You may not shine, but you have a warm little sun in your eyes---from Zheng Yang

2022-03-03

                                           (Photo taken by Zheng Yang)                                                                            

As we all know, according to the Big Bang theory, the universe is still expanding. Galaxies are still retreating from each other, which means that the universe as we know is extending and expanding, but it hasn't come to an end yet.

Zheng Yang is in constant changing all the way forward. It's hard to understand the joy and composure of this offer season if you are not students. Unusually, this year in XiWai, getting the earliest offer, he was surprisingly calm when he got the news of his dream school.

When I interviewed him, the first ray of sunshine in the morning was passing through the hazy fog in winter on the XiWai campus. At that moment, a small sentence appeared on the desktop of the computer. "You may not shine, but there is a warm little sun in your eyes.

01.   A calm boy

Speaking of getting offers, Zheng Yang, who holds offers from four universities, thinks it is reasonable. "We are all from the world, so we go aboard to get an education."

In fact, many children in Xiwai were just like him, not as surprised as "Fan Jin zhong ju" at the moment of receiving offer. Zheng Yang even spread the topic and showed us a design poster from his series of works.

“This poster is the essence of our family trip. When I was young, my parents took me to many places, which left me good memories. As Father's Day approached, I decided to make this poster for my dad and his family. People can see elements of Paris in this poster, which was taken by me and my dad. The red lamp is my father's favorite furniture, the brand of the van is my father's first car brand; Piano keys and records are my father's interests. He especially likes classical music. Cigarette packs are a testament to my dad's smoking past, but he quit years ago. In general, these are the links between me and my father.”

Yes, as his "carrier theory" states, when making art, one should not be limited to being Chinese, but should express oneself as an individual in the world. This makes for the unique artistry of his collection -- a mixture of expressions that transcends age and nationality.

It is reasonable to speculate that when fulfilling his wish, the school seems to be just a carrier, and he stands in the middle of the small universe, digging deeply from horizontal and vertical angles, absorbing the new, and completing the capture and design of various artistic elements and fantastic ideas.
Therefore, no matter which undergraduate school you go to, there is no limit to what you want to do.

His young and handsome face was still a little awkward and shy, but when Zheng Yang introduced his works to us with his iPad, he was full of confidence. It is hard to imagine that he is a young Xiwai teenager who is under the age of 18. He is more like a mature artist who has unlimited confidence in his art work.

02.  If you had to introduce yourself in a few words,  how would you introduce?

Zheng Yang believes that he is a creative, sensitive and sensitive person, and also has an aspirant heart.

People who first met Zheng Yang can hardly imagine him using words such as "sensitive", "sentimental" and "introvert" to describe himself. When he counted the masterpieces in his collection, his confidence and logic showed his full rationality. Contrary to the "sentimental brain" of art students in our "stereotype", Zheng Yang has a rational heart.

It was the usual winter morning. He had classes, meal, and exercise as usual. There was no ecstatic expression like how he first received the offer, and he didn't do what he wanted to do with relief. He was calm. His young face was still a little nervous during, but soon turned into a smile during the warm interview.

For him, he has chosen what he really wants to do in the future and maintained his original heart. Just as the Unknown Universe is still changing, it is an unknown but brilliant future that waits for him, that is, "the great expectation" under the sun.

When it comes to Zheng Yang's collection of works, we are all surprised at his pursuit of art and his ability to carve details. Maybe this is what he calls "sensitivity". His highly sensitive works also softened his rational heart. The creativity of extraordinary people made him jump out of the "epidemic" ，the "ordinary road", and capture the different aesthetic feelings of all levels from the perspective of "life still needs to continue" and far beyond the perspective of his age. For me, this kind of work is really shocking.

Of course, as a little XWer who is the "carrier" of world art, Zheng Yang has brought Chinese antiques to a new world with different perspectives and new ways——

"The purpose of this project is to promote human progress for the benefit of our next generation.

This sculpture is inspired by the ancient Chinese antique - Sanxingdui. We should thank our ancestors for their wisdom and their spirit of exploration, which brings us the beautiful life we have now.

Then, I added the characteristic elements of modern machinery to this ancient image to emphasize that people need to look forward to the future. We should constantly explore the world, so that people's lives will become better. We need to help our future generations build a better world, just as our ancestors did. "

In these visual expressions, we can see that Zheng Yang's small universe, like the rich courses of Xiwai colorful courses, is diverse and cross-border, with a profound vision beyond this age.

When looking up at the starry sky, he also peeps into the thousands of worlds, the coldness and warmth of the world, and the speculation of the universe from different depths and breadth.

