文/Kaoru Kakinuma（日本） 譯/張佳藝

作為一名研究人員，2019年，我從日本來(lái)到中國(guó)，加入了上海大學(xué)社會(huì)學(xué)院于2015年成立的亞洲人口研究中心，這里有悅納多樣性的氛圍。由于人口統(tǒng)計(jì)學(xué)與社會(huì)經(jīng)濟(jì)和環(huán)境研究密切相關(guān)，中心的研究人員均擁有不同的研究背景。我們來(lái)自世界各地，如巴西、加拿大、英國(guó)、韓國(guó)、尼泊爾、日本和中國(guó)，這就意味著我們必然持有不同的觀點(diǎn)和見解。盡管常常眾說紛紜，但眾口一致的是，我們都很尊重他人的意見和想法，盡可能去理解對(duì)方。我很喜歡這種環(huán)境，給人以舒適感和安全感。此外，其他院系教師在研究領(lǐng)域頗有建樹，常常會(huì)給我的研究帶來(lái)新視角與新動(dòng)力。在中國(guó)成功吸引海外研究人員來(lái)華方面，亞洲人口研究中心是一個(gè)極具代表性的例子。

近年來(lái)，日本的一些研究人員加入了中國(guó)的研究所或高校，我是見證者之一。當(dāng)我在上海與日本研究人員參加年會(huì)時(shí)，逾2/3的參與者都提到他們是在2015年后來(lái)到上海的。他們處于不同的職業(yè)生涯階段。有些研究人員是從日本的大學(xué)退休后來(lái)到上海的，有些則比較年輕，大概三四十歲，甚至更年輕，才剛剛獲得博士學(xué)位。有些日本的年輕研究人員正考慮申請(qǐng)?jiān)谥袊?guó)大學(xué)工作的機(jī)會(huì)，還會(huì)向我了解“上海的生活怎么樣”。據(jù)我在上海的觀察，也許在以前，資深研究人員是主要移居對(duì)象，但最近反倒是更多的年輕研究人員選擇在中國(guó)大學(xué)工作。

中國(guó)為研究人員提供良好機(jī)遇

為什么國(guó)際研究人員要到中國(guó)來(lái)呢？有些日本人認(rèn)為，中國(guó)的大學(xué)為研究人員提供豐厚待遇，所以日本的研究人員爭(zhēng)相移居中國(guó)。我認(rèn)為這只是個(gè)別現(xiàn)象。我了解的從中國(guó)大學(xué)獲得高薪的研究人員并不多，周圍的大多數(shù)人和我自己都不是這樣的。對(duì)于日本的大多數(shù)研究人員來(lái)說，我認(rèn)為金錢并不是他們到中國(guó)來(lái)的主要?jiǎng)訖C(jī)。

Kaoru Kakinuma（日本籍）系上海大學(xué)亞洲人口研究中心人口與環(huán)境、氣候變化研究工作的副教授，其主要研究興趣為“不斷變化的環(huán)境中人類與環(huán)境間的相互作用”。她的研究涉及評(píng)估氣候變化對(duì)社會(huì)生態(tài)系統(tǒng)的影響，目前她正在研究氣候?qū)σ泼?、社?huì)不平等和兒童營(yíng)養(yǎng)不良的極端影響。曾任日本東北大學(xué)助理教授、日本科學(xué)促進(jìn)會(huì)研究員和哥倫比亞大學(xué)訪問學(xué)者，于東京大學(xué)農(nóng)業(yè)和生命科學(xué)研究生院獲得博士學(xué)位。

離開祖國(guó)是一個(gè)重大的決定，一旦離開，我們便不能常與親友團(tuán)聚，尤其在新冠肺炎疫情形勢(shì)下，國(guó)際旅行更加困難。我已經(jīng)一年多沒有見到家人了，我周圍的其他國(guó)家的大多數(shù)人也是這樣?？杉幢闳绱?，我們依然選擇留在中國(guó)，為什么？我想這是因?yàn)槲覀兪茄芯咳藛T，我們發(fā)自內(nèi)心想做研究，而這里正是適合做研究的地方。反觀日本，日本的兒童數(shù)量正在減少，日本大學(xué)的工作機(jī)會(huì)也隨之減少。即使你被指派為研究人員或教員，也會(huì)被要求去做更多的行政事務(wù)，這會(huì)減少你專心研究的時(shí)間。中國(guó)的大學(xué)和研究所為我們提供時(shí)間、創(chuàng)造機(jī)會(huì)，讓我們更好地追求研究目標(biāo)。這是到中國(guó)來(lái)的最主要?jiǎng)訖C(jī)，至少對(duì)我來(lái)說是這樣的。

