From a doctoral student at Fudan University to an associate professor in 985 colleges, poverty makes people realize the difficulty of getting rid of inferiority complex

Source of this article: "Reader" magazine Author: Huang Zhenqian

Yesterday, I deposited 400 RMB into the fixed account of Bank of China. So far, I have paid off the national student loan during my undergraduate years, plus interest, a total of 28,000 yuan. six years. But it is such a small amount of money that has tossed me for so many years. I want to write a little story about poor students.

It has been ten years since he became a poor student when he was admitted to a high school in the city in the countryside. Writing an article in ten years should not be considered unprofessional. This article is not young and frivolous, nor is it difficult or difficult, but it is the background of turning over my precipitation, in order to move forward more firmly.

Dr. Huang Zhenqian from Fudan Source: Fudan University

1. My family lives in the mountains of Yunnan, and the village is also "middle class". Since I was born, my family has never worried about food and clothing. But going to school has still become a big problem, and the family's ability to monetize is really limited. My wine is very good, but it can only be sold to the next village at most. Most of the money I need in middle school comes from raising pigs, but the price of pigs is unstable, and if I encounter the fifth disease or something, it will be a headache. My family owns a lot of fields, but the output is limited. My family's assets can only afford me to go to high school, and going to college is completely powerless.

It is certainly an honor for me to be able to study in a key university. But when I go to university, I have to take the state's thigh (state loan), and my parents will naturally give part of the living expenses within their ability. A small but important reason for studying in Shanghai is that I believe that in a big city like Shanghai, there will be very few poor students, and I may be able to get more funding.

When I was in high school, there were more than 50 people in my class, half of which were poor students. Sure enough, when I arrived in Shanghai, there were only five impoverished students in my class, and I could almost get the National Inspirational Scholarship for impoverished students every year, and it was easier to get work-study opportunities. I even became a student administrative assistant in the school office during winter and summer vacations, and in a short period of time, I had "getting into it" with the principal's secretary.

So, how much money did you borrow from the state at the time? 24,000 yuan, 6,000 yuan a year, just enough to pay tuition, but living and accommodation expenses need to be paid by yourself. At that time, we lived in the suburbs, and there was no hope of falling in love. At that time, the living expenses were not so expensive (otherwise, I would have to ask for "campus loans").

Life was simple and simple back then. I didn’t have the money to buy a mobile phone when I was a freshman. I didn’t know if I was admitted to the student union recruitment. I waited for a phone call in the dormitory all day. My sister forgot to notify me, thinking that I had lost the election, and I had been lost for a long time. I remember one time. Jianjun and I went shopping for mobile phones in Songjiang Old Street for a day, and finally bought a basic Nokia model that was the cheapest in the entire street. After spending more than 400 yuan, we were ready to save money.

2. The four-year undergraduate period can be simply summed up in a few sentences: morning reading, class, assistant management, library, running, taking a cold shower (the good name is "honing the will"). Every day is the same simple life. After four years of college, I didn't watch a movie until I graduated and was admitted to Fudan University (it was actually "Avatar"!).

In 2011, I was admitted to Fudan graduate school. Thank goodness, I finally don't have to pay tuition! However, just because the graduate student changed schools, the state asked me to start repaying the loan (why can't I get a three-year probation?). Except for me, the other three students in our class who borrowed money all paid off with their parents' money at one time (without paying interest). I don't want to and can't mess with my parents.

I decided to start the repayment myself, and I chose the one with the longest term, six years, and 400 yuan a month. A total of 4,000 yuan in interest. At that time, I secretly warned myself: I must be healthy, otherwise my parents will have to pay the money back.

There's no tuition for graduate school, I don't have a job, and I don't have a source of income. Therefore, you can only hold the national thigh when you are a graduate student. The national student loan is 15,000 yuan (5,000 a year), which just fills the big hole for undergraduates. But you have to pay for it yourself after graduation. You can owe anyone, but you can't owe the country.

Once a month, I will go to the nearest Chinese bank to repay the loan on time, which is basically delayed until the last day. Even if there is a violent storm, it has to go through the wind and rain. I ran a total of 72 times (once in arrears, I was worried at the time, for fear of affecting my credit record).

Poverty hit me hard when I went to a Chinese bank to start repaying my loan, when there were no automatic repayment machines. When I was waiting in line at an unfamiliar bank, I saw an uncle in front of me who spoke Shanghainese coming to withdraw money. He actually carried a black sack and put the money in bundles. I really haven't seen it (except in the movies). Yes, I was whimsical at the time: how good would he be if he were my dad (covering his face). When the counter called my number, I wanted to run away, and I told her in the least confident voice since birth: "Please help me deposit... 400 yuan into... this account".

Why are some people so rich and others so poor? My political philosophical thinking about this society probably started with this little thing.

At that time in 2007, 24,000 yuan could buy one square meter of a house in Shanghai, and my old house was not worth that much. A suite in Shanghai can train 100 poor students like me. There are more than 100 poor students like me, tens of thousands. Shanghai gave me the feeling that this city is another country.

Why in the same country, some places are so rich and some places are so poor. Why are they actually the same country. I see that many international students have a good understanding of China, and they still stay in the prosperity of Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, but I don't know that there are still thousands of college students who can't afford to go to school.

3. Today, finally, I paid off my undergraduate loan.

But when I was a graduate student, I turned to the country and borrowed 15,000 oceans. When I graduated from graduate school, I also chose to repay in installments. Although at that time, my parents were able to gather enough money, but I think I have already agreed that I will not spend a penny on them for graduate school. Fortunately, there is a deposit machine now, and you don't have to worry about the strange eyes of the bank's crush.

actually. I almost had a chance to pay off my loan when I graduated from graduate school, and I received far more scholarships and grants (work-study) in Fudan than I did in my undergraduate years. Fudan Dad is so nice. But these valuable compliments were all used for the TOEFL and GRE (I took the TOEFL 5 times and the GRE 5 times in total!), until I got a good score. This is the most money-burning thing I have ever done when I was the poorest, no one, tightening my belt to test English.