He expresses the world with a rational attitude and sentimental temperature. His works are full of balance and reality.

In these visual expressions, we can see that Zheng Yang's small universe, like the rich courses of Xiwai colorful courses, is diverse and cross-border, with a profound vision beyond this age

Environmental protection and sports

 When it comes to sports on the snow, people always think of skiing and skating first. The elements related to this kind of sports are often snow, pine trees, ski clothes and goggles, and I choose polar bear as the main image of my design logo, which is typical and special. I used screen printing to print the logo on a handbag, implying constant climbing. I also embroidered this logo on a hat.

Recording post-epidemic era

In 2020, COVID-19 swept the world. The epidemic has unexpectedly affected the lives of many people. Many shops, restaurants and shopping centers have been forced to close. Thanks to the joint efforts of the people and the government, the epidemic has been further controlled. In Shanghai, I saw the streets return to their usual bustle. I saw the shopping center reopen and a long line in front of the apple store. I walked into these shopping centers and recorded with my camera those struggling for survival, such as delivery workers, cleaners, construction workers.The contrast between people's living conditions is significant.

What you learn is what you use

As a grade 12 student, function is an important part of our calculus course. When designing fonts, I realized that most existing fonts are mainly composed of curves and lines, which allows me to immediately connect fonts with functions. I use iPad to describe the appearance of these functions, and then use a foam board as the bottom of the X axis, and spray it on a 2.5 cm wide red line. Each letter represents a function on the X-Y plane. The blue line is the Y axis and tangent, both of which are concepts in calculus. I finished all 26 English letters by hand with the skill of painting.

‘Beijing folding’ education and its survival

Hengshui high school is a very famous school in China. It is a typical reflection of the competition of all Chinese students under the current education system. From the perspective of Chinese tradition, learning and education can change people's lives and create wealth and a bright future. I've experienced this sense of competition before. I know that if I want to stand out, I need to study harder.

In this illustration art, there are two levels: the lower level reflects the people who strive to survive in the society. I built an uneven ground with barbed wire and wet materials, which is steep and dangerous. Obviously, it is not an ideal residence. In order to enhance the expression effect, I made five unstable and uneven columns with clay and wires. The people lying on the first floor are thin. They have no clothes. Their gestures show that they are begging for a better life, and some are still trying to climb to the top. The upper floor is a rich, stable, clean and tidy living environment. The soft grass on the pure white ground makes people feel comfortable. The human figures on this floor look strong and healthy in suits and ties. Transparent blocks indicate that the surrounding environment is safe and clean.

Information and truth after "black mirror"

I designed a poster board with "AI illustrator", which is a miniature of an environment full of true and false. The white mirror in the middle represents "pure" truth, and the purple and gray smoke shapes represent prejudice, false information and those who do not seek for truth; Smoke drifts from the right side of the mirror into the mirror, which means that they are swallowing truth; The smoked shapes of red and yellow are the desire to explore the truth and to fight against the "illusion" of purple and gray.

03 "Experiential" players in exploration

The power of change

Speaking of why Zheng Yang is called an experiential player , it may be more appropriate to explain that everything about him is in a process of experience and exploration.

Zheng Yang's small universe is moving forward in constant change.

"I was an introverted person who didn't dare to express in an unfamiliar environment since I was a child. I would feel extremely nervous and timid." In his documents, he also roughly described his childhood experience of buying toys, and wrote about his timidity that he didn't dare to communicate with the cashier at that time. Finally, his parents helped him hand the money to the cashier.

Now Zheng Yang has gradually grown and matured. "But now I have grown up. I am good at expressing myself and I am very confident in speaking on the stage. I am good at thinking and dare to create. This great change in character does not come from some memorable experiences or turns in life, but from the trusted companionship and immersion given to me by XiWai. The teachers even held a photography exhibition for me in junior high school, including many walking classes and project-based learning Xi also gave me the opportunity to give full play to my strengths. "

Today, Zheng Yang has a mature and steady personality . When it comes to successfully applying to Boston University, facing the next few years of life, Zheng Yang believes that this is a valuable experience for an 18-year-old boy to live and work alone in a strange environment. The experience itself is invaluable.

As Dr. Lin Min said, "We can't just give students healthy, standardized and ideal pure education without letting them really experience the storm in the world. When students go out of school and face a world full of unknown or even disordered, do they have the ability to communicate and adapt? If they don't have the opportunity to experience the complex process of knowledge construction and application, it is difficult for students to become ‘High touch’ population with empathy and imagination. This is an educational process that develops simultaneously with emotion. "

Principal Lin emphasized "Empathy" and "imagination" when explaining the epistemology of the cultivation method of taking the world as the big classroom.

