started as a salesperson from scratch. At first, due to lack of experience, Zhang Chengwen's performance was not outstanding. But he quickly found his direction and used his expertise in English to read English aloud with a microphone at the counter every day, attracting customers who want to buy repeater to learn English. Sometimes, more than 100 units can be sold in the morning. After accumulating enough experience and connections, Zhang Chengwen quit his job and found another repeater manufacturer as a partner. He bet on the tens of thousands of dollars he saved in Shenzhen in recent years and came to Chengdu to start his own business.
In this city where you are not familiar with the place, because of insufficient brand awareness, his repeater cannot make any sales. Seeing that the company is in trouble again, Zhang Chengwen once again thought of his English expertise. This time, he wrote the publicity materials full of 10 methods of learning English that he had summarized, and spent 400 yuan to rent a classroom in the primary school. Every weekend, he provided free English training for customers who bought repeaters from 7 to 9 pm. Soon, Zhang Chengwen earned his first 3 million. But two years later, he lost most of it, leaving only more than 1 million.After
, Zhang Chengwen traveled to many cities and tried to make a comeback, but all of the electronic dictionaries, wireless network card , classified advertising and other projects they chose were on the "mine point". Finally, in 2008, Zhang Chengwen lost all his money and went north to Tianjin, returning to his status as a migrant worker.
『At first, I was doing an account to attract attention, but later I "get serious about " 』
Postgraduate entrance examination, went to Peking University, majoring in Chinese international education. These words were not related to Zhang Chengwen's world.
Since social security has not been paid for for a full year, he still chooses to work at the retirement age. At the same time, he also has a happy family, and his daughter has now joined the work.
At the beginning of this year, the company that Zhang Chengwen worked for wanted to expand its marketing channels and required every employee to operate their own social media accounts. The older Zhang Chengwen did not play with such a tool that belonged to young people. At this time, the young people in the team showed him a way.
"At that time, a young colleague said that when I started an account, I needed to let others understand my experience. I knew that I graduated from Beihang University and was a top student. I said you could try taking the postgraduate entrance examination and post the study experience of preparing for the postgraduate entrance examination online, which should attract a lot of attention." Zhang Chengwen said.
"Last year, my classmate when I was at Beihang University was elected as an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering . He was a graduate student and then he could continue his studies. Because my family was in a poor condition, I could only choose to work. I still had a lot of regrets in my heart. This time I also wanted to make up for my regrets through the postgraduate entrance examination." Zhang Chengwen said, "I thought about it. Because I like reading, have a wide range of knowledge and good English level, I chose Chinese International Education major."
Zhang Chengwen successfully registered for the postgraduate entrance examination
Zhang Chengwen's home has a terrace, which is not large in area and is full of flowers and plants. A small coffee table and a wooden chair are placed in the corner of the terrace. The coffee table contains the textbooks and notes for the postgraduate entrance examination. This is the place Zhang Chengwen uses to study every weekend.
Zhang Chengwen, who was thinking about starting an account, started to study and became serious. "Because I usually have to go to work, I can only study after get off work and on weekends. I am really preparing for the postgraduate entrance examination seriously. Sometimes I learn until one or two o'clock in the evening, read the textbooks through, and I have taken a lot of notes. I am now memorizing it. And through this period of preparation for the exam, I found that my memory has not yet decreased, and I have also learned a lot of knowledge I didn't know before."
"Make up for my regrets when I was young. I will take the exam until I can't move." "
In order to take the postgraduate entrance examination, Zhang Chengwen bought more than a dozen thick textbooks, exchanged a lot of information and experience with "senior friends" who were about to be of the same age as his daughter, and also did several sets of postgraduate entrance examination questions from previous years, and had a more practical understanding of the challenges he was about to face.
"I know this is a very difficult road. This major only recruits more than 10 candidates every year, and there are thousands of people who have registered. Many people have been preparing for it for a long time, or have studied this major." Zhang Chengwen said, "But I don't think I'm wasting my time. I set the goal of postgraduate entrance examination for myself and worked hard for it. I learn new knowledge every day. Although this knowledge cannot be exchanged for money or diplomas immediately, they can improve myself, and I think it's enough."
Notes taken by Zhang Chengwen
For Zhang Chengwen, being popular on social media because of the postgraduate entrance examination is a very special experience. He often shares his learning process for the postgraduate entrance examination in his account: Notes taken by the history of modern Chinese literature, doing English real questions, learning new memory methods, and learning experience in postgraduate entrance examination English. He was also somewhat unexpected about the gains brought by this experience. Most of the netizens who follow Zhang Chengwen are young people. They will send private messages to Zhang Chengwen and tell him to work hard. Many graduate students majoring in Chinese international education sent Zhang Chengwen a lot of postgraduate entrance examination experience.
There are also many netizens gathered in the comment section of Zhang Chengwen’s account. Some of them are taking the postgraduate entrance examination, some are encountering setbacks, and are at the trough of their lives. They are telling their worries here, encouraging them to see “Great Uncle Zhang”, and at the same time are inspired by Zhang Chengwen’s story.
Seeing these comments from netizens, Zhang Chengwen was moved and happy. He felt that what he was doing could inspire young people and become their role models, which was a very valuable thing to society. "I remember someone commented on me, saying that he was lying on the bed, but when Mr. Zhang was still taking the postgraduate entrance examination at the age of 61, he immediately felt that he should go to study. There was also a girl who commented that she encountered some setbacks and wanted to find a shortcoming, and her mentality changed after seeing my account."
In the eyes of Zhang Chengwen's wife and daughter, his behavior of taking the postgraduate entrance examination was not to show off, but to really do this seriously. Although they also felt that it was very difficult to take the Peking University exam, they still supported Zhang Chengwen's choice. Zhang Chengwen's daughter saw that he was actively preparing for the postgraduate entrance examination and studying to endorse every night, which made her very moved and inspired. She graduated from college and also studied with her father, preparing for the adult self-study exam.
The colleague who shared the account with him was also moved to see that he was really preparing for the postgraduate entrance examination seriously and thought that Zhang Chengwen was setting an example for young people with his actions.
Zhang Chengwen is very frank about the results of the postgraduate entrance examination. He said that it was almost difficult to get into Peking University this year, but the knowledge and happiness he gained from it is irreplaceable. "I have experienced a lot in my first half of my life, and I have succeeded and failed. Not passing the exam this time will not affect my mentality. I made up my mind to keep studying and taking the exam until I can no longer learn or take the exam."
Red Star News Reporter Ye Yan Intern Reporter Li Yida Photo According to the interviewee
Edited by Chen Yixi
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