In 1949, with the establishment of the People's Republic of China, my 21-year-old grandpa dropped out of college and enlisted. Together with other intellectual youths devoted to the revolution, my grandpa took the train to Fuzhou to liberate the working class. Their train was constantly attacked by Kuomintang’s air force. The army suffered great casualties and many fled for their lives. Eventually, the train was scrapped due to continual bombing, forcing the army to walk the rest of the journey. The remaining soldiers were left with no more chance to flee, given the lack of food sources.
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After CCP took over Fujian, my grandpa worked for the local government. During the Great Purge around 1955, the government claimed to welcome criticism, yet my grandpa’s critique immediately backfired. He was framed for hiding a Taiwanese’s gun and, imprisoned, subjected to 24/7 interrogation. He was tortured until he had a total breakdown and dared not voice any opinion thereafter. After this incident, grandpa acknowledged the end of his political career and decided to go back to college.

Grandpa had only one month to prepare for the entrance exam of Tsinghua University. On the day when everyone’s grade was published, he borrowed a bicycle to go check his result but along the way he crashed into a dung-cart at a sharp turn. Arriving covered with poop, grandpa found his grade to be exceptionally good and thought to himself, what a stroke of luck!

Grandpa graduated from Tsinghua’s engineering department in 1961. He devoted all his life to scientific research of compressors and compressed air filtration technologies. He filled many gaps in China's compression and filtration industry and made outstanding contributions to gas engineering research.

My aunt once asked my grandpa when he felt happiest in his life. Grandpa answered that he was the happiest when he got into Tsinghua University, the moment he broke away from his past.