This is the speech I gave in my sophomore year for the college speech contest. I found it when I was going back to my stuff last mid-autumn. I’ve tidied it up a bit and am posting it here. The article is based on two articles from the Phoenix website at the time. The competition at that time was also after the Mid-Autumn Festival and National Day. I remember that on that National Day, the Phoenix Legend held a symphonic concert, and the symphonic version of “Above the Moon” was very good. Unfortunately, it was too close to the competition to change the soundtrack. Here’s an addendum.
The successful landing of the Chang’e 3 probe last month was a new milestone in China’s space exploration. China’s great achievements in aerospace cannot be separated from the hard work of spacefarers, the wise leadership of the Party and the State, and the support of the general public. However, there are some people who want to throw cold water on it, saying, “The Americans landed on the moon decades ago, what’s the point of China landing on the moon now?” The Chinese government’s policy is to “make the moon a reality”, “aerospace is an image project, there is no need to go further.” They said, “Other countries can just borrow the advanced technology they already have to go to space.” They use this to denigrate Chinese spaceflight and even attack the Party’s leadership and decisions.
In fact, such logic is very ridiculous. Your neighbour’s child has gone to university, so you don’t have to take the exam. Your neighbour’s family has travelled abroad, so you don’t have to go there anymore. You don’t have to eat the food your neighbours have eaten. The scientific research the Americans have done, so China doesn’t have to do it anymore. It seems like foreigners share their results with others, as if the Americans never had the Wolfe Act and never banned official space exchanges with China.
Some people go to see the sea, pick up a seashell on the beach, go home and declare that they have seen the sea, and so there is no need to go to the beach again in their lifetime. Some go to see the sea, then go out on a ship to explore the sea, engage in maritime trade, tap into its resources and explore a wider life on the ocean.
Admittedly, there are countries where spaceflight is like a tourist endeavour. They pay other countries to send their astronauts into space and then claim that “their country has astronauts”, thus gaining national pride. At one point it was said that “a dozen countries were ahead of China in the space business”, but what was the end result? These countries are just picking up shells and returning home to the taste of the sea.
Why would a “poor country” with 1/3 of the world’s population living in poverty and many people still hungry want to explore Mars? India’s official response to this was righteous - “If we don’t dare to dream big, then we will have to be lumberjacks and water carriers.” After the successful orbiting of India’s Mangalyan Mars probe on the 21st of last month, it sparked a worldwide debate, with many Western media hailing it as a triumph of democracy and saying that India has big dreams, but ironically, when it comes to China, it is a waste of money. Many publicists criticised China for its slow pace and lagging technology, making Firefly 1 a failure and allowing India to be the first to “explore fire” in Asia, forgetting that India’s Moonship 1 was in fact the first to achieve a lunar surface mission in Asia. The “Moonship 1” was the first probe to achieve a hard landing on the lunar surface in Asia, but it was only this first, this “shell”.
China’s manned spaceflight may not be as technologically advanced as that of the US and Russia, and China’s level of moon landings may not be as historically advanced as that of the US. But when the Chinese saw the sea, they built their own ships and started sailing, rather than just being satisfied with picking shells off the beach or taking a tour on someone else’s boat, not to mention that the Americans wouldn’t even let China ride in their boats.
When manned spaceflight was rejected, we built our own Shenzhou; when the International Space Station project was rejected, we built our own Tiangong; when Europe refused to cooperate in navigation satellites, we participated in Beidou. The great Chinese people, under the Communist Party’s leadership, have been able to build their own space station. The great Chinese, under the leadership of the Communist Party, have gone from nothing to the “two bombs and one star”, and now to deep space exploration.
The purpose of lunar exploration is not just to prove that “the Chinese have come”, or to leave a few footprints on the moon’s surface and then go back to sleep on Earth. Exploring the Moon is not about “finding a shell” and saying that we have achieved our goal, nor is it about saying “the Americans have been here, so other countries don’t have to come back”. Exploration of the moon is not a one-time, two-time, three-time, four-time thing, but should always continue to truly achieve the development of the moon, and this requires the construction of China’s own “ship”.
“Is space exploration worth it?” The same question that confronted the Americans decades ago is also being asked by other countries. Today, India, Japan, South Korea and even North Korea, despite having many unresolved issues at home, are still determined to take the step of space exploration and invest in the future! After all, where would KFC be today without the Mayflower [Note 1] that carried Columbus?
Yet when China is confronted with this question, some so-called “thinking people” have their own answers, and the “reasons” are surprisingly similar - so many people in China still do not have enough to eat, so many people cannot afford to go to school, so many people cannot afford to go to the doctor, so many people cannot afford to buy a house, so many people ……
Is it possible that there are still people who don’t have enough to eat, that India’s detection is a triumph of the system, and that all Chinese people should just die on the surface of the earth, staring at the sky?
Throughout history, there is nothing new about this kind of reasoning, it is purely the teeth of the ancients.
Whether it is the Zambian nun who asked NASA in 1970, “Why do we spend so much money on the Mars project when there are still so many people on Earth who cannot eat? …and the military and people died …… Even if we get a strange treasure …… back, what good will it do to the country ……?” The three “three gentlemen of Hongji”, Liu Daxia, are revered for their “boots on the ground”, but also regretted for not “looking to the stars”.
Although the earth is the cradle of mankind, mankind cannot stay in that cradle forever. The Chinese people have a longing for the stars, and the Chinese astronauts under the leadership of the Communist Party of China are still struggling hard. Once, the Chinese lunar rover explored the lunar surface for the first time with the aim of coming back the next time and the next time; now, Chang’e 3’s adventure of landing on the moon is also for a further journey!
As the soundtrack says, “The wind is blowing in the drinking river and lake, and the wine flag is waving as I carry my sword. [Note 2] As contemporary university students, we must use our knowledge and wisdom to break up pseudo-science and false public knowledge, spread positive energy, uphold the achievements and honour of Chinese spaceflight, and support the great leadership and wise decisions of the Communist Party. As long as we don’t mess up ourselves, no one can disrupt our steps. Bearing in mind our mission, we have to do more than just pick up shells on the seashore; firmly believing that the ultimate goal of Chinese spacecraft is to go further into deep space, our destination is to the stars!
Note 1: Cristóbal Colón discovered the New World in 1492. Some 100 years later (1620) the Mayflower set sail, and on this voyage the crew made the Mayflower Compact, the first of countless self-governing conventions in the United States. These two ‘firsts’ are alluded to in this article to illustrate the importance of pioneering endeavours for the benefit of future generations.
Note 2: The soundtrack at the time was accompanied by Shaosi’s ‘Drinking from the River and Lake Wind’.