中國(guó)是如何為我們做研究提供良好機(jī)遇的呢？首先，中國(guó)接納已取得重大研究成果的資深或年輕研究人員。進(jìn)而有強(qiáng)大內(nèi)驅(qū)力去開展研究的年輕研究人員也被這里的研究環(huán)境吸引而來(lái)。當(dāng)我加入上海大學(xué)亞洲人口研究中心時(shí)，那里有人口統(tǒng)計(jì)學(xué)和相關(guān)跨學(xué)科研究領(lǐng)域的先驅(qū)。他們?cè)谘芯可虾苡薪洌液芗?dòng)能夠加入這里與他們共事。無(wú)論是知曉他們的研究課題，或是與他們一起研討，我都感到很開心。我對(duì)環(huán)境導(dǎo)致的人口遷移興趣尤為濃厚。亞洲人口研究中心的研究人員從不同角度對(duì)遷移進(jìn)行研究，每位教師及其學(xué)生的研究都給了我很多新視角，對(duì)我的研究項(xiàng)目都有一定啟發(fā)。

因此，我認(rèn)為如果大學(xué)提供良好的研究環(huán)境，那么吸引優(yōu)質(zhì)的研究人員跨國(guó)來(lái)華就會(huì)成為開展研究的關(guān)鍵。一旦國(guó)外的研究人員來(lái)到中國(guó)，勢(shì)必會(huì)對(duì)其本國(guó)研究人員有一定帶動(dòng)作用——如果在華的海外研究人員分享在華經(jīng)歷，那么這些先驅(qū)可能會(huì)帶動(dòng)一些他們本國(guó)的研究人員到中國(guó)來(lái)。此外，我身邊的中國(guó)研究人員也總是努力發(fā)表有價(jià)值的論文。在這里每位研究人員開展研究的強(qiáng)大內(nèi)驅(qū)力激發(fā)了活躍且有吸引力的研究環(huán)境。

我還覺得這里的人都在追求前沿與跨學(xué)科研究。我對(duì)“不斷變化的氣候中的社會(huì)生態(tài)動(dòng)力學(xué)”感興趣，希望通過跨學(xué)科的研究項(xiàng)目發(fā)展新的環(huán)境科學(xué)，將人類活動(dòng)和環(huán)境動(dòng)力學(xué)結(jié)合起來(lái)。我和合作者正在研究將從本地到全球范圍內(nèi)的時(shí)空人口動(dòng)態(tài)與環(huán)境動(dòng)態(tài)（如氣候、水和植被）相結(jié)合。人口統(tǒng)計(jì)學(xué)和環(huán)境科學(xué)之間的合作，將成為在不斷變化的氣候中實(shí)現(xiàn)可持續(xù)發(fā)展的重大突破。當(dāng)前，鮮有研究機(jī)構(gòu)開展我們進(jìn)行的這項(xiàng)研究。我想致力于使上海大學(xué)亞洲人口研究中心成為世界上可持續(xù)發(fā)展科學(xué)領(lǐng)域最重要的跨學(xué)科研究機(jī)構(gòu)之一，我也想為年青一代提供學(xué)習(xí)跨學(xué)科研究方法的機(jī)會(huì)，以實(shí)現(xiàn)氣候變化時(shí)代的可持續(xù)社會(huì)。

目前，中國(guó)正在關(guān)注氣候變化問題和可持續(xù)發(fā)展目標(biāo)，這也對(duì)我的研究有所推動(dòng)。由于我的研究領(lǐng)域與這些可持續(xù)發(fā)展問題密切相關(guān)，我經(jīng)?？吹街袊?guó)許多有價(jià)值的論文，或討論氣候變化的影響與適應(yīng)，或評(píng)估中國(guó)可持續(xù)發(fā)展目標(biāo)的進(jìn)展。我正在努力嘗試加入一個(gè)研究網(wǎng)絡(luò)，很榮幸能與中國(guó)的這些研究人員合作。

