In a copy of a graduation memorial book from the Yuanhu Road Primary School in Nanning City, Guangxi, Comrade Huang Danian’s Advanced Deeds Education Base, Huang Danian’s inscribed “Revitalizing China is the responsibility of my generation” is vividly engraved on the paper and is also deeply engraved by the teachers and students of his alma mater. In the heart.
Portrait of Huang Danian issued by Xinhua News Agency
Huang Danian was born in Nanning, Guangxi in 1958, and then moved to remote mountain villages with his parents. On the first day of the college entrance examination, he walked the mountain road for nearly a day before reaching the examination room 20 kilometers away. In 1978, he was admitted to Changchun Institute of Geology (now Jilin University) with excellent results and studied in the Department of Applied Geophysics. After completing his undergraduate and master studies, he stayed on to teach at the school with excellent results. His classmate Mao Xiangnan still cherishes the gift of Huang Danian’s 1982 book, “It is our responsibility to revitalize China.”
In 1992, Huang Danian was fully funded by the “Sino-British Friendship Scholarship Program” and went to the UK to study for a doctorate degree. He became one of the 30 publicly sent overseas students at that time. Before going abroad, Huang Danian firmly said to his classmates: “I will definitely bring back advanced foreign technology!” In 1996, Huang Danian received a PhD in geophysics from the University of Leeds in the United Kingdom.
Huang Danian conducted in-depth research in the field of geophysical exploration at an aviation geophysical company in Cambridge, England. He led the team to achieve a technological breakthrough in the implementation of ground-penetrating precision detection through fast-moving methods in the complex ocean and land environments.
In the more than ten years abroad, his wife who studied medicine has set up her own clinic, and his daughter has also achieved academic success, and his family lives in a comfortable life. However, Huang Danian has never forgotten his commitment to the motherland. He always misses his alma mater and frequently visits and exchanges with him to expand the international vision of teachers and students.
With the launch of the “Overseas High-level Talent Introduction Program”, the “Thousand Talents Program”, the country has introduced high-end talents in key areas, focusing on supporting a group of scientists and leading talents who can break through key technologies and drive emerging disciplines to return to China for innovation and entrepreneurship.
After Huang Danian learned the news, he persuaded his family to resign. At the end of 2009, Huang Danian, as a distinguished expert of the national “Thousand Talents Program”, served as a full-time professor at his alma mater Jilin University, and was selected as the chief scientist of the Earth exploration project. This project is centered on Jilin University and organized more than 400 outstanding scientific and technical personnel from universities and research institutes across the country to carry out research on two major projects: “High-precision aerial gravity measurement technology” and “Development and experimentation of key instruments and equipment for deep exploration” .
In 2016, at the acceptance meeting composed of a number of academicians and experts, after 6 years of hard work, the research team led by him was selected for the National Science and Technology Innovation Achievement Exhibition, and was on the list alongside Tu Youyou and many other famous scientists.
Looking back on the hardships, Huang Danian once said calmly: “I was cultivated by the country. As long as the motherland needs it, I will go all out.”
Behind the impressive results are hard work. After returning to China for 7 years, he spins tirelessly like a top, often forgetting to sleep and eat. In the early morning of November 29, 2016, Huang Danian fainted again during a business trip. Back in Changchun, the unit forced him to do an inspection, but there was no result yet, so he went on a business trip to Beijing.
Before returning to Changchun to catch his breath, Huang Danian received a hospitalization notice: cholangiocarcinoma, hospitalization. On January 8, 2017, Huang Danian died in Changchun due to ineffective medical treatment at the age of 58.
Huang Danian’s assistant, Yu Ping, sent a message of condolences: Every time he walked through the Cultural Square, he would look up at the window on the fifth floor of the Geological Palace. Usually the lights would stay on until after 10 o’clock in the evening or even later. But from now on, I can’t see the light anymore, because the person who lit it was tired and wanted to rest, and he gave himself an indefinite holiday…
Teachers and students also sent mourning essays: In order to realize the dream of a great country, this young man from overseas returned with enthusiasm. Even though the road ahead is difficult, he has never given up his loyalty to the country and pursuit of career…
“Teacher Huang always puts the cause of the country and the nation first. As a student of Teacher Huang, it is the responsibility and obligation to pass on this patriotic feeling and scientific research spirit.” Huang Danian’s student Zhou Wenyue said.
In the Yuanhu Road Primary School in Nanning City, his alma mater, in the advanced deeds education base of Comrade Huang Danian, 57 objects and 137 pictures vividly show Huang Danian’s growth history, supplies, and scientific research results. Over the past three years since its establishment, the base has received more than 20,000 visitors from more than 400 units.
In May 2017, in order to implement the spirit of important instructions given by General Secretary Jin Ping on the advanced deeds of Comrade Huang Danian, the Central Propaganda Department publicly publicized and released the advanced deeds of Huang Danian as “Excellent Intellectuals Practicing Socialist Core Values” and posthumously awarded Comrade Huang Danian was awarded the honorary title of “Model of the Times”; in November 2017, the Central Mental Civilization Construction Steering Committee posthumously awarded Comrade Huang Danian the honorary title of “The Sixth National Moral Model”.
(Xinhua News Agency, Changchun, June 16th, by reporters Zhou Liquan and Huang Haoming)
“Guangming Daily” (Edition 04, June 17, 2021)