Weaving a wonderful life in Shanghai
Sun Zhiyuan, who met her husband in a library, with her family.
Personal profile
Sun Zhiyuan was born in 1978 in Shijiazhuang in Hebei Province. She enrolled to study textiles at Donghua University in Shanghai at the age of 18. That was her first time in Shanghai. After graduation, she worked in Xiamen and Shijiazhuang and then returned to Shanghai to earn a higher degree.
In 2007, Sun started work as a researcher at Shanghai Textile Research Institute concentrating on new materials and technologies in home textiles and clothing and developing new products. Sun’s achievements have won her a number of award for technological innovations and contributions to the country’s textile industry.
Sun Zhiyuan (third left) is pictured in a group photograph taken during military training at college.
My Story
It’s been 40 years since 1978, the year when I was born and when the glorious journey of the country’s reform and opening started. The entire country has gone through tremendous changes with so many stories to tell, and so has my life in the past 40 years. In a word, I would say I’m thankful to this era and to the reform and opening policy.
I was born in a village in Hebei Province. My parents hoped their children would carry on the family business, but my brother and sister and I, we all went to universities in Shanghai. My brother earned a doctoral degree and my sister a master's.
Returning for holidays at home, my brother and sister told me that Shanghai was a dazzling metropolis with wider roads and taller buildings and renewed itself every day. Their accounts made me yearn for the same experiences.
I graduated from high school in 1998. My father advised me to study textiles because China has a competitive textile industry, and so I majored in textiles at Donghua University in Shanghai.
When I lived and studied at the Yan’an Road campus of the university, my favorite destinations were museums, libraries and bookstores. Shanghai Museum and the Shanghai Book City on Fuzhou Road were two of my haunts. Rich cultural facilities in Shanghai absolutely quenched my thirst for history and all kinds of knowledge.
After graduation, I had a period of uncertainty in career development. I worked for a textile trade company in Shijiazhuang, my hometown, and Xiamen in the first year after graduation but I realized that Shanghai offered more opportunities. Some of my classmates started to work for big companies right after graduation where they took part in projects as major team members and did research. That was what I was looking for. I decided to resume my studies in Shanghai and build my career there.
Studying hard outside work, I realized my plan in 2004 when I started to study for a master's degree at Donghua University.
The old culture hunting habit came back to me and brought to me more than I ever expected. One day in a library when I was looking at a Chinese painting in an exhibition, I noticed a man standing next to me and talked to him. We stayed in contact afterward, and he later became my husband. What a chance that I met the love of my life in Shanghai!
Sun Zhiyuan poses for a photograph after she graduated from Donghua University.
My husband is not a local. He graduated from a university in Kunming, Yunnan Province. When I asked him why he came to Shanghai, he said he heard that there are more opportunities here and thought that Shanghai was a nice city.
I sent my resume to the textile research institute of Shanghai Dragon Co 10 years ago with both anticipation and the fear of being turned down. Luckily I was given a try and even trained as a key perspective researcher. Meanwhile, I became a resident not long after I started to work in Shanghai thanks to the city’s credit system for acceptation of new residents which awards more points to university graduates with master's degrees like me. Shanghai kindly opens its door to professionals from all parts of the country and creates a stable working life for them.
Looking back on these years, I have been doing my part for the city to upgrade its technologies and fashion products for its textile industry. Working under the guidance of leading experts, I have been dedicated to applied research on new materials and technologies in the field of home textiles and apparels and the development of new products with my knowledge and innovative spirit. Some of my research results such as textiles soaked up in liquid with pearl particulates nanometers in size and soft bamboo mats with bamboo fiber were listed as key national innovative products and projects covered by Shanghai’s technological innovation plans. They were also winners of the national award in technological progress of the textile industry and Shanghai workers’ top innovation award. Our new technologies and new materials have been applied to products of Threegun, a famous textile brand in Shanghai.
I was lucky to be born in 1978 and to be a witness of the 40 years of reform and opening process of the country. More than that, I was a part of it and a contributor. At 40 years old, I feel my life is blossoming, and our country and the modern metropolis of Shanghai in their 40th year of reform and opening are also enjoying prosperity.
