Xia Shufang

Xia Shufang

He graduated from the Department of geology of Nanjing University in 1954, joined the Geological Society of China in 1956, and the paleontological society of China in 1960. In 1990, he was awarded the honorary certificate of "outstanding popular science writer" by the Chinese Association of popular science writers.

brief introduction

Xia Shufang was born in Linhai, Zhejiang Province in August 1930. He graduated from the Department of geology of Nanjing University in 1954, and then stayed to teach. Engaged in teaching and research of Geology and paleontology. He has published more than 30 professional papers and monographs.

Representative works

Popular science books published include random talks on fossils, features of Jinling, paleontology and energy, talking about Jiangsu in the vicissitudes of life, ancient animal world, Qixia mountain, Xuanwu Lake, geographic stories series, earth change, origin of human beings, uncovering mysteries of wonders of the world, earth shaking mountains and great tsunami, vast natural resources, beautiful mountains and rivers, and fear of human beings There are more than 10 species, such as dragon exploration, Chinese fossils and geological travel.

Life experience

Middle school

As early as in middle school, Xia Shufang was very fond of literature. He once published many essays and poems in his hometown's local newspapers. It seems that he has a vague habit of writing. After entering the Department of geology, he bid farewell to literature. But after learning the geological knowledge, the idea of popular science creation sprouted. In 1953, he wrote an article "underground water and well drilling" and sent it to "scientific public". Soon after, it was published on the special issue of drought resistance. From then on, the idea of continuing to write in the future came into being.

Life after college

Shortly after graduating from university in 1955, he took part in the geological survey of Fenhe River. During the field investigation, his desire for writing was aroused. After finishing the field work for two months and sorting out the necessary investigation records, he wrote a geological survey record of Fenhe River and sent it to traveler. Soon after, it was published. In the following two years, he wrote some articles, such as "looking at the geology on the road between Fujian and Jiangxi" and "a survey of the Loess Plateau in Eastern Gansu", which were published in traveler one after another. at that time, during the first Five-Year Plan period, news of mineral resources exploration often appeared in news reports, which aroused the concern and interest of the masses, and Xia Shufang's geological science articles naturally had a great response. People often send letters from the travelers Department asking about some geological or mineral resources in their hometown. Some of them are selected from the column by the Ministry of education, which makes the relationship among editors, authors and readers closer. In recent years, he deeply realized that the masses needed scientific knowledge, and the creation of popular science should be his unshirkable responsibility.

Life achievement

At the end of the "Cultural Revolution", science pictorial published by Shanghai Science and Technology Press changed its name to "science popularization". When it came to Nanjing University to solicit contributions, it needed popular science articles on newly developed topics in geosciences. The Ministry introduced him to writing for the magazine. He has written popular science articles on plate tectonics and paleoclimate, all of which have been published. Soon after the end of the "Cultural Revolution", the ministry often sent letters from the masses asking for answers to common geological phenomena. From then on, I felt that the masses were eager to obtain scientific and technological knowledge after the "Cultural Revolution", and felt that a good situation of popular science creation was forming, so I should take some responsibilities. At the end of 1976, Shanghai Science and technology publishing house suggested to write a book on fossils. At that time, the journal fossil, founded by the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, had been published for two years and was praised by Chairman Mao. The masses were also very interested in fossil knowledge. This event aroused Xia Shufang's creative enthusiasm. Although he has written many popular science articles, he has not tried any popular science works. In cooperation with the Ministry, it took one year to finish the book "random talks on fossils". It was officially published in 1978, with more than 70000 volumes in the first edition, and sold out in half a year. Later, it was printed for the second time. Shortly after the publication of fossil ramble, letters were received from workers, farmers, students and grassroots cadres. They all talked about the harvest after reading, or put forward some geological phenomena they had seen and their doubts. Some of them even attached sketches and photos, and even sent specimens for identification. The enthusiastic response of readers has enhanced his interest in science popularization creation and his confidence in teaching and scientific research, from which he understands that the study of majors is closely related to the needs of the masses.