Finally, when I graduated from Fudan University, there was almost not a single coin left in my trouser pocket.

Isn't it just tens of thousands of dollars? It's really that hard. Um. how to say. I am still a poor student. What I owe to the country will probably not be repaid until I graduate from my Ph.D. Thanks country. This is the truth.

In fact, I just want to talk about poor students. I also watched the recent interview with The Paper on Beijing's champion, and it said it well. This child is so magnanimous and sober, and will become a great tool in the future. It is difficult for a poor family to have a noble child, and it is the same wherever and at any time. You don't need to be a noble child, but it is equally difficult to cross the class. Piketty, in Capitalism in the 21st Century, mentions the rise of the pin-daddy principle, and that's about it.

But my ten years of being a poor student taught me that poor students are no different. Poverty is not something to be proud of, nor something to shame, nor something to be sympathetic to. Of course, poor students do not have such good material conditions and institutional preferences, but they also have the opportunity to turn into a butterfly, provided you work hard enough, be patient enough, and have a strong heart.

Here's a sentence: Heaven will send a great responsibility to the people, and they must first suffer their minds, starve their bodies and skin, and deplete their bodies...

Um. At least have the will to convince yourself.

From a doctoral student at Fudan University to an associate professor in 985 colleges, poverty makes people realize the difficulty of getting rid of inferiority complex

Huang Zhenqian won the special prize of the 11th "Academic Star" of Fudan University

Before I started my Ph.D., I chose the harder path for both going home and studying abroad. The first time was when I graduated from an undergraduate degree, and I could choose to go home. If you don’t believe me, when I returned home, I was a talented person from a key university who returned to my hometown. The second time was during my postgraduate studies. My mother was seriously ill and was hospitalized. I had the idea of going home and guarding her.

I chose to stay. The decision to go back was hard, but going back made life a lot easier. The decision to stay is easy, but staying makes life hard, but here are the lights to break through the barriers. What I want to do is not in the valleys, but in the vast ocean (isn't it the sea of stars!). I don't think it's bad to stay, I can be successful in the mountains and do meaningful things. However, the realization of my private wish had to leave the village. That's all.

Presumably, my stubbornness is innate: I firmly believe that anyone can do what he wants to do, and it takes absolute effort and even sacrifice. And, sometimes even become cold, to themselves, to their loved ones.

Perhaps my hard work, hard work, and stupidity are partly due to innate disobedience, partly from the joy of wanting to be recognized, and partly from indignation at inequality. But part of it really came from the passion for finding OnePiece, and that part never faded.

4. In "Dear Andre", Long Yingtai said that the small fishing village born in poverty gave her the courage to defy authority. I strongly disagree. Being from the bottom is more or less easy to carry the humbleness that dares to be angry with authority (I used to be the same). It is not the origin itself, but through hard work, growth and transformation, I completely get rid of narrow-mindedness and low self-esteem.

Those from the bottom need to transform, and the same is true for those from the top. What everyone needs to break through, the shackles loaded by their origins, are all equally difficult, but different. Pride and prejudice, ignorance and resentment, are all naughty.

I feel that even though I haven't done anything great, I'm not a successful person. But I think one of the things that poor students can't do is to cross the river and demolish the bridge. New urbanites restrain future new urbanites, and those out of poverty oppose poor students. Gou is rich and wants to close the road. The most serious is institutional crime: solidifying interests and hindering flow.

The real enemy of the poor is often the self who has counterattacked many years later.

From my own experience. As a high school student in Pu'er No. 1 Middle School, I am inferior and sensitive. As an undergraduate student in Chinese politics, I yearn for recognition but lack the ability. When I was a graduate student at Fudan, I had some over-expressed false conceit. And now I'm a Ph.D. student, maybe I'm the better one.

I gradually understand. No one's success is taken for granted, the person who is better than you is not his IQ is higher than yours (although this is possible), but he does the right thing in the right way, if I can do this, I also works. The reason why poverty is different is that the same result cannot be paid more.

I began to appreciate the diversity of society, began to understand, communicate and learn, to explore some important issues that I do not want. I want to study institutional changes in African countries, and I want to understand how the outside world affects Africa's domestic economic and social development, and how to help Africa. Probably because Africa is also like a poor student in human society, it needs more understanding, perception and care from the outside world, and the uniqueness of Africa needs to be recognized.

I believe that the system is the biggest magic weapon for poverty alleviation, just like policies such as national student loans. If not, the state student loan, I might be another person now, but I'm afraid not the one I like.

What determines how far a person can go is always the road you are walking and the direction of the road, not the starting position.

I also believe that there is more than one way.

About the Author:

Huang Zhenqian is currently an associate professor at the School of Humanities and Development, China Agricultural University, and a researcher at the China Agricultural University Tanzania and Southeast Africa Research Center (National and Regional Research Recording Center of the Ministry of Education). In 2020, he received a Ph.D. degree from the School of International Relations and Public Affairs, Fudan University. The winner of the 11th "Academic Star" special award of Fudan University in 2020, and the winner of the outstanding doctoral dissertation of Fudan University in 2020.

The first author of the research results has been published in journals such as "Research in Political Science" and "World Economics and Politics". Served as an anonymous reviewer for journals such as "World Economy and Politics", "Comparison of Economic and Social Systems" and Chinese Journal of International Politics.

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From a doctoral student at Fudan University to an associate professor in 985 colleges, poverty makes people realize the difficulty of getting rid of inferiority complex

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