The first TED x 152 Sharing Salon planned by the TED x 152 curatorial group was held in the Liqun Book Store at 6:30 pm on Nov. 30th, 2018. The activity targeted fans of TED inside and outside CCNU and was themed The way I am, which invited Cao Miaojiamei, Master in English Linguistics and Literature, Zhen Baochun, Professor of School of Literature and Hai Dai, an indie musician. Wang Xiang, teacher of digital media department in the School of Educational Information Technology held the post of the main speaker while Qu Jiangang was regarded as the host.
The salon was just a preheating celebration of TED x 152 Sharing Session in 2018 and the first salon based on living library. The activity was a small exchange meeting of TED x CCNU with a number of participants, insisting the value of TED x CCNU. It allowed people to learn mutually by sharing before the start of the official sharing session and spread more voice of youth, promoting the beneficial communication between the young.
At the beginning of the activity, the host started with changes of his own dream and then brought up the theme The way I am, which was humorous and vivid enough to enliven the mood. Then the first speaker, Cao Miaojiamei, shared her story of support education for one year in Guizhou Province. Hardly when she got there, she fell ill because of being unaccustomed to the local climate. At the same time, language difficulties, rudimentary facilities, limited information of education and many other problems made it difficult to develop the work of support education. However, as Cao Miaojiamei said, we'd better use a short period like one year to do a meaningful thing such as assisting education. She stressed that it was not enough to just teach students the method, but teachers should stand by their side and show them the beautiful world even more. During support education, she organized class of interest and the activity dream of CCNU combines Guizhou with Hubei, hoping to close the regional gap in education. assisting education became the happiest experience of Cao, because not only did she teach students knowledge but she also showed them the beautiful world.
Then Zhen Baochun, Professor of School of Literature in CCNU started with his own experience and talked about the difficulties he met when exploring the world of literature and following his heart finally in a humorous tone. He insisted on trying to create a new literature including avant-garde passion and old-school martial & fantasy. It was worth mentioning that the answer "be in the moment, follow your heart and stay true to the original spirit" given by Zheng was very helpful to the audience when it came to the Q&A session. Halfway through the activity, the third speaker Hai Dai, the indie musician sang and played three of her own songs, bringing the salon to a new climax and prompting a round of thunderous applause. From a good student to a rebel musician, from being denied to being with some renown, she spoke honestly that it was always not easy. Although she had been confused and less determined, she eventually chose to insist her musical composition and the beautiful but wayward dream.
The last speaker Wang Xiang asked the audience a question about left hand and right hand at first, resulting thinking about how to make a choice. Later, he shared his uninhibited childhood in a relaxing way and actually expressed the perception that no one can judge whether the choice is true and the point is whether to dare jump out of the comfort zone and try new things.
All the four speakers shared their own experience and stated the theme The way I am. And the speeches in different styles brought the audience a new sense and a sparking of thoughts. Mr.Wu in the School of Information and Communication said that, "this is my first time to attend a salon in such a form. I already knew the theme and it really attracts me. During the activity I find it important to jump out of our comfort zone. It's really a collision of ideas and wide field of vision."
Photogerphor: Yang Ziyi
Editor: Zhou Yanshu
Translator: Xu Jinghan
