On October 26, 2008, Qian Xuesen 's niece and granddaughter came to visit her home. While chatting, she asked Qian Yonggang :
If your father Qian Xuesen didn't return to China, you and your sister Qian Yongzhen could be as smooth Grow up and maybe be as accomplished as they are.
They refer to Qian Yonggang's American cousins Qian Yongyou and cousin Qian Yongjian . One of them is a famous neurobiologist and the other is a Nobel Prize winner.
Qian Yonggang, who returned to China with his parents, even had a very bumpy school experience.
He dropped out of school twice, didn't get a chance to go to college until he was 30, and didn't finish his studies until he was 40.
Looking at his experience, one can't help but sigh a lot.
The world is full of dust, as a descendant of a generation of great scientists, what exactly has Qian Yonggang experienced?
Rough childhood
On September 17, 1955, after many hardships, Qian Xuesen finally took his family on board the "Cleveland President" ship and embarked on the road back to China. That year, Qian Yonggang was 7 years old.
Before this, Qian Yonggang had been in elementary school for one year, and he clearly remembered his parents telling him to study hard and develop good study habits.
When he was in the second grade, his family told him not to go to school, but to play at home.
dropped out of school just after starting school, which was naturally very puzzling to Qian Yonggang at the time, but now it seems that it is obviously some preparations made by Qian Xuesen and his wife for returning to China.
Soon after, little Qian Yonggang followed his parents on board the ship that changed the course of his destiny.
That day, he and his sister played on the deck for a long time, but the boat still didn't leave the shoreline.Really tired, they went back to the cabin to sleep. When they woke up, the big ship was already sailing on the endless sea.
In the blink of an eye, they had already spent more than ten days on the boat. On the night of September 30th, everyone gathered together to celebrate the National Day.
Qian Yonggang sang with his younger sister, accompanied by his mother. This was the first time Qian Yonggang celebrated the National Day.
A few days later, they set foot on the land of their motherland and started a new life. For Qian Yonggang, everything is new and unfamiliar.
He lived in the United States since he was a child, and he was not used to many living habits at the beginning, such as drinking milk for the first time.
They used to drink room-temperature milk in cartons abroad, but the domestic conditions were very difficult at that time, and the milk they could drink was hot milk in glass bottles.
He couldn't accept it for a while, so he whispered to his sister, but his father told them bluntly: If the milk feels hot, let it hang out, and drink it when it's cold.
It is the same with milk, and it is the same with other diets, parents require them to eat unless the food is undercooked.
In terms of communication, he has been exposed to English since he was a child, and he also studied Western culture. As for the language and culture of the motherland, everything needs to be learned from scratch.
Fortunately, his language talent is good, and it didn't take long for him to communicate normally with his classmates, and his studies were gradually on the right track.
In his memory, every time he wanted to play with his father, his mother would stop him outside the study.
After dinner, Qian Xuesen would go back to his study to study. Even if he was sweating profusely in midsummer, his father would wipe his sweat while reading.
During this period, except for very special things, my father does not allow others to disturb.
If I have something to talk to my father, it is usually during meal time.
Under the influence of his father, Qian Yonggang started to read while studying, and even used his pocket money to buy books.
It didn't take long for him to have his own small bookshelf.
This is exactly in line with Qian Xuesen's expectations for children. He even more expects children to be able to read widely and have a wide enough range of knowledge.
Although Qian Xuesen expects children to read more books, he does not require them to get full marks in every exam.
After the results of the final exam came out, Qian Yonggang's grades were all 4 points, so the teacher asked him to talk.
Teacher thinks that with Qian Yonggang's qualifications and family environment, it shouldn't be a problem to score 5 in the test. I hope he will work harder next time.
Qian Yonggang returned home angrily, and told his parents about the matter, but Qian Xuesen just laughed.
Waiting for the next final exam, Qian Yonggang scored 5 points in all the exams. When he happily returned home and told his parents, Qian Xuesen only said one sentence: two 4 points are also very good.
Qian Yonggang once recalled that it is not necessary to get full marks every time, as long as you really work hard and be worthy of yourself.
Time and time flies, Qian Yonggang studied hard at school and read a lot of books. In 1966, he had not yet graduated from high school, but had to face another turning point of fate.
After struggling in school for a while, Qian Yonggang felt that he had no future in sight. After thinking twice, he decided to drop out of school and join the army.
Qian Xuesen was silent for a long time, and only said one sentence: If you have thought about it, go ahead and do it. And asked his son to do well.
Life is full of ups and downs, we always have to make choices, and what is more important is how we treat the path we choose.
After joining the army, Qian Yonggang worked very hard and was not afraid of hardships. He was eager for sunshine and rain like a sprout that had broken through the ground again, hoping to make some achievements.
No matter how it is judged from all aspects, Qian Yonggang is the number one in the company. If he joins the party and is judged as the best, then he must be the first.
But in those days there were some prejudices against intellectuals. Some people even thought that if you gave up the good living environment in the United States and came to China, what was your purpose?
Because of Qian Yonggang's outstanding performance and everyone's distrust of him, his company has not been evaluated for a long time.
Later, when the group leader saw that they hadn't developed party activists for a long time, he became very angry. The
company actually tried to find a way to transfer Qian Yonggang away first before appraising the excellent ones. It is said that only two weeks after he left, the second place was successfully rated as excellent.
