Source: CCTV.com

11-09-2008 19:25

Watch Video >>

When dreams are left behind as life goes on, what awaits ahead of us? Shall we live our dreams, or shall we continue to dream? It seems we often confuse the two.

The old man’s name is Xiong Minghua. Today his home town is some distance away under the water, but six years ago he was still living in the town and it was at that time that we first got to know him.

Xiong is one of the town’s early birds. He has been selling mantou on this street in this way for more than ten years.

Xiong is 58 years old. His 19-year-old eldest daughter is actually his step-daughter as she is the child of his wife and her ex-husband. His youngest daughter, now 10 years old, is from his marriage with his wife.

The residents of this town all know that Xiong is a mantou maker, but what they don’t know is he’s working on something else at the same time – he is working on the Goldbach Conjecture, one of the three most difficult problems in mathematics. Numerous mathematicians and mathematics enthusiasts have worked on the Goldbach Conjecture for a very long time, but as yet no solution has been found.

After just a few years’ of study, Xiong had completed a thesis on the Goldbach Conjecture. The most important thing after that was to get it published, but he knew it wouldn’t be easy.

Xiong didn’t come from a wealthy background and the income for his family came entirely from the mantou sales. Every day, to earn enough for the family to survive, he had to work from 10 PM till 6 the next morning.

One day, one of Xiong’s old classmates - a high school teacher - came to visit him. He explained that a number of his students were presently in various universities and that through them he could help Xiong contact professors for help with the reference.

Six years after those scenes were filmed we caught up with Xiong again. He is now 65 years old.

Because of the relocation of the residents at the Three Gorges, Xiong’s old home has been submerged.

Two years ago, the town’s residents were relocated to a new site in the nearby mountains. After making that move, Xiong ceased operating his mantou business.

For the past 6 years, probably the only thing that has not changed in Xiong’s life is his persistence over the Goldbach Conjecture.

Xiong’s eldest daughter is now married, and his youngest daughter is about to take the university entrance examination. Currently both Xiong and his wife are unemployed, and their only income is a 200 Yuan monthly allowance from the government.

Even so, Xiong still hasn’t given up on the Goldbach Conjecture and he’s still looking for professors to recommend his thesis so he can have it published. But in all these years his efforts have been in vain.

In order to bring back memories to Xiong and his family, we played what we filmed 6 years ago.

 

Editor:Du Xiaodan