Illustrating science for all
A former medical physicist uses comics to explain scientific knowledge to children and adults,
Imagine that you can understand the basic theories of relativity and quantum mechanics by simply reading funny comics created by professionals. Li Jianlong, who has a doctorate in theoretical physics, has dedicated himself to promoting scientific knowledge, especially frontier technology, via comics that can be understood by children.
“To impress readers and promote scientific knowledge in a simple way, you need to talk about the ins and outs of a happening and how it — an invention, formula or incident — solves an urgent problem,” says the 36-year-old, who lives in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province.
He has over 1.43 million followers on Sina Weibo.
“It’s essential to put oneself in the children’s shoes and spread knowledge in a thinking pattern that they can understand,” he adds.
Once, a 6-year-old asked Li why living plants absorb carbon dioxide and release oxygen. Instead of talking about the complicated process of photosynthesis, he asked the child what his favorite food was. Li then elaborated that when a plant is hungry, it needs to eat its food — sunshine, carbon dioxide and water. “Just like you need to have enough food to grow taller, so does the plant.”
Li started to popularize science in 2009 via articles and speeches, but the effect was limited as people found it hard to understand abstract knowledge. It was not until 2016 that the idea of doing so via comics struck him.
As more fans subscribed to his WeChat account, he was encouraged to quit his job as a medical physicist in a hospital in 2017 and established the Sheldon Science Comic Studio.
Sheldon is his English name, after Sheldon Lee Cooper, a fictional character in the CBS TV series The Big Bang Theory. Li chose the name because both have degrees in the same subject and low emotional quotients.
Li is responsible for the process of creating comics, from selecting a topic and reading related material to scriptwriting. He describes his ideas about specific drawings, including details, to illustrators who then work on them.
Domestic science institutions cooperate with the studio to promote their latest research results among the public.
The outbreak of COVID-19 has halted the studio’s work. However, Li now has the time to shift his focus to science popularization among primary school students and preschool children rather than adults.
“It’s more difficult to promote scientific knowledge among adults, who are less willing to accept new things and whose thinking patterns are already fixed,” he says.
“Children are more curious about the world. But they don’t have as many choices as the adults due to their limited capability of reading. Why not offer them some interesting and informative comics?” he says.
The book Sheldon Science Comics on Animal’s Social Lives by Li and illustrator Su Lanlan was published by Beijing United Publishing Co Ltd in September. The English version will also come out overseas. The book introduces habits and characteristics of various animals, such as giant pandas, kangaroos and sloths, via funny drawings.
“I love the funny book. I can learn many things about animals,” says Qian Ying, a grade-one student from Nanjing, Jiangsu province.
The 6-year-old brings the book to class and shares it with her classmates, who are also attracted by its content. Her mother, Song Yang, also reads the book and discusses it with her, to foster a parent-child relationship.
“Science books for children can be in many forms, such as 3D. They should arouse children’s interest, with simple language and funny styles, and the content should be scientifically correct,” Song says.
Li says children are naturally interested in animals. When parents tell children stories and fables, they often talk about cute animals.
“The current science books for children are a bit preachy. My aim is to first draw their attention and then tell a story that can give them more scientific knowledge.”
Li has read zoology theses to sift out the knowledge that he wants to present in a book. Then, he needs to rack his brains to figure out an excellent story to share the knowledge with his readers.
For example, while the male emperor penguins are hatching eggs at home, it’s the female’s responsibility to go out to search for food. It takes as long as four days for some to return. Then, they would vomit up the fish to feed their newborn baby.
It’s an interesting story when demonstrated in drawings. When the baby penguin asks the mother why the fish tastes stale, just like it’s been made four days ago, the mother simply answers: “I just vomited it up.”
Li has finished a new set of comic books for children, introducing frontier technologies such as quantum theory and gene editing, which is yet to come out and fill a gap in the market.
“While adults have various ways to know about frontier technologies, most children’s books only introduce scientific knowledge that’s at least half a century old,” he says.
“Many writers of children’s books are not experts in science, and authors of frontier-science books usually consider only adults as their readers.”
Some adults show interest in science after reading or watching sci-fi novels and movies. But in their school days, they might have found physics and chemistry boring.
Li says it is important to create that interest among children and teenagers and the “traditional spoon-feeding education won’t make it”.
Li became interested in comics as a child. He says he tries to imitate drawings by renowned Taiwan cartoonist Tsai Chih-chung.
“The biggest difficulty is that I have to do all the ‘translation’ work — to paraphrase the seemingly ‘dull’ scientific knowledge in a simple and understandable way for a layperson,” he says.
