Zhou Jinglu / Shanghai Daily news

Xu Qiushui, a 78-year-old retired professor, has devoted himself to giving scientific lectures to people in and around the Zhabei District for more than ten years.
"The key reason for the success of the developed countries," said Xu, "is their ability to spread scientific knowledge among the people, especially among the youth and this encourages them to create new ideas in their daily work and life all the time."
Xu was a senior engineer, an expert in the food industry, and he used to work in the Shanghai Flour Company.
He had many chances to go abroad with his work and each visit he made left a lasting impression. He has visited Europe, Japan and Russia.
"The tour to Japan in 1980 impressed me very much. I saw so many museums open to the public and these show scientific knowledge and high-tech products like intelligent robots, for example.
People can play with them and get a better understanding in the process. Visitors can also do some small experiments themselves," said Xu.
"The schools in Japan offer a good study atmosphere to students. Most primary and senior schools have large libraries with thousands of books as well as some computers so that the students can get lots of information from them.
"The Japanese young people work very hard on their studies because of the heavy pressure they are under. I think this is the main reason why Japan leapt ahead of other countries and became one of the strongest countries in the last century," he added.
Compared with some developed countries around the world, the number of Chinese people who get scientific training is low at only two percent among the whole population. This is eight percentages lower than in the United States of America.
Dispelling superstition
Xu was concerned about the way some old people still hold superstitious beliefs and burn joss sticks in the hope their dreams come true.
He decided to change their minds through his own efforts by giving lectures and bringing new ideas to them.
His topics have a strong appeal and include the ocean, space communication, environmental protection, current affairs, high technology and the energy crisis. People who have heard his lectures speak highly of them, his vivid explanations and his energetic body language help to convey understanding.
He also encourages young people to be more creative and study intensively in their lessons.
To date, he has given more than 400 lectures and roughly 160,000 people in total have attended his lectures.
These people include community residents, workers, soldiers and students from Tongji University, East China University of Politics and Law and students from primary and senior schools.
In Xu's study, there are several bookshelves full of books. Xu spends most of his spare time pouring over these books preparing for his lectures. He said that he is much busier than when he worked in the company before.
"It is not an easy job, but I like it a great deal. Ample preparation must be made.
"Even for a lecture that lasts only one hour, I have to prepare for it for nearly 500 hours. Selecting the topic, looking for information online, writing the information down, changing the information into my own words, making improvements, every step should be treated seriously.
So it is necessary for me to go to the library. Sometimes, I stay there for a whole day looking for some useful information," he said.
Xu's daughters and sons have followed their father's example and are all teachers and professors.
Xu himself is full of passion about his new "job" after his official retirement some twenty years ago and he said: "I will continue to give my lectures because they help people understand the world more objectively and directly."
His efforts have now been recognized by the government. He was chosen as a model volunteers for the way he has successfully spread scientific knowledge. Xu said he has no plans to give up any time soon.