Qian Yonggang, who has already experienced many ups and downs, didn't say anything. Instead, he silently endured these injustices and settled down to do the current thing well.
Sometimes I feel really unwilling, and I just talk to my mother in private.
But Qian Yonggang never mentioned all this to his father, he knew very well that his father was in a dilemma.
Fortunately, no matter in any environment, he never gave up on himself, and has always had his own persistence and pursuit, so as to do the current thing well.
10 years passed quickly, and when the college entrance examination resumed in 1977, Qian Yonggang seemed to see a turning point in his fate again, and he decided to take the college entrance examination.
Although he hadn't gone to school for many years at that time, he wondered how he would know if he didn't give it a try. The worst result would be that he didn't get into college.
He quickly applied to the leader, and if he passed the exam, he was allowed to change jobs. After obtaining consent, he studied hard day and night, and it took only one year.
In 1978, he was finally admitted to the National University of Defense Technology of China.
Just when he entered the campus full of enthusiasm, reality gave him another sap.
Among all the freshmen, he was a full ten years older than many students, and the feeling was so sad.
Compared with the past twists and turns, this twists and turns obviously couldn't help him. He soon put all his thoughts into studying hard day and night. At the age of 34, he finally got the university diploma that he had been thinking about day and night.
After graduating from college, he came to California Institute of Technology , where his father used to work, with the idea of going out to broaden his horizons.
At that time, the president of Caltech still remembered the promise he had made to Qian Xuesen at that time, allowing Qian Yonggang to enter the university without the entrance examination.
In this university, he spent day and night in the laboratory, proving his strength with good grades.
got his master's degree when he was 40 years old. Although he got this degree later, it was heavy. Although it is not as good as his father Qian Xuesen's achievements, this is his own medal.
After graduating, he was not in a hurry to return to China. Instead, he came to Silicon Valley to experience the operation of American computer companies.
A few years later, with his parents getting old, Qian Yonggang returned to his motherland to take care of his elderly parents while starting his own business.
He followed his own speed and trajectory, writing his own life path step by step.
After graduating and working
and returning to China, Qian Yonggang became a university teacher at National Defense University of China , and later Mr. Qian also retired from his post, and they began to have more exchanges.
Sometimes the father and son talked about Qian Yonggang when he was a child, and Qian Xuesen also said that if he gave you a math, physics and chemistry question every week, he could go to any university he wanted.
It's hard to hide deep regret between words.
But Qian Yonggang didn't take it seriously, or maybe he had already let it go.
He later expressed his gratitude to his parents in the program. It was his parents' words and deeds that allowed him to have a clearer understanding of fame and fortune.
html For more than 20 years, Qian Yonggang has never put his mind on the pursuit of fame and fortune.
He has been in his position, sticking to the pursuit, hoping to send more talents to the country with his own efforts.
Professor Qian Yonggang's batch after batch of students, many of them have achieved very good results in the computer field.
And with his years of deep cultivation, he has also achieved good results in the field of software systems.
In 2002, he was rated as a senior engineer by the General Armament Department. After 2004, he was hired as visiting professor by Shanghai Jiaotong University and Xi'an Jiaotong University .
But no matter what, he never changed his mind.
After Qian Xuesen died of illness in 2008, Qian Yonggang began to do some things to commemorate his father. He increasingly hoped to pass on these things from his father and leave Qian Xuesen's spirit to society and history.
He participated in the Qian Xuesen Library established in Shanghai, and he also talked about the progress with his mother from time to time. His mother always responded by saying: You're doing pretty well at what your father does.
Qian Yonggang always has a deep sense of pride on his face every time he reads this. After the
library was completed, he also became a volunteer lecturer himself.Whenever he gave an explanation in person, he would always lead the visitors to read a passage:
I will do my best to build my own country together with the Chinese people and let my compatriots live a dignified life.
These words are exactly what Qian Xuesen said to the reporter before returning to China, and this may also be a feeling in Qian Yonggang's heart.
Just like the family motto of the Qian family that he has always kept in mind: don't seek for the benefit of the body, but seek for the benefit of the world.
Later, he devoted himself to setting up Qian Xuesen class , hoping that more people would be influenced by Qian Xuesen's spirit.
He himself has always maintained the family tradition left by his father. A reporter noticed that Qian Yonggang often rode a very old bicycle when traveling.
He doesn't pay much attention to material things, but works hard on inheritance. Qian Yonggang, who is now in his sixtieth year, is still using his own actions to spare no effort in doing these things.
The first half of Qian Yonggang's life was full of ups and downs; although his father was so famous, he hardly had any glory. Instead, he dropped out of school twice, went to college at the age of 30, and graduated at the age of 40.
everything looks a few beats later than normal, life looks so bad, but he doesn't stand still.
He found the rules of conduct in the words and deeds of his parents, corrected his course of life bit by bit, and now he has his own shining achievements.
Although Qian Yonggang's achievements are not as brilliant as Qian Xuesen's, they are still remarkable.
Everyone is eager to get a grade and not be left behind by others. But life is never planted in March, and there must be harvest in September.
The key is to stick to your own trajectory and not be trapped by setbacks, only then can you reap your own achievements.
As Hemingway once said: There is no nobility in being better than others, the real nobility should be being better than your past self.
encourage each other!
. END .
[Text | Wei Lan]
[Editor | Daniel Lee]
[Typesetting | Drizzle]
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