我和合作者正在進(jìn)行跨學(xué)科研究，以求實(shí)現(xiàn)幾個(gè)聯(lián)合國(guó)可持續(xù)發(fā)展目標(biāo)，尤其是消除貧困、消除饑餓、性別平等、清潔飲水、社會(huì)平等。例如，我們發(fā)表了一篇關(guān)于世界上由洪水引起的人口遷移的論文。目前我正考慮將該研究框架應(yīng)用于評(píng)估中國(guó)的洪災(zāi)影響。我們也在研究世界上水安全所暴露出的性別不平等問題。這一課題對(duì)非洲國(guó)家來(lái)說特別重要。非洲和南亞的另一個(gè)重要研究課題是嚴(yán)重干旱下的兒童營(yíng)養(yǎng)不良和可持續(xù)糧食生產(chǎn)。在這個(gè)項(xiàng)目中，我們?cè)噲D制定一個(gè)新方案來(lái)同步實(shí)現(xiàn)糧食的可持續(xù)生產(chǎn)與兒童營(yíng)養(yǎng)不良的緩解。另外，我從讀研開始，就一直研究蒙古草原，目前正在研究極端氣候?qū)γ晒拍撩裰g經(jīng)濟(jì)不平等的影響。我指導(dǎo)的一名研究生主要研究日本的中暑死亡率，關(guān)注氣候變化對(duì)老齡化社會(huì)的影響。這也是一個(gè)很有趣的研究課題。如果研究人員對(duì)這些課題感興趣，關(guān)注不斷變化的氣候中自然與人類之間的關(guān)系，我會(huì)很愿意與他們交流。

在中國(guó)生活有一種歸屬感

中國(guó)的大學(xué)對(duì)我們的日常生活給予足夠多的關(guān)懷，這一點(diǎn)也很重要。上海大學(xué)校園里有教職工公寓。以可接受的價(jià)格住進(jìn)校園，這對(duì)我這種初來(lái)乍到來(lái)華做研究的人員來(lái)說簡(jiǎn)直是雪中送炭。在上海如果自己去租房子，那么需要去和房東協(xié)商，有時(shí)房東還會(huì)要求你在短時(shí)間內(nèi)搬走。我覺得我難以獨(dú)自處理這些問題。在這里，我還喜歡步行通勤，無(wú)須擠地鐵上下班。校園綠化很好，我可以在早上去辦公室的路上看看挺拔的大樹、聽聽鳥兒的歌唱。學(xué)校食堂提供三餐，春節(jié)期間也正常開放，還在除夕為我們提供年夜飯。因?yàn)榇蠖鄶?shù)海外研究人員和教師不能回國(guó)，所以這樣的關(guān)懷在新冠肺炎疫情防控期間顯得尤為重要。我在中國(guó)舉目無(wú)親，卻可以在校園里感受到賀新春的氣息。

上海大學(xué)的國(guó)際辦公室為國(guó)際教員安排了一些慶?；顒?dòng)，我們春節(jié)時(shí)會(huì)寫書法、包餃子，中秋節(jié)也會(huì)有一些慶祝活動(dòng)。我很感激國(guó)際辦公室費(fèi)心舉辦這些活動(dòng)，讓我們這些游子可以將他鄉(xiāng)安心視作家鄉(xiāng)。通過這些活動(dòng)，我可以與上海大學(xué)的其他海外研究人員交流，一起分享在上海的點(diǎn)滴生活。有時(shí)我們也談?wù)摵献餮芯康目赡苄?，如果我能與上海大學(xué)不同院系的研究人員合作，那就太好了。除了慶?；顒?dòng)以外，國(guó)際辦公室還為外籍教師組織了一次稅務(wù)研討會(huì)，提高了我對(duì)稅務(wù)的理解。我還參加了由國(guó)際辦公室組織的申請(qǐng)國(guó)家自然科學(xué)基金研究經(jīng)費(fèi)的研討會(huì)。會(huì)上，我學(xué)到了在這里申請(qǐng)研究經(jīng)費(fèi)的基本知識(shí)。這些活動(dòng)對(duì)我在上海生活大有裨益。

