Yanwen’s blog

Forty-two years later, on November 7, 2026, 中国第 43 次南极科考队起航 (zhōng guó dì sì shí sān cì nán jí kē kǎo duì qǐ háng), China's 43rd Antarctic research expedition departed from Sanya, Hainan, heading south for months of fieldwork on the frozen continent. The fleet includes Xuelong 2, China's domestically built polar research icebreaker. 

The expedition has an ambitious scientific agenda. Researchers will study Antarctic ice and ocean conditions, monitor marine ecosystems, maintain and upgrade China's existing research stations, and test new equipment designed for the extreme polar environment.

One important goal is to collect climate data. Antarctica holds valuable records of Earth's climate history, and changes in its ice sheets can affect global sea levels. The team will also conduct astronomical and geophysical observations in one of the world's most remote environments.

The journey is expected to last about five months, with the team scheduled to return in April 2027. This expedition represents another step in China's long-term polar research program and contributes to international efforts to better understand climate change and the Antarctic environment.

This is not just a story about China's Antarctic expedition. It is also a story about curiosity, perseverance, international cooperation, and our responsibility to understand the world we share.

1. Curiosity: The world is much bigger than our everyday lives

Antarctica is far removed from our daily lives, yet its ice, oceans, and climate are connected to the rest of the world. What happens there can affect people living thousands of miles away.

This tells me that the world is full of questions worth exploring, even in places we may never visit. We do not have to experience everything firsthand to develop an interest in it or learn something valuable from it.

I hope my children will remain curious about things beyond their immediate surroundings. There is always something new to discover, and curiosity is often the beginning of learning.

2. Perseverance: Important work requires patience and continuity

Meaningful achievements rarely happen overnight. They often require years of effort, repeated attempts, and the willingness to build on what others have accomplished.

China's Antarctic research program began in 1984. Forty-two years later, scientists are still returning to the continent, asking new questions and continuing work begun by earlier generations.

Each expedition builds on previous research. What one generation discovers becomes a foundation for the next.

3. International cooperation: Science goes beyond national boundaries

What is especially meaningful about this expedition is its international cooperation.

Scientists from different countries may have different backgrounds, work for different institutions, and come from different cultures. Yet they can share a common interest in understanding our planet.

Climate change is not a problem that any one country can fully understand or solve on its own. Studying the Antarctic environment requires observations, knowledge, and cooperation from scientists around the world.

We can have different backgrounds and perspectives while still working toward a common goal.

I hope my children will understand the importance of looking beyond national and cultural differences and learning from people whose experiences may be different from their own.

4. Responsibility: What we learn should help us understand and protect the world

Learning about our planet helps us understand how our actions affect the environment and why protecting it matters.

The more scientists learn about Antarctica, the better we may understand changes in the Earth's climate and the challenges facing future generations.

I hope my children will see learning not only as a way to improve themselves or achieve personal success, but also as a way to understand the consequences of our actions and contribute to the world around them.

Finally,

Reading about China's 43rd Antarctic expedition makes me think about how much of the world remains beyond our everyday experience.

We may never travel to Antarctica, but we can still learn from the people who go there and the questions they are trying to answer.

Most importantly, I hope my children and grandchildren realize that learning is not only about improving ourselves or achieving personal success. It is also about understanding the world we share and finding ways to contribute to it.

The world is much larger than our immediate surroundings. The more we learn about it, the more we realize how much we still have to discover—and how much we can accomplish when we work together.

It refers to the phenomenon in which students who have an early advantage in learning tend to gain even more advantages over time, while those who fall behind may find it increasingly difficult to catch up.

In simple terms, the rich get richer, and the poor get poorer. The strong get stronger, while the weak struggle to keep up.

But I am not sure this applies to everyone.

In my own family, I experienced the Matthew Effect in reverse. I was behind my two younger sisters in elementary school. They were far ahead of me academically during those years. However, I caught up in middle and high school, while they gradually fell behind. And in the end I was the only one entering college.

My experience made me wonder: Does an early advantage really determine a child's long-term academic success? If not, what else?

Why does the Matthew Effect happen?

Several factors can contribute to this phenomenon.

1. Early advantages accumulate.

Children who develop strong reading and language skills early often find it easier to acquire new knowledge. As their knowledge grows, they have more information to draw upon when learning something new.

2. Success builds confidence.

Students who perform well often become more confident and motivated. They may be more willing to take on challenges, participate in class, win teacher's approval and continue learning.

3. Knowledge compounds.

The more we know, the easier it becomes to understand and acquire new knowledge.

