New series on great scientists, artists, and writers in modern China published

The first six books of a new biography series The Little Beacon have came out recently, telling the stories about the life of great scientists, writers, and artists in modern China. The book is aimed at primary school students from first to third grade.

The first six books focus on the life of pulmonologist Zhong Nanshan, "the father of hybrid rice" Yuan Longping, Nobel Prize winning scientist Tu Youyou, architecture masters Liang Sicheng and Lin Huiyin, mathematician Hua Luogeng, and modernist writer Lu Xun and all of their great achievements.

Adapted from Xiong Yuqun's reportage work Zhong Nanshan: For the Common People, the book on the pulmonologist tries to display the perseverance of Zhong when he was confronted with difficulties, the writer Yi Muqiu says.

"Xiong once said that 'nobody can choose his or her destiny, but one can surely choose to face up to all the hardships'. I hope this book about Zhong Nanshan's life and achievements can build a bridge in little readers' hearts so that when they grow up and find a path in their future that leads nowhere, they will not panic or finch but remember there is a bridge," Yi says.

The biography of Yuan Longping also sketches a resilient and optimistic image of the scientist. Seeing that people died due to shortages of food in the early 1960s, Yuan decided to pursue his lifelong goal to feed the people. After decades of hard work, Yuan had realized his goal. His work, super hybrid rice, has fed many people around the world.

"I hope when kids read the book, they will learn resilience and perseverance from this respectable scientist that will benefit them throughout their whole lives," the writer of the book Tang Jing says.