He Jiang: Making History at Harvard

He Jiang: Making History at Harvard He Jiang, the first Chinese graduate to ever speak at Harvard’s commencement ceremony, has become a star on Chinese social media. Harvard commencement addresses welcomed their first-ever Chinese speaker — He Jiang, a 2016 PhD graduate in biochemistry. He delivered a speech representing the graduate students. Other guest speakers included Hollywood director Steven Spielberg. He Jiang began his speech with a childhood memory from his small village in central China’s Hunan Province. He was bitten on the hand by a poisonous spider and his mother treated it with an old folk cure — setting his hand on fire, rather than going to see a doctor, because there were no doctors. Studying at Harvard made him see how scientific discovery could help others in simple ways and got him to think of the uneven distribution of science and technology in the modern world, and wondered what scientists could do to change the situation. “My experience reminds me that how important it is for researchers to communicate our knowledge to those who need it. By using the science we already have, we could probably bring my village and thousands like it into the world you and I take for granted every day,” said He in his speech. He grew up in a small village with only a few educational opportunities. “Thanks go to my dad for pushing me to study in that environment and to my mom, whose encouragement helped keep me focused on my studies,” said He. He graduated from University of Science and Technology of China with a bachelor’s degree in 2009 and was admitted into Harvard’s PhD program on full scholarship the same year. Taking advantage of spare time, He has finished up a book about rural China in English.