不得不說，我真的很喜歡上海的氛圍。上海是一個(gè)尊重和接受多元文化的城市。不同文化隨處可見，有法租界周邊的充滿歷史氣息的美麗建筑，有浦東地區(qū)全新的現(xiàn)代建筑。上海像是鑲著馬賽克結(jié)構(gòu)，同一條街上，既有國(guó)際餐廳，也有本地面館。不同的外觀，不同的食物，不同的價(jià)格，它們卻構(gòu)成了當(dāng)?shù)厝瞬豢苫蛉钡纳睢?/p>

這里的人們也非常友好，即使我的漢語(yǔ)說得不太流利也沒關(guān)系。上海有海納百種文化的氛圍。我非常喜歡去上海的咖啡店，這里有很多小咖啡店。有時(shí)我聽不懂當(dāng)?shù)厝烁艺f的話，而他們大多數(shù)人其實(shí)都理解我聽不懂漢語(yǔ)，所以他們要么漢語(yǔ)說得很慢，要么干脆換成英語(yǔ)。這讓我突然想到另一段經(jīng)歷。當(dāng)我參觀一個(gè)博物館時(shí)，對(duì)著指示都是漢語(yǔ)的售取票機(jī)，我不知道該如何操作。我身旁的人注意到我買票遇到了問題，于是他們幫我買了一張。雖然這不過是幾分鐘的事，但我至今仍記憶清晰。這里的人很理解有些人無(wú)法說一口地道的當(dāng)?shù)卣Z(yǔ)言，也理解他們不熟悉當(dāng)?shù)氐纳盍?xí)慣。他們接受我是這里的一員，友善的態(tài)度讓我頓生歸屬感。

我認(rèn)為上海本地人對(duì)多元文化有很大的包容性的一個(gè)重要原因是他們有很多機(jī)會(huì)與外國(guó)人交流。一位學(xué)生告訴我，上海的孩子有機(jī)會(huì)和其他國(guó)家的孩子一起玩。雖然他們使用不同的語(yǔ)言，但可以一起玩，如一起玩各自國(guó)家的玩具。多元文化無(wú)時(shí)無(wú)刻不存在于當(dāng)?shù)厝说娜粘Ｉ钪校运麄冃廊唤邮?。這解釋了為什么上海一城有千面。而這種包容性對(duì)于開展研究也很重要。新式研究有時(shí)來(lái)自不同研究領(lǐng)域之間的交流碰撞。于這些領(lǐng)域的研究人員而言，相互尊重非常重要。我們?cè)谏虾５娜粘Ｉ钪斜憧梢愿惺艿蕉鄻有裕@也將有利于各研究領(lǐng)域間的順暢交流。

長(zhǎng)期愿景對(duì)評(píng)估人才至關(guān)重要

中國(guó)成功吸引了世界各地的研究人員，來(lái)自中國(guó)的論文出版量也有所增加。我相信，擁有多樣化的研究和教育背景的研究人員將產(chǎn)出新式研究成果。那么，中國(guó)大學(xué)下一步該做什么？不斷吸引海外研究人員是至關(guān)重要的，以免人才如煙花一樣轉(zhuǎn)瞬即逝。我覺得大學(xué)要有長(zhǎng)期愿景。有時(shí)，大學(xué)在評(píng)估教師表現(xiàn)時(shí)過于關(guān)注短期內(nèi)發(fā)表論文的數(shù)量。當(dāng)然，論文發(fā)表數(shù)量確實(shí)很重要，但不該忘記的是，它只是評(píng)估績(jī)效的指標(biāo)之一，不適用于所有方面。

開展新研究需要花費(fèi)大量時(shí)間，因?yàn)闆]有人做過這些工作，進(jìn)而意味著沒有特定的研究方法。我們需要自己尋找方法。研究人員應(yīng)該繼續(xù)學(xué)習(xí)新知識(shí)，找到創(chuàng)造性的方法。如果你想嘗試做一些新的事情，人們往往是不能接受你的新想法的。你需要花時(shí)間來(lái)闡釋新研究的重要性。下面我將舉一個(gè)極端的例子，發(fā)生在一個(gè)獲得諾貝爾獎(jiǎng)的研究人員身上。Elinor Ostrom教授申請(qǐng)了經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)博士學(xué)位，但論文被拒，而后她獲得了政治學(xué)博士學(xué)位。幾十年后，她于2009年獲得了諾貝爾經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)獎(jiǎng)。這個(gè)故事足以證明新生事物對(duì)于人們來(lái)說往往有距離感，不為眾人所理解。尋找新知識(shí)、新方法，稿件被拒、待修改的過程都屬于開展研究。如果我們套用以前研究所用過的同樣的方法或框架，可以快速發(fā)表多篇論文，但卻不能讓研究延伸到下一階段。如果我們堅(jiān)持挑戰(zhàn)，向著下一階段進(jìn)擊，這雖然會(huì)耗費(fèi)大量時(shí)間，但我相信毫無(wú)疑問最終會(huì)取得巨大成就。所以，長(zhǎng)期愿景對(duì)于評(píng)估研究人員的表現(xiàn)至關(guān)重要。

