A Nation's Treasure Is in Its Scholars

CaiHuaqian (Cai)
蔡华谦 1201111301
English Writing 9A
23 September 2012
JE2

“A nation's treasure is in its scholars.”
As a Chinese proverb puts it: “A nation's treasure is in its scholars. ” Absurd and farfetched as it may seem at first sight, its intended meaning goes undoubtedly far deeper.
The more scholars a country has, the more advanced the technology is. If a country fails to keep pace with others in the development of technology, a terrible catastrophe may happen soon. For example, The Qing dynasty is the richest in the world in 18th century. However it did not allow ideas and development from the world to come to China. Secluding China from the world leads to a lot of war – the Opium War, the Second Opium War, the First Sino-Japanese War… For these reason, Qing became very poor in the beginning of 20th century. It’s obvious that money and valuables is important, but money may loss easily if the technology backward. In fact, the scholars are the real treasure who can bring the valuables directly and indirectly. As for us -- students in the university who may become scholars in the future, it is our duty to make our nation better. Moreover, the mental valuables should we bring to our nation as well as the physical ones. In physical, we should work hard and get a lot of research results to leap the industry forward. In mental, we should be the benchmark morally and lead the way, which can improves our social conduct. The civilization is measured by spiritual state of the society, and the scholar should form a spiritual culture for the nation who is the nation’s treasure.
In conclusion, the lack of scholars can cause a country to fall behind other countries, and no matter how much money the country owns now, it turns out poor in the near future. As a student in PKU, it’s my duty to become a famous scholar who can make my nation a great difference.