I begin to write this issue of the Story of Palaeobotany Series with the following Chinese paragraph:

“科学是很好玩的，但是它要求你有好奇心，要求你有兴趣。如果你没有好奇心，那么最好不要去做科学家，因为这不是挣钱的捷径。科学的本质首先是一种精神，一种对于奇妙宇宙探索的渴望。”[Science is very funny, but needs curiosity and interest. It would be better for you not to become a scientist if you do not have any interest at all. It is not a good short-cut to make money from playing with science. The spirit of science is the first most important to our innate drive to explore the universe.]

The above words were recently spoken by Professor Ping-xian Wang (汪品先) of the  Tongji University (Shanghai, China) who is a clever marine geologist. He is a current academician or member of the Chinese Academy of sciences.  

Is palaeobotany really funny? Who plays with it with great ease? Now, let us see: why do American-born Chinese scarcely play with palaeobotany?

The number of deceased and living American-born Chinese is huge. It is fact that millions of the American-born Chinese scarcely work on palaeobotany. Some American-born Chinese have to struggle for the physical requirements for theire survival. It is easy to understand that it is very wise for them to not play with palaeobotany largely because of the great difficulty in finding jobs in palaeobotanical circle.

Lots of the families of  American-born Chinese are very rich. They are not worried about their survival. Generally speaking, they expect (or are expected) to do what they are interested in. Athough these rich American-born Chinese have opportunities to study palaeobotany, it is absolutely not a popular American dream for them to become a palaeobotanist for some historic and cultural reasons.

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Story of Palaeobotany Series (190)

Why do American-born Chinese scarcely play with palaeobotany? [In English]

Qigao Sun

Amherst, MA

Dec.8, 2012

[Race/Asian/Chinese/ABC vs Palaeobotany]

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古植物学的故事(189期)

在德国工作的华裔古植物学家Carole T. Gee 博士

Story of Palaeobotany Series (189)

Carole T. Gee, American-born Chinese, is a palaeobotanist working Germany [In English]

http://blog.sciencenet.cn/home.php?mod=space&uid=225931&do=blog&quickforward=1&id=638296

2012-12-2 06:04

http://blog.sciencenet.cn/blog-225931-638296.html

汪品先院士：大科学要有大视野

文章来源：解放日报
发布时间：2012-09-29

 http://www.cas.cn/xw/zjsd/201209/t20120929_3654277.shtml

Professor Ping-xian Wang (汪品先) ‘s talk about science

Maslow's hierarchy of needs

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maslow's_hierarchy_of_needs

American-born Chinese or “ABC” [ “土生土长的美国华人”]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American-born_Chinese

黄香蕉

http://baike.baidu.com/view/2410718.htm

         国际上对海外华人移民下一代的戏谑。是一种西方对东方移民下一代的比喻。

　　中国人黄皮肤黑眼睛的外貌特征。好比黄香蕉的皮。

　　从小生长在海外的小华裔们，受着西方白人的文化、教育、生活方式影响，骨子里和西方白人的思维方式、礼仪、生化方式没有太大差异。好比黄香蕉的瓤。

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