For example, children who read regularly develop stronger vocabulary and background knowledge, which can make subsequent reading easier and more enjoyable.

The reverse can also happen.

Students who struggle early with reading may become discouraged, lose confidence, read less and less. As a result, they may miss opportunities to develop the skills they need to catch up.

This creates a cycle in which early differences can gradually widen.

Where does the term come from?

The term comes from the Gospel of Matthew, particularly Matthew 25:29:

"For to everyone who has, more will be given, and he will have an abundance; but from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away."

Sociologist Robert K. Merton popularized the term Matthew Effect in 1968 to describe how scientists who already had recognition and prestige tended to receive even more recognition.

Psychologist Keith Stanovich later applied the concept to reading development in his influential 1986 paper.

What determines whether children keep learning?

Perhaps this is one of the reasons behind early intervention programs in the United States, which aim to help children develop essential skills before they enter school.

But I wonder how much this early intervention alone can accomplish and how many high school dropout it has prevented.

I believe many factors influence whether children maintain their learning momentum from elementary school through middle and high school.

These include:

• The quality of teaching. A good teacher can make a subject interesting and inspire a child's desire to learn.

• Family resources and access to books and other learning opportunities.

• Parental encouragement and support.

• Peer group influence.

• A child's own interests, curiosity, and internal motivation. This may be particularly important.

Children may begin learning because their parents encourage them, their teachers expect them to, or their classmates are doing well.

But as they grow older, they need to develop their own reasons for learning.

Back to my sisters and me, I wonder why my two sisters with an early good start gradually fell behind in high school. Perhaps it's due to their peer groups pressure or they lost interest in learning.

But my own experience makes me believe that early academic performance does not tell the whole story.

Children develop at different rates. Their interests change, their confidence grows or declines, and their learning environments evolve.

An early advantage can help establish a positive learning cycle, but it does not guarantee that the cycle will continue.

Likewise, falling behind in elementary school does not mean a child will always remain behind.

What matters beyond an early start?

Early learning matters. But I think the more important question is how to help children maintain their learning momentum throughout their education. Because children need more than that.

To me, I think most importantly, they need opportunities to explore and discover what genuinely interests them.

When children develop their own interests, learning becomes more than something they do because adults tell them to. It becomes something they want.

An early start can open the door, but a child's own curiosity and genuine interest can help keep that door open and get deeper.

Matt Damon, another well-known actor and longtime friend and collaborator of Ben Affleck, shared that Affleck has turned down numerous big acting opportunities so he can spend more time with his three children.

Under his joint-custody arrangement, Affleck spends half his time with his children. As Damon explained, Affleck once told him that if he traveled overseas to film a movie, such as one shooting in Estonia, he could not get those hours back.

That realization has become a major consideration in his career decisions.

Affleck has chosen to remain based in Los Angeles, where his children live and go to school. According to Damon, this was one reason Affleck wanted to take on the CEO role at Artists Equity, the production company they co-founded. The position allows him to work closer to home rather than constantly traveling for acting jobs.

Affleck has even arranged his workdays so that he can finish early enough to be home when his children get out of school.

Damon mentioned Animals, a film Affleck directed in Los Angeles, as an example of choosing work that allows him to remain close to his family.

What touched me most was Affleck's own explanation of his priorities. He has said that he doesn't want to travel across the country or around the world for work and miss this period in his children's lives.

He wants to be part of their everyday routine: picking them up from school, seeing their friends, taking them to their activities, and simply being around. These may seem like ordinary moments, but they are precisely the moments that make up childhood.

What matters most in the end?

Reading this story made me think about how many parents spend years pursuing career success, professional recognition, and financial achievement, sometimes at the expense of being present for their children.

Of course, working hard and building a career are important. Parents have responsibilities, and not everyone has the freedom to choose where or when they work.

But I think Affleck's example reminds us of something worth considering: career opportunities may come and go, but our children's childhood does not come around a second time.

We can always pursue another project, another promotion, or another this or that. But we cannot turn back the clock and recover the years when our children were young.

What children often remember is not how successful their parents were professionally, but whether their parents were there for them, whether they listened, whether they shared their everyday experiences, and whether they made them feel loved and supported every day.

Success is measured not only by how far we advance in our careers or how much we earn. We should also consider the relationships we build and the memories we create with our children.

The greatest success for a parent is not simply to build a successful career, but to build a meaningful relationship with their children while they are growing up.

Their childhood years are both precious and fleeting. Our children will eventually grow up, develop their own lives, and become independent. When that time comes, I hope we can look back with the satisfaction of knowing that we did not allow the pursuit of professional success to keep us from sharing those irreplaceable years with them.