“It’s very energy-consuming. Besides, when it comes to new scientific research, you need to study a lot to understand it first.”
Li says a lot of jargon is used in the field of theoretical physics. “It’s like people from different countries speak their own languages. It’s more difficult to ‘translate’ abstract things into comics.”
Li and his team have also done well in science popularization among the public.
In 2013, the Tsung-dao Lee Science and Art Lecture Fund of Shanghai Jiao Tong University was founded to promote the integration of science and art. It holds an annual competition to select excellent artworks from around the world, with a scientific theme each year assigned by Lee, the US Nobel laureate in physics.
Li’s studio started producing videos explaining the contests’ scientific themes in 2017. These are broadcast at the site to enable visitors to understand the artworks.
“It’s a great honor to be part of the program,” Li says. “It’s terrific that the public can know about science via art.”
In October 2018, after the Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine was announced, Li and his team took less than four hours to create comics to explain the winning scientists’ discovery of a cancer therapy by inhibition of negative immune regulation. The comics got over 10 million views online.
“I had to learn about the winning discovery from scratch and task my mind to figure out how to use a familiar metaphor to explain the principle,” says Li, who has used comics to explain Nobel Prize wins since 2016.
Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli, and his youngest son Matteo, gave a virtual performance of two heartwarming songs, O Sole Mio and Fall on Me, during the 2021 CCTV Spring Festival gala.
The annual Spring Festival gala, broadcast live on Feb 11, attracted a total of 1.14 billion viewers this year.
“It’s been a pleasure to have been part of the CCTV New Year’s Eve Gala with Matteo Bocelli to celebrate the beginning of the Year of Ox, singing O Sole Mio and Fall on Me,” wrote Andrea Bocelli on his Facebook on Feb 11.
Known as an international superstar whose music has bridged classical and pop genres, Andrea Bocelli, 63, learned to play piano at the age of 6 and later learned to play the flute and saxophone before he showed his talent of singing at the age of 12 when he enjoyed his first success in a singing competition: performing the song, O Sole Mio.
The Grammy-nominated tenor has a large fan base in China where he has performed and worked with musicians. In August 2020, the tenor teamed up with pop singer Na Ying, performing a song, titled Remembering, which is the theme song of The Eight Hundred, an epic Chinese war movie directed by award-winning filmmaker Guan Hu.
“Singing with my father is always a special experience and we were so happy to have the opportunity to welcome the Year of the Ox by performing together,” adds Matteo Bocelli in an interview with China Daily recently.
The father and the son filmed their performances for the 2021 CCTV Spring Festival gala at their home in Tuscany, Italy. During the coronavirus pandemic, they spent time together at home, where they’ve sung together not just for fun but also for specially recorded performances, according to Matteo Bocelli.
Matteo Bocelli says he has never been to China but he has always been attracted by Chinese culture.
“My father and I are both big fans of Chinese cuisine,” he says.
The 21-year-old Matteo Bocelli showed strong artistic talent as a child and learned to play piano at the age of 6. As a teenager, his passion for music rivaled his love of sport and it was only in 2015 that he began to study singing under the guidance of his father. Currently, he is a student of vocal performance at the Lucca Conservatory.
“As a child, there was always music in the house. I sang in secret from a very young age — mainly to my mother. My father passed on his work ethic to me — you can overcome any barrier if you work hard and keep practicing. You have to be prepared to devote yourself to it,” Matteo Bocelli says.
“Technically, our voices are very far from each other, because obviously he’s a master and I’m a student. However, people say that there is a similarity — the attitude, and that’s given by the nature and being always next to him, learning from him,” Matteo Bocelli adds.
“I always admired those fathers who ran a family business and had the privilege of engaging their children. I thought this would be impossible in my case but life proved me wrong. I was pleasantly surprised. It is a great joy to be able to have my son next to me onstage,” says Andrea Bocelli.
“I think that, in music, Matteo has that special something that you cannot learn, which is talent. But his determination, hard work and spirit of sacrifice will be just as important. He will develop his skills and attitudes in his own time and refine his artistic abilities,” the father says.
Matteo Bocelli’s first experiences as a tenor took place at the Teatro del Silenzio on July 30, 2016, where, in front of an audience of 12,000, he, along with artists, Italian baritone Leo Nucci and South Korean soprano Sumi Jo, performed arias from Verdi’s operas.