最后，我想描述一下我計(jì)劃通過研究項(xiàng)目達(dá)成的目標(biāo)。正如我所提到的，我想發(fā)展新的環(huán)境科學(xué)，關(guān)注不斷變化的氣候中人與自然的可持續(xù)關(guān)系，借此致力于使上海大學(xué)亞洲人口研究中心成為引領(lǐng)世界的跨學(xué)科可持續(xù)發(fā)展科學(xué)的研究機(jī)構(gòu)。在為研究項(xiàng)目努力的同時(shí)，我也希望為上海大學(xué)的學(xué)生提供良好的教育。我希望與學(xué)生分享可持續(xù)發(fā)展和氣候變化方面的最新重大研究成果，并幫助他們成為能夠解決全球可持續(xù)發(fā)展問題的人。

為了讓人才持續(xù)流入中國(guó)，也為了在中國(guó)開展不同凡響的研究，長(zhǎng)期愿景舉足輕重。在撰寫本文時(shí)，我再次想起并感念身邊人對(duì)我的大力支持與幫助，讓我的研究順利開展。感激之情，無(wú)以言表。

As a researcher, I came to China from Japan and joined the Asian Demographic Research Institute (ADRI), School of Sociology at Shanghai University in 2019. The institute was founded in 2015. I feel that ADRI has an atmosphere of welcoming diversity. Since the demography closely relates to socio-economic and environmental studies, we have researchers with various backgrounds. Moreover, we are from different places such as Brazil, Canada, England, Korea, Nepal, Japan,and China. It means we may have different perspectives and opinions, but I feel people at ADRI respect others’ views and thoughts and try to understand each other. I appreciate this environment. It makes me feel comfortable and safe to be here. In addition, our faculties have outstanding achievements in research areas. They always give me new insight and motivation to do my research. Therefore, ADRI may be an excellent example to show that China successfully attracts foreign researchers.

I am also a witness to some researchers in Japan who joined Chinese research institutes or universities recently. When I had a year-end party with Japanese researchers in Shanghai,more than two-thirds of the participants mentioned that they came to Shanghai after 2015. They are at different stages of their careers. Some researchers came to Shanghai after retirement from Japanese universities, and some researchers are younger, in their 30s-40s or even younger, just getting their Ph.D.s. Moreover, young researchers in Japan sometimes ask me, “how is life in Shanghai” since they are thinking of applying for job opportunities in Chinese universities. My observation on Shanghai is that previously only senior researchers were the majority of researchers migrated, but more recently, more younger researchers are working in Chinese universities.

China Offers Good Opportunities for Researchers

Why are international researchers coming to China? Some people in Japan mentioned that Chinese universities offered higher salaries to researchers, so researchers in Japan moved to China. I think this story only explains a particular case.I also heard that some researchers got offers with excellentsalaries from Chinese universities, but most researchers around me did not. I think money is not the greatest motivation to come to China for most researchers who are from Japan.

It is a big decision to move out of our home countries. We can’t see family and friends there so often, especially during COVID-19 it is more challenging to make international trips. I haven’t seen my family for more than one year now. And most people from other countries around me are in a similar situation. But still, we are in China. Why? I think it is because we are researchers. We want to do our research, and here is the place for doing our research. Unfortunately, the number of children in Japan is decreasing, and job opportunities in Japanese universities are also reducing. Even if you assign as a researcher or faculty,you are asked to do more administrative issues, reducing your time to do research. Chinese universities and research institutes provide us time and opportunities to pursue our research objectives, which is the greatest motivation to come to China, at least for me.

