For a long time I have always said that I had never truly gazed up at the brilliant starry sky—but then I suddenly remembered something: it turns out that, although it was only simulated, I really had once gazed upon a brilliant starry sky!
I remember it was in fourth grade of primary school. At the time, I was in a cross-grade division of the Singapore Primary School Mathematics Olympiad and won third prize, which gave me the chance to visit Gezhi Middle School. Of course, this was Gezhi Middle School trying to recruit talent. The main guests were the fifth-graders who were about to choose a middle school, and we fourth-graders, because we had also won prizes, were invited along as well; naturally, they hoped that we would choose Gezhi Middle School the following year too.
But there really was not much to see at Gezhi Middle School. Mostly we just listened to an introduction and looked at a presentation about the school’s anniversary celebration (it seems it was the 122nd anniversary), and I have no impression of any of that at all. Gezhi Middle School’s campus was pitifully small; at that time it did not even have a playground. What else could you expect, given that it was located in the city center? In a place where every inch of land is worth its weight in gold, being able to carve out a basketball court would already have been a miracle; as for a track and field field, that was simply out of the question.
But Gezhi Middle School had an observatory, and at that time there were not yet many middle schools in Shanghai with one of those now of course there are more and more. They opened it for us to see. Of course, they did not let us use the telescope; instead, they showed us a simulated starry sky—after turning off the lights, they projected onto the hemispherical dome a simulated four-season sky brighter than the real one, and let us watch it as if we were there in person. It was tremendously shocking.
It really was tremendously shocking. I was completely stunned at the time: wow! Good heavens! So amazing! So beautiful! I was probably so excited I was nearly out of my mind. Then I heard that Gezhi Middle School had an “astronomy group,” one of the best among Shanghai’s middle schools, and that it had held all sorts of activities, and so on. Right there and then I “announced” that I would definitely come to Gezhi and join the astronomy group! Teacher Cao from the Youth Science Station still remembered this many years later, and when I was nearing graduation from middle school he said to me: “Don’t you like astronomy? Come to Gezhi.” Of course, in the end I still did not go to Gezhi Middle School, because the year we entered middle school happened to coincide with Shanghai’s cancellation of the junior divisions of its key high schools, and when it came time to enter high school, after all, the advantage of the Four Famous Schools was far greater than the appeal of an observatory—in fact, during my first two years of middle school I knew practically nothing about any other school. What was always on my mind was: anyway, as long as I can get into Gezhi, that would be enough; getting into Gezhi would be sufficient. I still remembered the astronomy group then, but it was only after I gradually learned about the gap between Gezhi and the Second Affiliated Middle School and Shanghai High School that I changed my mind. Later still, I almost forgot about this observatory experience altogether. But the shock buried in the subconscious, I’m afraid, will never be forgotten.
Peking University also has an astronomy club, so why didn’t I join it? Because I was lazy, I suppose—getting lazier and lazier. Now I haven’t joined any club at all, and that does seem a little regrettable. But sooner or later I will go back to gaze at the starry sky; even if I do not join the astronomy club, I myself will, at some opportune moment, go and meet that exquisitely beautiful starry sky again, and I will personally go to see the real starry sky. My heart yearns toward it.
August 18, 2006
Translated from the Chinese original with AI assistance. The original text is authoritative.
Leave a Reply