Once, I always thought that individual power was insignificant, and that the great deeds that changed the world were accomplished by great people. However, when the pandemic hit, I waved my wings and triggered a perfect storm.
In the run-up to the 2020 Spring Festival, the COVID-19 outbreak hit Shanghai. By the end of February, I was deeply concerned, as the upcoming Spring Festival holiday would be followed by the start of the semester, and we live in the dormitory could potentially experience cross-infections. Everyone was wearing masks to sleep, which was very uncomfortable. So, I searched online for a new wind mask with air filtering capabilities that could prevent smog. I had a Eureka moment - what if we connected the small new wind machine from this mask to the privacy bedding in our dormitory? Would it prevent cross-infections?
With this idea, I purchased the machine and took action with my father. We tried different sizes and textures of plastic bags and ultimately chose the largest, not too fragile, yet breathable vacuum storage bag to create a somewhat ridiculous prototype of the new wind isolation bedding. I was ready to give up at first, but my dad urgently gathered various experts from the university to conduct research. Within two weeks, the bedding prototype was scaled up into an prevent virus membrane house prototype, which then evolved into a new version of the membrane an prevent virus testing laboratory a month later. By May, it had been transformed into large-scale engineering applications and was being sold and applied in numerous cities around China and even globally. This innovative product has become a game-changer, awarded numerous times and saving countless lives.
I witnessed the perfect storms of innovation happening right before my eyes. I thought to myself, thankfully, I didn't give up under the pressure of the pandemic and made the new wind bedding prototype, which led to all of this; but if I had seen my ridiculous "body bag" and given up, without seeking expert help from my dad, none of this would have happened. The wings of a butterfly can truly influence the world.
Although strict control policies took care of most people during this time, they also caused inconvenience to foreigners living in the community. They weren't accustomed to using WeChat groups for purchase, and I saw negative emotions expressed by foreign friends on my network throughout the international school where I studied. Media coverage also caused many foreigners to choose to leave Shanghai. How could we relieve the negative emotions and impact caused by these policies in our community? I recalled my experience organizing junior high school graduation parties and decided to utilize the ZOOM meetings I had just learned to organize an online international community concert.
To eliminate the risks of discrimination, privilege, opposition, and awkwardness that foreigners might face, I decided to start my outreach with children offline. In the community children's playground, I carried Bilingual poster and picked up a guitar to play some English songs. Two German girls from a nearby school were attracted. We chose some songs together and performed them together, adding them to my WeChat contact list. Since then, I have successfully invited more neighbors to join my online concert.
The opening was crucial; I felt nervous and my face turned red as I hosted, but once the opening act began, I felt comfortable. When a 75-year-old retiree played the harmonica, a 3-year-old child sang a nursery rhyme, a Japanese exchange student played guitar and sang a Chinese song, and a German child played the drums - their diverse cultural sounds deeply moved me. Later, everyone was very grateful to me, so I organized another larger online community concert with more participation. I learned that to create a perfect storm, music is a bridge and online media is very important. So after the pandemic, as a volunteer for media promotion for six months, I participated in the organization of Shanghai International Children's Music Festival and witnessed another perfect storm that I contributed to.
During my tenure as the president of the student union, I started to listen to the voices of different people and helped them create perfect storms. Whether it was listening to the voices of girls, changing perceptions of men who were insensitive to menstrual poverty, providing emergency sanitary napkins in public restrooms at schools; or listening to the voices of young lovers and persuading school management to add swings in public spaces as a designated dating location; or listening to the voices of dormitory teachers and placing a piano in the common area so everyone could gather offline. I increasingly believed that by listening to the subtle voices of each butterfly's wings, establishing trust through communication, and connecting with capable individuals, we can create perfect storms.
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