I left Australia for China in 2007, three years after graduating from UQ with a Bachelor of Science in zoology and ecology and an honours degree under the supervision of Dr Anne Goldizen. With a conservation textbook and binoculars in my backpack I took up a position as an Australian Youth Ambassador for Development in a small nature reserve on the west coast of Hainan island, China. The nature reserve had been established in the 1970s to protect the highly endangered Eld’s deer.
The Chinese have made some impressive conservation gains that often go unrecognised. For example, the population of Eld’s deer was reduced to just 26 animals in the 80s through hunting and habitat loss. There are now more than 1500 spread across a system of reserves and even a couple of free-living reintroduced populations.
There were some interesting developments in my project, like when I discovered that the reserve funds its conservation programs by removing some deer from the population and bottling their blood (believed to have traditional medicine benefits). And then there was the time I discovered a shed full of endangered Burmese python, known to eat deer. Upon my discovery they were promptly turned into moisturiser.
After that project I took up a position at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and moved to Beijing.
While a lot of fuss is made about China’s economic growth and growing political might, what really excites me is China becoming a scientific superpower. In 2008 China produced over 280 000 research papers, or 11% of all papers published. This is 60 times more papers than 12 years ago and China now trails only the USA in the number of papers published.
Of all modern countries, China sees the need for science and technology as important for prosperity. High-yield crops, renewable energy, medical advancement and environmental protection are high on the agenda for the world’s most populous country. All this science will fall on deaf ears unless people are working to communicate it to the rest of the world.
While running an international journal at the Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, I quickly realised that Chinese researchers were desperate for help preparing their scientific manuscripts in English and communicating their findings to non-scientists around the world. Being a zoologist, I find talking about animals rather easy, so I founded a company called Kexue Communications (kexue, pronounced ker-shway, means science in Chinese) initially to meet the needs of China’s zoologists.
The company no longer just edits papers about animals. Recent projects have included performing science shows in Chinese schools in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, promoting Chinese research to journals like Science and Nature, appearing on radio to discuss science, attending scientific conferences and science reporting.
Working as a part scientist, editor, marketer, journalist, educator, science consultant and science communicator in China is a fascinating experience. I am attempting to connect the Chinese and English-speaking worlds using the medium of science. UQ, and especially my supervisor Anne, provided me with the foundation and credibility necessary to earn the trust of Chinese scientists and government research agencies here in Beijing.
Are you talking to China? Visit www.kexuecommunications.com to learn about some of the ways we are connecting the Chinese and English-speaking domains. |
