Beautiful Stories: Inspirational university student journey
The first time I met my junior, I felt a strong presence. Although she was modest and courteous, with a gentle and harmless smile, I could still sense a bit of the aura of a strong woman. During a chat, she was torn about her future. Most of the seniors thought she should join a multinational company and become a sharp professional.
Of course, Sun Xiaoting has now clarified her future path. Before chatting with me, she was in the dormitory memorizing words to conquer the GRE vocabulary, preparing for the next step in her life.
“I always feel that others’ lives are exciting, so I am afraid that my life will remain monotonous.” Actually, Sun Xiaoting’s six years in university were filled with various practical experiences. In the eyes of others, her life was already exciting, and her achievements were absolutely at a “top-notch” level. Her experience summary was published on a well-known WeChat public account with the title “A Beautiful Academic Star Shares How to Secure a Research-Based Master’s Degree”. It wasn’t until I saw the article that I exclaimed, “So the junior is that amazing!”
Sun Xiaoting did her undergraduate studies at Sun Yat-sen University’s School of Communication and Design. Before coming to Renmin University’s School of Journalism, we had already heard that she had a lot of practical experience in various projects during her undergraduate years and had already embarked on the path of an academic star, paved by one project after another.
A Heaven-Sent Skill
Sun Xiaoting is a thorough action-taker. Rather than immersing herself in academic isolation, she prefers to embrace and integrate into the ever-changing society. The issues she focuses on are always closely related to reality.
In her freshman year, Sun Xiaoting began her first summer practice. Despite not having received any professional academic training at the time, the issues she was concerned with seemed to subtly set the tone for her university’s main theme—how public spaces are formed in low-rent communities for young people.
What sparked her interest was a news report discussing low-rent housing for young people. Sun Xiaoting remembered the title roughly as “Making Their Lives More Dignified”. After reading the report, her interest was piqued. She contacted the reporter and the interviewees, then went to the low-rent housing community in Foshan to “knock on doors”.
Sun Xiaoting admitted that the questionnaire she designed was crude, and she had no understanding of social science research methods; the entire investigation was an exploration for herself and her friends. She felt at ease conducting door-to-door interviews and distributing questionnaires, as talking to strangers was not a problem for her. This was truly a heaven-sent skill.
In her experience post, she said that to get started with research, you can begin by assisting teachers with their projects. By her junior year, Sun Xiaoting had transformed from a project outsider to a regular team member. She took a research course from a professor at the School of Communication and Design during a summer elective and was recommended by the professor to apply for a migrant worker research project funded jointly by Sun Yat-sen University’s South China Rural Research Center and Hong Kong Polytechnic University.
During her junior summer, Sun Xiaoting conducted another research project.
This time it was a formal project with prior training and a complete team. She chose “Media Usage by Migrant Workers” as her research direction, visiting the dormitory areas of the Panyu Industrial Park to understand how young people working in factories used media.
Initially, she planned to conduct quantitative research, still knocking on doors, explaining her purpose, and asking respondents willing to spend time to fill out questionnaires. “Every dormitory had to be ‘polished’ because they would think, what do I get out of filling out your questionnaire?”
Later, Sun Xiaoting gradually figured out a pattern. When there were more people in the dormitory, they were more likely to let their guard down and start talking. If she encountered someone who was reclusive, she would try to find topics that could close the distance between them, like complimenting their phone and asking about the brand, then inquiring about which apps they had downloaded…
Often, the conversations would go on for two or three hours. After some time conducting research, Sun Xiaoting decided to change her initial plan and use interviews instead of questionnaires as her main research method. Each seemingly casual chat contained powerful academic explanatory material.
“They are my age, but we are indeed different. Most migrant workers live very monotonous lives and have no particular thoughts about their future.” This was the impression Sun Xiaoting still had of her interviewees two years later. Specific details had become vague, but she could recall how those young people on the production line used mobile QQ as a platform for social interaction, maintaining and expanding their social networks, attempting to develop romantic relationships through the internet, only to find that the medium couldn’t meet their communication needs.
Some sociologists propose empowerment theory, suggesting that new media can bring transformative power to marginalized groups, encouraging them to express and fight for their rights. Sun Xiaoting, as both an observer and witness, found this idea overly optimistic. Among the individuals she encountered, the transformative power of new media was quite weak.
From Thesis 1.0 to Thesis 10.0
Sun Xiaoting’s laptop still held the final paper of a project from those years, with more than a dozen related folders, and the file names had progressed from “1.0” to “10.0”.
It was a two-year marathon of perseverance, from her junior year to her first year of graduate school.
“At that time, I saw online that a professor from the School of Public Administration was recruiting research assistants. I wanted to work on projects with teachers from different academic backgrounds, so I applied.” This professor’s research topic was also closely tied to society—the reform of China’s public institutions. The research team comprised ten students from different disciplines. Due to the large scope of the project, they were divided into three groups in the preliminary phase: data, domestic literature, and international literature. Sun Xiaoting was in the international literature group, responsible for sorting out typical cases and related foreign literature.
They would meet once or twice a month for writing sessions, gathering in the professor’s office in the morning, discussing and assigning tasks, and then getting straight to work. At the next meeting, each person would present their previous work, receive feedback, and repeat the process—meeting, assigning tasks, working… This wasn’t a pleasant or interesting experience; most of it involved struggling with “writing to the point of nausea” and the torment of “wanting to die”.
In her junior summer, they conducted field research on the reform of public institutions in Zhejiang. This round of interviews was vastly different from her previous door-knocking chats.
