Written by: ZHANG Binnan
Translated by: YU Shuangshuang
Edited by: William Mosteller
Date: 11-6
In the 1960s
with the initial intention of cultivating talents
for the industrialization of China
Academician DU Shanyi chose to take root in the frontier
Fifty-five years have passed
he has never changed his mind
He still enjoys scientific research, strategic planning, and team building
He is Du Shanyi, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering
In the early 1980s
as one of the first batch of visiting scholars to go abroad for further study
he kept the needs of the CPC Party and China in mind
and studied assiduously
He finally found composite materials
which is an academic direction vital to the development of the space industry
He declined being retained by his foreign tutors
And resolutely returned back to China
He adhered to his initial mission:
serve the country through the development of science and technology
He led the team, overcame numerous difficulties,
and solved lots of key problems in the field of composite materials
Now in his eighties
he is still healthy and hearty and has a full schedule
Academician DU Shanyi said:
Among the many important life choices he has made,
it is the spirit of the ‘Eight Hundred Heroes’ of HIT
that has exerted a subtle influence on him
He also inadvertently passed on this spirit to his students
What he really cares and worries about is
The discipline construction and personnel training
the development of HIT in the next century
the great dream of building China into a leading power in science, technology, and education
a great modern socialist country
