Growth Model - The Collection of Winning Profiles of Song Qingling Scholarship Recipients

Author: Song Qingling Scholarship Office / Country: Mainland China
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-07-01
Features: Wang Junjing, an Environmental Ambassador of China, is a young girl who won the Guinness World Record for collecting the most used batteries. She uses her vacation to promote environmental protection and battery recycling across the country, collecting signatures for "Green Environmental Protection" along the way. Since 2000, she has traveled across the mountains and rivers of the motherland (excluding Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan). From the northernmost village of Heihe, where temperatures drop to minus 45 degrees Celsius, to the beautiful Xisha Islands in Hainan in the south; from Kashgar, a border town in Xinjiang in the west, to Shitang Town in Zhejiang, where the first rays of the new millennium rise in the east, she has left her small footprints in promoting environmental protection and created the Guinness World Record for "the youngest person to cross the entire Qinghai-Tibet Plateau for environmental promotion." She is Wang Junjing, a student at Beijing Dongfang Decai School.
One day in 1998, Wang Junjing was holding a paper box full of used batteries at home when her mother was about to take out the trash. She said to her mother, "Mom, there are still some trash here." Then, with a "" sound, she dumped all the used batteries collected at home into the trash her mother was about to throw away. Her father said, "Junjing, used batteries are trash, but they are toxic waste and should not be thrown randomly. Because used batteries contain toxic substances. If they rot in the soil, the toxic substances inside will seep out, polluting underground water and soil. If we drink contaminated water or eat food grown in contaminated soil, we will get poisoned and sick." Coincidentally, the next day, after her kindergarten class ended, Wang Junjing was holding her father's hand on the way home when she suddenly stopped, pulled her father's hand, and pointed to the ground with her finger. "Dad, look." She bent down and reached out to pick it up. There were four muddy used batteries lying on the ground. Her father said, "Why pick it up?" and pulled her away. But Wang Junjing still stood there refusing to move. She asked her father, "Dad, didn’t you say used batteries are toxic? If people step on them and they get into the soil, won’t that pollute the environment?" "Yes, but you’re too young to worry about so much. Let’s go home!" Wang Junjing stubbornly said, "No! I want to take it away." Her father said, "No, these used batteries are too dirty!" Wang Junjing asked again, "Dad, why is what you say different from what you do?" Her father looked at Wang Junjing in surprise and finally picked up the used batteries from the ground, washing them in the rainwater on the spot before taking them home. From then on, whenever she saw used batteries, Wang Junjing would pick them up and bring them home. Gradually, the box filled with used batteries in her home grew from one to two, and then to three.
After starting primary school, Dongfang Decai School, as one of the first schools in Beijing to promote used battery recycling, gave wings to Wang Junjing’s development. The school publicized her story of collecting used batteries, providing a platform for her environmental actions. Her deeds quickly spread among her classmates and relatives and friends, and Wang Junjing became known as the "Battery Recycling Enthusiast."
In 2000, the idea of promoting used battery recycling across China and collecting signatures for "Green Environmental Protection" was born in Wang Junjing and her father’s minds. During the summer vacation, their first action began. Their goal was: Yunnan, Tibet, and Xinjiang. They started from Xishuangbanna in Yunnan, traveled along the Yunnan-Tibet Highway to Lhasa, the base camp of Mount Everest, and the of Ali in Tibet, then took the Xinjiang Highway to Kashgar in Xinjiang, and finally returned to Beijing from Urumqi. Along the way, the young Wang Junjing overcame altitude sickness and avoided many dangers such as landslides and mudslides. In Qiangbaling Temple in Qamdo, because the area often experiences power outages, people frequently use flashlights for lighting, leaving used batteries scattered everywhere. Wang Junjing quickly filled a large bag with them. Her actions caught the attention of Qiangbakezhuzhu, the living Buddha of the temple. When the living Buddha learned that this dusty little girl was here for environmental protection, he invited her into his residence. Wang Junjing introduced the dangers of used batteries to the living Buddha in detail. The living Buddha said after listening, "Your actions are wonderful! The people who come here are either tourists or pilgrims, and this is the first time we’ve seen someone help us clean up. I will make sure everyone knows that the monks and pilgrims in the temple will no longer throw away used batteries carelessly." After that, the living Buddha wrote blessings in his own handwriting on the "Green Environmental Protection" banner that Wang Junjing brought. In the end, Qiangbakezhuzhu broke the rule and gave her a white hada.
This activity crossed the entire Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. Over 17,000 kilometers, Wang Junjing and her father collected more than 70 kilograms of used batteries, distributed over 1,000 environmental protection brochures, and set up two used battery recycling bins. The "Green Environmental Protection" banner that Wang Junjing brought was signed by people of different nationalities, ethnicities, professions, genders, and ages, in various languages such as Chinese, English, Tibetan, Uyghur, Japanese, Korean, and French, filling it completely. Wang Junjing proposed to her teachers that the collected used batteries be used to create an environmental world map to be presented on World Environment Day. Under the guidance of her teachers and parents, they used their spare time to mobilize over 10,000 young people in Beijing to participate in creating this 3-meter-long, 2-meter-high, and approximately 3-ton world map. On June 5, 2001, World Environment Day, it was displayed in Wangfujing, Beijing. During the exhibition, more than 2 tons of used batteries were collected on-site, and over 10,000 environmental protection brochures were distributed. Many visitors came from far away. The exhibition received praise from many companies, environmental organizations, and media outlets, while also increasing public awareness of the pollution caused by used batteries.
Facing honors and awards, Wang Junjing said with confidence, "I collect used batteries not for rewards, but to let more people know the harm they cause to the environment. I hope one day there will be no batteries to collect. Through my own efforts and those of everyone else, I hope to make our planet more colorful and vibrant!" P3-5