Bi Zhiying — Physical Testing Inspector, CTC Zibo Company, Shandong Regional Company

I am Bi Zhiying, a physical testing inspector at CTC Zibo Company. Nine years ago, with a mixture of apprehension and expectation, I joined the CTC family and began my daily work of dealing with various samples and testing data, day after day and year after year. Looking back, I have always upheld the belief of "observing more, learning more, recording more, doing more, and thinking more." In this ordinary yet important position, every drop of sweat and every precise test is the achievement I am most proud of.

Original Aspiration Like a Torch, Moving Forward with Determination

As an old saying goes, “Stay true to the original aspiration, and you will reach your destination.” In this era where anyone with an AI assistant and the DeepSeek system can have the whole world, our original aspiration is often forgotten—“we have gone so far that we forget why we started.” In my view, the original aspiration is the dream made at the starting point of life, the goal we long to reach throughout our lives. As a grassroots inspector and a Communist Party member, every test is an exploration of the unknown and a commitment to testing quality. I will continue to uphold this responsibility and mission, act as an inputter of big data, provide technical support to our customers, be responsible for our testing data, keep my original aspiration firmly in mind amid the trivial and complicated testing work, shine and contribute, and move forward with courage and determination.

Striving Forward Diligently, Pursuing Perfection

“Passion, enthusiasm, and attitude determine everything” is my unchanging motto. Whether at work or in life, I am full of energy every day, embrace everything with enthusiasm, face everything with a smile, and do my utmost to work and live. To be honest, I truly love this job. I remember during my job interview, my supervisor asked me a question: How do you view the work of “testing”? My answer at the time was: To do testing well, one must have “three hearts”—a heart of passion, carefulness, and a sense of responsibility. Facts have proven that these “three hearts” are crucial in my later work. As a third-party testing institution, we handle a wide variety of samples, including some non-conventional samples for which customers are uncertain about the material and performance of the samples they submit. I remember one sample where the customer needed TG-DSC (simultaneous thermal analysis) testing. However, after testing according to the customer’s requirements, the customer’s feedback was that the results differed from the predicted results. At that moment, I immediately consulted senior colleagues. By reviewing relevant materials, I began to re-formulate a testing plan and conduct tests, so as to help the customer find the answer as quickly as possible. In the end, hard work paid off. By changing the sample particle size and the heating rate during testing, the correct results were obtained and recognized by the customer. “Knowledge gained from books is superficial; true understanding comes from practice.” This small example shows that materials themselves can “speak,” and that many properties of a sample complement one another. Theoretical knowledge can only truly be transformed into problem-solving ability through practice. In these subtle daily routines, by adjusting testing plans according to different sample characteristics, I capture key information amid complex data, while maintaining curiosity and a sense of responsibility. This has allowed me to move forward step by step, accumulate gradually, and grow steadily in my work.

Daring to Innovate, Practicing to Go Far

Like millions of scientific and technological workers, I harbor the same Chinese Dream and am determined to continuously break through technical difficulties, break foreign technological blockades, and overcome various “bottleneck” problems on the journey toward realizing the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. To support our mercury intrusion porosimetry testing, save mercury expenses, and reduce waste mercury pollution, my team members and I developed an environmental protection equipment for laboratory hazardous waste treatment—a semi-automatic waste mercury purification instrument. This equipment not only recovers waste mercury and reduces waste emissions, protecting the environment, but also allows the purified mercury to be reused, thereby reducing national energy consumption while saving costs and reducing expenditures. These are also the driving forces that keep me moving forward.

“The sharp edge of a sword comes from grinding, and the fragrance of plum blossoms comes from the bitter cold.” Although grassroots frontline work is hard, it has made me more aware of the meaning of persistence. I am willing to stay on this path of innovation, using professional knowledge as my sail to safeguard the improvement of testing quality and the progress of science and technology.

Though the dream is distant, it can be reached by pursuit; though the wish is difficult, it can be fulfilled by perseverance. On the new journey of Chinese-style modernization, everyone is a protagonist, and every effort is precious. Youth, too, shines brightly in the footprints of struggle along the way!