In October 2018, Andrea Bocelli released his 16th album, Si. The tenor explains the title as “a celebration of love, family, faith, and hope”. Ed Sheeran, Dua Lipa and Josh Groban are among the guest performers in the album. The album also features his son, Matteo Bocelli, on the moving duet Fall On Me.
For Matteo Bocelli, the “defining moment” came when he and his father performed onstage during the first night of the 69th Sanremo Music Festival at Teatro Ariston on Feb 5, 2019 in Sanremo, Italy.
“That’s when I realized this was what I wanted to do for the rest of my life,” Matteo Bocelli recalls.
This was the place where Andrea Bocelli made his own debut in 1994, when he took part in the Sanremo Music Festival and won the “newcomers” category. In the same year, the tenor released his debut album, titled Il Mare Calmo Della Sera, the first gold disk of a whole series of prizes and awards.
Matteo Bocelli’s music studies are coming to an end and he will graduate later this year. At the same time, he began to plan for a solo album.
“I think you’ll be surprised, and I can’t wait to see the reactions from my Chinese fans,” he says. “The pandemic has really shown us how important music can be — to connect people that are separated, to uplift our souls and to give thanks for what we have. I would say my goal as a singer is to keep learning, to keep developing and to bring people together with music.”
The global pandemic has really shown us how important music can be — to connect people that are separated, to uplift our souls and to give thanks for what we have.”
Matteo Bocelli, Italian singer
MANCHESTER, England — A 15-point lead, 21 victories in a row, and a club-record-tying 28 games unbeaten.
The extraordinary numbers are stacking up for Manchester City as Pep Guardiola’s winning machine powers to the Premier League title and — whisper it — a potential quadruple.
Guardiola particularly liked what he saw in Tuesday’s 4-1 win over Wolverhampton Wanderers.
Heading into the final 10 minutes at Etihad Stadium, City’s players were in the unusual position of being held, 1-1, but there was no panic. Instead, they just stepped up a gear, overwhelmed Wolves with their pressing and scored three goals.
“When you have a run of 20 wins, you’re not always going to win 3-0, 4-0, 5-0,” Guardiola said. “So that is why how you recover from difficult situations is what I’m looking for.”
Gabriel Jesus scored in the 80th minute and again from close range with virtually the last kick of the game after Riyad Mahrez made it 3-1, capping a period of incessant pressure by City after Wolves equalized in the 61st minute through Conor Coady’s header — the visitor’s first touch in City’s box.
Leander Dendoncker had given City the lead for the first time with an own-goal in the 15th.
It was yet another test passed by City in its march to reclaiming the title from Liverpool, with Wolves having proved a tough opponent for City in recent years — winning their meetings home and away last season, for example.
City’s class of 2020-21 is made of sterner stuff this season, though. The team has won every game it has played in all competitions since Dec 19 and now has 15 victories in a row in the league. Its unbeaten streak stretched to 28 matches — tying a club record also achieved under Guardiola in 2017.
Derby focus
City hasn’t trailed for a single minute in any of its last 19 league games — equaling Arsenal’s record set in 1998-99.
Asked how impressed he was by City’s recent run, Guardiola said: “Man United” — referring to City’s next opponent at the weekend.
Pressed to expand, he said: “We talk about records and everything we have done in the league when it is over.”
And it nearly is over. Secondplace Manchester United, which trailed the leader by 15 points before Wednesday’s trip to Crystal Palace, doesn’t have the consistency being shown by Guardiola’s side — which is also in the League Cup final, the FA Cup quarterfinals and leads 2-0 after the first leg of its Champions League last-16 tie with Borussia Monchengladbach.
City has players in supreme form, too.
Mahrez is one of them, the Algeria winger playing a key part in the opening goal by controlling a searching pass by Rodri and driving over a cross that would have been turned into the net by Raheem Sterling if Dendoncker hadn’t done so.
Wolves’ only good spell of the game came after Coady scored his first Premier League goal, with Adama Traore blazing two shots over the bar.
“After 1-1 we suffered but we created lots of chances in the end,” Guardiola told BT Sport.
“Manchester United. That’s all we care (about now),” the Spaniard added.
“The champions are Liverpool, the crown belongs to them. We are in the best position right now to take them out and we are going to try but they are the champions.
“There are 33 points to play for. Tomorrow our opponents will play, we have one or two days off and prepare for Manchester United at home.”
City regrouped and after Jesus swept in a loose ball from the edge of the six-yard box after Kyle Walker’s cross was blocked near the goal line, Mahrez placed a shot into the bottom corner in the 90th.
Jesus converted the fourth goal from close range in stoppage time after goalkeeper Rui Patricio could only parry a shot from substitute Ilkay Gundogan.