Comment

At this time, Hong Kong Wen Wei Po also published an article commenting on "random talks on fossils", believing that this is a high-quality popular science work, readers have learned a wealth of fossil knowledge, and the illustrations in the book are also well drawn. In 1980, the book won the second prize of excellent popular science works of the new Long March. Since then, he has successively written popular science pamphlets on earth history, geological travel and the origin of human beings. In 1990, he was awarded the title of science popularization writer with outstanding achievements by the second congress of the National Association of science popularization writers. Among them, "fossil ramble" won the second prize of national new Long March excellent popular science book, and "ancient animal world" won the third prize of Shanghai excellent popular science book. He has won the title of excellent popular science writer since the founding of the people's Republic of China. "geological travel" is now listed in "selected works of Chinese popular science". Geological travel was originally published by Science Press. At that time, just after the "Cultural Revolution", many academic groups resumed their activities and gradually embarked on the normal track of operation. In addition to promoting scientific research and carrying out exchange of papers, they also noticed the task of popularizing their knowledge to the masses. The Geological Society of China, the paleontological society of China and the Science Press jointly plan to produce a series of basic knowledge books. Xia Shufang has accepted the task of compiling two books, paleontology and energy, and geological travel, and completed them on schedule. Its purpose is to popularize dynamic geological knowledge to the majority of young people with medium geographical knowledge, especially those who are in rural areas or like to travel to scenic areas. Young people can learn some basic geographical and geological knowledge in the process of contacting nature, understand nature, master nature, broaden their scientific horizons, and do some work for economic construction when they have the opportunity. At the same time, it can also increase the students' interest in learning, help them observe various geological processes and geological phenomena in the field, and supplement the classroom teaching content. In the 10 years since the publication of the book, tourism has developed rapidly in various places. Urban people have left the noisy environment one after another, and have more and more opportunities to contact nature. Their interest in nature is growing day by day. On the way of sightseeing, they are not satisfied with the story explanation of tour guides, but want to understand the natural environment of each tourist site and the scientific significance of its occurrence. As a result, the geological profile and characteristics of those places have become a hot topic for tourists, hoping to learn some scientific and cultural knowledge, which is quite like "study tour" advocated by the ancients. Some geography teachers who teach in tourism schools also use "geological travel" as their teaching reference book when preparing lessons to teach young students geological and geographical knowledge, so that they can enrich scientific content and uncover the mystery of nature when telling tourists about the mountains and waters of tourist attractions. Geological travel is no longer a popular science book limited to geology. With the continuous development of national economy, its function or influence has exceeded the original imagination when it was published.

Creative experience

1、 The soul of science popularization creation is science

. That is to say, every popular science work must tell the readers the most basic, strict and accurate concepts of various disciplines. It must not be considered that popular science works are written for the general public to read, not scientific papers. It can be written casually, or even pure fantasy that does not conform to the scientific reality (or laws) can be taught to the readers, so as to avoid misleading and spreading errors with errors.

2、 Popular science creation should be as attractive as literary works

. Generally speaking, scientific papers emphasize logical thinking, literary and artistic creation emphasize image thinking, and popular science works must have both. That is to say, a good popular science work should be a perfect combination of science and art, so that readers can feel relaxed and happy when reading popular science works, and get scientific knowledge from them without any mental effort. The expert sees that there is no mistake, and the layman sees it with great interest.

3、 Popular science works should contain more information

When writing, we should be good at quoting from other sources, make full use of the topic, and absorb relevant and related knowledge in addition to the professional knowledge. If writing is limited to a small problem, sometimes I feel that I can't do it, and I can't explain the problem clearly. If we can develop our writing style, learn by analogy, and be at ease, we will be able to explain the problems clearly.

4、 Popular science works should absorb certain literary knowledge

Especially the knowledge of classical literature is very necessary. Because the ancient natural science in China is quite developed, and the records of natural phenomena in ancient books are also quite rich. When it comes to modern science, it is also very good for us to carry forward the spirit of patriotism by properly connecting with ancient science.

5、 Popular science works should be easy to understand

. Xia Shufang thinks that since popular science works are for the masses to read, we must pay attention to the popularity of words and avoid obscure words or words, otherwise we can't call them popular science works.

Life now

Xia Shufang is currently the director of China Popular Science Writers Association, vice director of Jiangsu Popular Science Writers Association, director of Nanjing Popular Science Writers Association, and editorial board member of science public. Baidu Encyclopedia content is shared by netizens. If you find that your data content is inaccurate or incomplete, you are welcome to use your own data service (free) to participate in the correction.

Chinese PinYin : Xia Shu Fang