Can science be popular in China?
Everyday questions like these are helping to open a door into the
realms of science for thousands of ordinary Chinese.
Posted on the "Dr. You" column on songshuhui.net, they are opened up
to answers from other readers.
Only the most interesting and provocative questions are chosen, says
Wang Yan, the website's content editor. Every day more than 50,000
people visit the songshuhui (Science Squirrels), which opened in April
last year, and the number is growing.
So named because the club's organizers promise "to peel off the hard
shells of yummy science kernel... like little fluffy squirrels opening
nuts". The website is at the forefront of popular science in China.
It translates foreign popular science essays, organizes screenings of
science documentaries, invites scientists, researchers and science
fiction writers to public talks, and arranges tours of scientific
research facilities that are normally closed to the public.
Its off-line activities are always over-subscribed.
When the Science Squirrels organized a group study of the July 22
total solar eclipse in Shanghai, the number of places was filled within
three hours of the announcement.
And the heavy rain failed to dim the enthusiasm of the lucky few who
joined the group.
Xiao Wu, 20, and her mother traveled for 16 hours from southeast
China's Fujian Pronvince to Shanghai.
She met some of her favorite writers, whose easy-to-read and humorous
popular science essays had helped the sophomore in her own studies.
"I never read such stories on science in Chinese. They're so
informative," says Wu, who takes an interest in astronomy, geography and
environment, as well as her own major, biology.
In its short existence, the blog has collected a raft of accolades.
It was voted the "Best Chinese Blog" in awards organized by German state
broadcaster Deutsche Welle in 2008, and the official China Association
of Science and Technology ranked it alongside China's first spacewalk in
the "2008 Top 10 Events of Science Popularization in China."
It was founded under the motto "To make science popular" by Ji
Xiaohua, better known by his pen name, Ji Shisan, 32. With a doctorate
in neurobiology, Ji started writing popular science essays on campus,
before abandoning research to devote himself to science popularization
in 2007.
"I wanted to jump out of the small circle of a certain subject and
have a wider view of the scientific world," Ji says.
"During my part-time work on campus, I found popular science can
reach more people. When it brings me a little success, I feel a
responsibility to do the work."
He opened the blog to a wide range of popular science topics and it
now has 80 to 90 part-time writers, mostly science reporters,
researchers, and university and institution students.
In late 2008, they published the book "When Colorful Sound Tastes
Sweet," a collection of their most popular work.
Ji wants to see people talking science in the restaurants, cafes and
bars, and at home.
Although Chinese traditionally have a high regard for science, they
fail to see its influences in daily life, he says. "The public have shut
science out of their lives. Many people believe in astrology and blood
type analysis," Ji says.
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