How does China provide us with great opportunities to do research? I think China first accepted senior or young researchers with outstanding research achievements. Then younger researchers who had great motivations to develop research areas are attracted to these research environments. For example,when I joined ADIR, researchers pioneered demography and related interdisciplinary research areas. In addition, they have significant research achievements, so I was excited to join ADRI and work with them. I am always glad to hear and discuss theirresearch topics with them. In particular, I am interested in environment-induced population migration. ADRI has researchers who conduct migration research from different perspectives.Every faculty’s and student’s research gave me a lot of new insights that affected my research projects.

Thus, I think if universities provide suitable research environments, perhaps the kind of researchers there are is one of the most important things, making researchers try to cross borders and come to China. Once a researcher from abroad makes their way to China, it can affect researchers in their home country.If these researchers in China shared good experiences with other researchers in their home country, some researchers may follow these pioneers and come to China. In addition, Chinese researchers around me always try to publish influential papers.Each researcher’s great motivation to do research may create active and attractive research environments here.

I also feel that people here are pursuing frontier and interdisciplinary research. I am interested in “Social-Ecological dynamics in a changing climate.” Through multidisciplinary research projects, I want to develop new environmental sciences that integrate human activity and ecological dynamics. The coauthors and I are working on integrating spatiotemporal demographic dynamics with ecological dynamics, such as climate,water, and vegetation, from local to global scales. This collaboration between Demography and Environmental Science will be a significant breakthrough for sustainable development in a changing climate. There are few research institutes to integrate demographic spatial-temporal dynamics with environmental factors from local to global scales. I want to make ADRI one of the world’s most important interdisciplinary research institutes in sustainability science. Then, I want to provide opportunities for young generations to learn multidisciplinary research approaches to achieve a sustainable society in the era of climate change.

China now focuses on climate change issues and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which also affects my research.Since my research area is tightly related to these sustainability issues, I often saw many significant papers from China discussing climate change impacts or adaptations or assessments of the progress of SDGs in China. Therefore, I am trying to join a research network, and I will be happy if I can collaborate with these researchers in China.

My collaborators and I are conducting interdisciplinary research to achieve several Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs),especially no poverty, zero hunger, gender equality, clean water,and reduced inequalities. For example, we published a paper on flood-induced population displacement worldwide. Now, I am considering applying the research framework to assessing flood impacts in China. We also are conducting gender inequality issues in water security in the world. This topic is vital for coun-tries in Africa. Another important research topic for Africa and South Asia is child malnutrition and sustainable food production in severe droughts. In this project, we are trying to develop a scenario to achieve sustainable food production and reduce child malnutrition. I also want to mention that I have continued research in the Mongolian grasslands since I was a master’s student. Currently, I work to examine the effect of climate extremes on economic inequalities among herders in Mongolia. In addition, I supervise a master’s student who focuses on heat stroke mortality in Japan. Research into this field also helps understand other topics, such as how climate change affects the aging society. If researchers are interested in these research topics that focus on sustainable nature-human relationships in a changing climate, I would be more than happy to talk with them.

Living in China Has a Sense of Belonging

It is also essential that Chinese universities care about our daily life. For example, Shanghai University has residential buildings for faculties on the campus. I can live on the campus at a reasonable price, which means a lot for researchers who can live here when they first come to China. If you rent an apartment by yourself in Shanghai, you need to negotiate with an owner, and sometimes an owner asks you to move to another apartment on short notice. I don’t think I can handle these issues by myself. I also like that I can go to my office on foot. I don’t need to use a crowded metro for the commute. Our campus has a lot of trees,and I can enjoy them and birds singing on the way to my office in the morning. Canteens on the campus provide every meal,breakfast, lunch, and dinner. They even opened during the spring festival and offered us a special meal for the lunar new year’s eve. Dinner here was deeply meaningful as it took place during the COVID-19 outbreak. It was nice to feel at home,especially since most international researchers and faculties could not return to their home countries. I don’t have family here, but I could feel the celebration of the spring festival in the campus.

The international office at Shanghai University gave us several activities for international faculties. For example, we celebrated the spring festival by doing calligraphy and making dumplings.We also had celebrations for the mid-autumn festival. I appreciate that the international office held these activities. They tried to include us in celebrations like a family. I could communicate with other researchers abroad at Shanghai University through these events. We could share our daily life in Shanghai, and sometimes, we talked about the possibilities of our research collaborations. That would be great if I could collaborate with researchers across different departments at Shanghai University. In addition to the celebrations, the international office organized a tax seminar for foreign faculties that was very helpful in improving my understanding of tax. I also joined the workshop to apply for the National Natural Science Foundation of China’s(NSFC) research funding organized by the international office.Through the seminar, I was able to get the basic knowledge to apply for research funding here. These activities are constructive and supportive of my life in Shanghai.