City’s winning streak is the thirdbest streak among teams in Europe’s leading five leagues, behind only Bayern Munich’s 23 in a row in 2020 and Real Madrid’s 22 successive victories in 2014.
What is even more astonishing is that it started the season slowly, with many commentators forecasting the closest Premier League title race for years.
Instead, Guardiola’s men are turning the race into a procession.
When you have a run of 20 wins, you’re not always going to win 3-0, 4-0, 5-0. So that is why how you recover from difficult situations is what I’m looking for.”
Pep Guardiola, after Manchester City’s 21st straight victory
Boosted by state-of-the-art facilities and foreign coaching expertise, Team China today began the oneyear countdown to the 2022 Winter Paralympics with good reason to believe its athletes can steal the show at the Games.
Just like their able-bodied Olympic compatriots, China’s para-athletes are going all out for glory as they bid to do their country proud when the Paralympics open on March 4 next year in Beijing and co-host Zhangjiakou, Hebei province.
Guided by 42 coaches, including seven from overseas, a squad of 124 para-athletes, selected from a pool of over 1,000 hopefuls, are training full-time on tailored programs at five bases in Beijing and Hebei.
The aim is to have Chinese paraathletes competing in all 78 medals events across six sports — alpine skiing, biathlon, cross-country skiing, snowboarding, para-ice hockey and wheelchair curling — at the Games, according to the sports department of the China Disabled Persons’ Federation.
Despite a late start and poor training facilities in the beginning, Chinese para-athletes’ unwillingness to be left behind in the winter sports boom since Beijing won its bid in 2015 is inspiring, said Yong Zhijun, the sports department’s director of competition and training.
“Winter sports participation was limited to only a certain region for most people in our country (before 2015), not to mention the involvement of people with disabilities,” Yong said at a media briefing in preparation for the Winter Paralympics on Tuesday.
“Yet, the situation has significantly improved since Beijing won the bid. We are now witnessing the best opportunity to promote and develop winter sports among the disabled with national-level support that has never been seen before.”
China sent a team to the Winter Paralympics for the first time in 2002, when four para-athletes competed in cross-country and alpine skiing disciplines in Salt Lake City, United States.
With Beijing 2022 promising to deliver both Games in an excellent and extraordinary fashion, improving training facilities and increased government support have yielded encouraging results, highlighted by the wheelchair curling team’s gold medal at the 2018 Winter Paralympics in South Korea and two world championship titles won by parasnowboarders in 2019 in Finland.
Since 2016, Chinese athletes have participated in 59 international events featuring Paralympic winter sports, claiming 38 gold medals.
Located in northeast Beijing’s Shunyi district, the National Ice Sports Arena for People with Impairments began operation in December. Among its cutting-edge facilities are world-class ice rinks tailored to Paralympic standards, a rehabilitation center and accommodation areas to help Chinese paraathletes fine-tune their skills in wheelchair curling and parahockey.
The arena has been designed specifically to cater to people with disabilities. Elevator buttons are at foot level, for example, while restrooms offer similar ease of use. Motionsensor doors open automatically and the corners of walls are arced to prevent bumps and bruises.
Andrew Parsons, president of the
International Paralympic Committee, has lauded China’s commitment to taking winter para-sports participation to the next level in the world’s most populous nation.
“The investment that China is making in winter para-sports is impressive and the number of persons with disabilities that they want to reach and be engaged in winter sports is just incredible,” Parsons said during a video message sent to the opening session of the National Paralympic Committee Chefs de Mission webinar for Beijing 2022 on Monday.
During the online meeting, Beijing 2022 organizers delivered an overview of the preparatory work for the Games in areas such as sports program, venue readiness and infrastructure.
According to Beijing 2022’s planning and construction department, all five competition venues for the Paralympics were completed by the end of last year.
In addition, Paralympic courses and barrier-free facilities at three snow sports venues — the National Alpine Ski Center in Yanqing, the National Biathlon Center and Genting Snow Park in Zhangjiakou — were tested during a series of domestic competitions last month.
The other two ice venues — the National Aquatics Center and the National Indoor Stadium in Beijing, which will host wheelchair curling and para-ice hockey respectively — will be evaluated in April.
Construction and refurbishment of 25 non-competition venues for media operations, ceremonies and accommodation will be completed by August.
Parsons stressed that, despite the challenges presented by the COVID19 pandemic, the international para-sports community is fully confident that Beijing 2022 will be held safely and on schedule, offering the best possible platform for athletes to showcase their talent.