04  Choosing schools

BUer who has never been to Boston

Zheng Yang, who has got an offer from Boston University, said that he went to the United States once in his eighth grade. The cities he went to were Seattle, Portland and New York, but he never went to Boston.

Zheng Yang explains the difference between English and American versions of art types:

"I think there is a big difference between going to the United States and Britain. Art education in Britain is to cultivate an art student. Before entering school, you should have a good foundation and skills of painting, as well as a good aesthetic quality and good accumulation.

But American art education seems to be cultivating a piece of white paper. After entering the school, the school will train you. Even if you don't have a good foundation before, the training mode is more commercialized. For example, if you open your own studio, the school will let you engage in some commercial activities so that you can eat enough. " After understanding their differences, Zheng Yang got a more satisfactory school selection result with the collection of offers.

Ask him which one he likes better, He smiled and said: "I prefer the United States, because it is a dream to engage in pure art or pure design to a large extent, but it is always unrealistic. Unlike the United Kingdom, American schools integrate a lot of internship opportunities for junior and senior education. In fact, I like the combination of art, business and society. To be honest, art is what I am interested in now. I choose the comprehensive education of the United States It's because my interest may change one day in the future. "

This highly sensitive little artist has all kinds of fantastic ideas about the future.

Yes, everything is changing. What about the future? Who knows?

05 All the way from annual offer season

Xiwai, with an unchanged heart

&You can go out and come back to XWer

"Taking exams and entering a higher school is certainly a process that students have to go through, but focusing on these is actually making the pattern of international education 'small'." In the offer season every year, from President Lin's low-key summary, we slowly realized the intention of those seemingly "useless" courses set up outside the basic courses of western external education.

Speaking of what makes Zheng Yang, a little photographer, unforgettable, is actually a "Field Trip" organized by Xiwai , it was a trip to Nanjing.

"Thanks for Xiwai's Field Trip."

"Thanks to my hometown Shanghai, I saw the beauty of the city and the interesting part of city life."

In order to expand the vision of students, Xiwai has also done a lot: insisting the "field trip" for more than ten years, students had been to the Central Plains,had broken into the northwest, had stepped on grasslands, climbed deserts, had ridden camels, had lived in caves, had been to the Yellow Emperor's mausoleum to find roots and ancestors, had planted trees in the Gobi desert, and had been to Jiuquan satellite base to find dreams and inspirations, Also go to the red flag canal to find the "Chinese soul"... On the way to visit, the students also have to pair up to support teaching and share exchanges with local children. The "dream building community" in Xiwai had been to Yunnan Guizhou Plateau every year to build a small library for the local children's school.

These courses are designed to instill some basic humanistic details into students, cultivate their core qualities such as independent thinking ability and critical thinking, and open up students' vision and pattern. The height that children can reach in college and even in their future life depends on this.

"Nowadays, many children are immersed in studying hard all day in high school, but they are addicted to games in college. This is largely because they didn't open the pattern in high school, they don't understand the world, and they don't have the impulse to do something for the world. Including the graduates from many famous foreign schools who have returned from studying abroad and the era of awakening." Compared with the foreign students in, what they lack is not something at the level of knowledge, but the spiritual realm of personality. "

Those small returnees who "can go out and come back" from Xiwai have this rich cross-cultural perception, which is inseparable from the vision pattern opened by their mother school.

Raising "big" children in the pattern and vision will no doubt not become the "excellent sheep" who do nothing after getting a good diploma, or lose the meaning of life in day-to-day work, or the "exquisite egoist" with a mask. Just as the peers in the popular drama "the awakening age" realized a hundred years ago, what international education wants to pursue is the connection between the "small and the big self", the local consciousness with the ambition of China, and the vision pattern of the world and mankind.

Besides, all kinds of activities in Xiwai provide a big stage for all XWer.

Learning in the west is indeed more like a multi-dimensional synchronic stage, where countless teachers and students jointly create and interpret a cross-border integration and highly creative "big play". In this new multi-dimensional and multi-dimensional educational space like singing and weeping, it is a multi voice "chorus"——

Although there is a lot of noise, it is wonderful to listen to it.

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Finally, our dear senior students give you a little tips for your application. Please check:

◆ be true

◆ be sincere

◆ fully express yourself

◆ believe in yourself

◆ accept the results

◆ accept yourself