I also want to mention that I like the atmosphere of Shanghai.Shanghai is a city that respects and accepts diverse cultures. We can see many cultures in Shanghai. There are beautiful historical buildings around the French Concession and new modern facilities around the Pudong area. I think Shanghai has a mosaic structure. Here we can see international restaurants and local noodle restaurants on the same street. They have different appearances and provide other foods at different prices. But both of them are important for people living there.

People here are friendly to me even though I cannot speak Chinese well. And it has atmospheres for welcoming different cultures. For example, I like to visit coffee shops in Shanghai.By the way, there are a lot of small coffee shops here. Sometimes I cannot understand what people there spoke to me, but most of them know that I cannot understand Chinese well, and they speak Chinese slowly or switch to English. Here is another story, when I visited a museum, I didn’t know how to buy a ticket via the machines since the machine was in Chinese. People around me noticed that I was struggling to access it and helped me get one. It only took a few minutes, but I remember it well.People here understand that some people can’t speak a common language and that adapting to the local customs is challenging.Their attitudes made me feel that it was okay to be here, and they accepted me as a member of society.

One of the big reasons that local people in Shanghai have enormous capacities for diverse cultures is that they have several opportunities to communicate with foreigners. One of the students told me that children in Shanghai have opportunities to play with children from other countries. Although they use different languages, they can play together, and sometimes they use various toys from China or someone’s home country. Since local people could feel different cultures in their daily life, they would accept diversity, and that is why Shanghai is a city that has several aspects. I think this atmosphere is also essential for conducting research. Novel research sometimes comes from communications among different research areas. Researchers from different research areas need to respect each other.Therefore, we can feel diversity in our daily life in Shanghai,which would benefit smooth communications across research areas.

The Long-Term Vision is Critical for Evaluating Talent

As I mentioned, China successfully attracted researchers from all over the world. Many researchers relocated to China within 5-6 years. The number of publications from China has increased in the same period. I believe researchers with diverse researchand education backgrounds will develop novel research achievements. What is the next step for Chinese universities? It is essential to keep attracting researchers from abroad in order not to stop the flow in an instant like fireworks. I think it may be significant that universities have a long-term vision. Sometimes universities focus on the number of published papers to evaluate faculties’ performances during the short term. Of course, the number of publications is significant. Still, we should not forget that it is just one of the indicators for evaluating performances and cannot assess all aspects of them.

Conducting novel research takes a lot of time. Since there are no specific ways to do that, we need to find ways ourselves. Researchers should continue to learn new knowledge to find creative ways. And if you are trying to do something new, people often cannot accept your new idea. It would help if you took the time to inform the importance of your novel research. For example, her dissertation was rejected when Nobel Prize researcher professor Elinor Ostrom applied for her Ph.D. in economics.Instead, she received a Ph.D. in Political Science. After several decades, she got the Nobel Prize in economic sciences in 2009.This story shows that doing something new can be difficult for people to understand. Thus, all processes, such as finding new knowledge and methodologies or getting rejections and revising our manuscripts, are included in “conducting research.” If we use the same methods or frameworks that previous research used, we can quickly publish multiple papers, but we cannot take our research to a new stage. If we keep challenging to move on to a new location, it takes a lot of time, but I believe we will be able to achieve outstanding achievements. So I would like to mention that a long-term perspective is essential to evaluate researchers’ performances.

Finally, I would like to describe what I want to achieve here through my research projects. As I mentioned, I want to develop new Environmental Sciences focusing on sustainable human-nature relationships in a changing climate. Through the process, I would like to contribute to making ADRI a research institute to lead interdisciplinary Sustainability Science worldwide. While I will work hard on research projects, I would also like to contribute to providing a good education for Shanghai University students. I want to share the latest significant research outcomes in sustainability and climate change with students. I want to help them to be people who can resolve global sustainability issues.

A long-term perspective may be essential to continue the flow and develop incredible research in China. Through writing this article, I feel that the people around me have greatly supported and helped me. Without their support and benefits, I could not conduct my research here. I appreciate that from the bottom of my heart.