Previously, Sun Xiaoting and her interviewees were on an equal footing; this time, they interacted with government officials and leaders of pilot public institutions, discussing lofty topics with complex interest relations and sensitive issues.
Before visiting, they would thoroughly prepare information about the interviewees to show they were well-prepared. Moreover, appropriately revealing their lack of knowledge wasn’t a bad thing; it helped interviewees lower their guard and recognize their student status, prompting generous assistance.
In her senior winter break, she formally started writing her thesis. Sun Xiaoting huddled at home, writing a literature review, trying to weave a theoretical framework about “public institution reform” from a web of Chinese and English texts. The entire research framework and theoretical construction had little to do with her major in journalism and communication; it was a process of learning everything anew. Describing the complexity of the materials as vast was no exaggeration. “I probably read nearly a hundred Chinese and English papers and several books,” she said.
The project participated in the Challenge Cup thesis competition and advanced from the school level to the national level. Each time they entered a competition, team members would revise the thesis. Every time they thought it was perfect, they would find flaws after a while.
International Conferences? Not That Hard
During the project, Sun Xiaoting had already secured a spot as a communication master’s student at Renmin University’s School of Journalism. That year, only two students from Sun Yat-sen University’s journalism class successfully applied for external schools. Sun Xiaoting attributed this to her project experience. She led and participated in six large and small projects.
The project on public institution reform won the Challenge Cup provincial special prize. After all, an undergraduate who researched low-rent housing, interviewed migrant workers, and understood the grand topic of public institution reform would be considered excellent even by graduate standards.
Research-focused graduate programs value research ability more since the program duration is short (Renmin University’s journalism graduate program lasts two years). Many students find themselves hurried and anxious, realizing they are nearing the end of their graduate studies just as they are ready to start working hard. Sun Xiaoting, on the other hand, started attending international academic conferences.
In the second semester of her first year, her paper on migrant workers’ media usage was accepted by two international conferences—the Asian Studies Association Annual Meeting in Hong Kong and the Media Sociology Annual Meeting in the United States. When the second acceptance letter arrived in her inbox, she jokingly said, “Oh, (attending conferences) is so easy!”
When we, the senior students, learned about this, Sun Xiaoting was already in Hong Kong. She didn’t like to flaunt it; she quietly submitted her paper and quietly attended the conference.
Before the conference in Hong Kong, Sun Xiaoting also found an internship she had always wanted. She didn’t choose a news media outlet but went to an internationally renowned public welfare organization, joining the interactive communication team and spending three months in an all-English environment. Sun Xiaoting approached the internship with questions; she wanted to know how such an organization sets its agenda and communicates it to the public.
Due to a confidentiality agreement, Sun Xiaoting didn’t discuss the specifics of her work. The organization had advanced media analysis tools,
allowing them to make decisions and respond quickly when issues emerged. In her impression, everyone seemed to be constantly flying around, full of ideas, each like a warrior. Observing this, Sun Xiaoting felt the accomplishment of engaging in public affairs. Everyone had their topics, and once they made progress, “changing the world” didn’t seem like an empty talk.
Of course, entering such a “field” as an observer naturally revealed its problems. Sun Xiaoting didn’t intentionally treat the internship organization as a research subject, but when she took a step back, she gave an objective evaluation: Working in an international organization often involves thinking about values and positions, leading to a more diverse perspective on the world and its issues. Sun Xiaoting bluntly stated that she didn’t completely agree with all the organization’s agendas.
In these subtle conflicts, Sun Xiaoting started reflecting on issues she previously ignored. Seeing the world outside her small circle, she wanted to see an even larger world.
The previous goal—to come to Beijing, Sun Xiaoting smoothly achieved it. The next goal—to go to the United States, Sun Xiaoting is working hard for it. She wants to settle down, travel more, and focus on international issues and work. She wants to quietly observe the world, form a complete understanding of specific issues, and then truly do something about them.
The interview lasted nearly two hours, giving me a chance to understand this low-key junior more deeply. Sun Xiaoting cooperatively participated, then anxiously emphasized to me not to show the finished article to our schoolmates. She felt embarrassed. After returning to the dormitory, she would continue wrestling with English. Talking about her current life state, she smiled and said, “It feels like I haven’t been tormented for a long time. It’s a bit unsettling and a bit empty.”
For Sun Xiaoting, the history of torment is quite rich.
In the second half of her junior year, she juggled two projects simultaneously from morning to night; to secure a good GPA for graduate school, she had to catch up during her sophomore year to make up for previously lower grades… Even now, with many things settled, she has started running ten laps around the track every night.
“Since the summer of 20xx, I have been running 5 to 10 kilometers daily.” Initially, it was to improve her physical fitness and lose weight. Later, she found that running was a way of getting along with her body. Controlling her body helped control her emotions. Running helped her discover and break through her limits, getting to know herself better. Ultimately, running became a philosophy.
To us seniors, junior Sun Xiaoting is a “mysterious” presence. We are in the same academic circle and have a noisy WeChat group, but she doesn’t actively seek attention or participate much. Until one day, we learned from WeChat Moments that she went to Hong Kong to attend an academic conference, and we all marveled at “how the new waves surpass the old”.
No Torment, No Youth. This is my junior, Sun Xiaoting, independent, confident, and beautiful.
She arranges her life fully, feeling guilty when she is slightly idle;
She balances academics and practice perfectly,
Striving to make her brief university years uniquely exciting.
Thank you for reading! ” Sitestorys “
