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In Guangming, Shenzhen, there is Wulong Chuzhen Mountain; Shenzhen University of Advanced Technology(SUAT) is built along the mountain, with undergraduate residential colleges at the foot.

For months, every evening at sunset, several undergraduates, after finishing the day's studies, carry hoes, shovels, and other farming tools, exit the back door of the college, follow the mountain path to a plot of "farmland," and start planting.

Initially, this "farmland" was just barren land full of stones, tiles, and rotten wood; through their daily labor of digging drainage ditches, moving stones, and improving soil, it transformed into neatly grooved fields with vibrant red earth. The students also gave it a name:"Yuan Xiaotian."

On March 12, the Zhixing Yunshe of SUAT Yuan Geng College held theTree Planting Festival and "Yuan Xiaotian" unveiling ceremony, planting trees such as Chinese viburnum, blueberry, fig, and kumquat, as well as fruits and vegetables like tomatoes and wild strawberries.

Among them, the wild strawberries werelaboratory strawberry seedlings specially donated by Distinguished Professor Liu Chongchi from the Faculty of Synthetic Biology and researcher at the Institute of Emerging Agricultural Technology. She is a leading figure in international strawberry molecular genetics and fruit development; her mentor is Victor Ambros, winner of the 2024 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.

"My mentor was a Drosophila researcher; when students moved experiments to planting scenarios, he unexpectedly discovered the impact of environmental variables on gene expression, ultimately achieving a breakthrough. " Liu Chongchi said that the land holds real logic that labs cannot replicate, hoping students jump out of "farming for farming's sake" thinking, using "Yuan Xiaotian" as a "natural laboratory" to include crop growth observation and ecological data analysis in research vision, "perhaps the next innovation will be born at the intersection of hoe and test tube."

Because of their love for planting

At the end of 2024, with college support

Undergraduate Ye Gulin from Yuan Geng College

initiated the establishment of the Zhixing Yunshe club

Currently, over twenty like-minded students have joined

Undergraduate Li Zhicheng from Dawning College is one of them. He said thatthrough labor, he gained physical and mental relaxation beyond studies, learned how to use farming tools and reclaim soil, and experienced the hardship and joy of transforming barren land into farmland.

"Especially when looking up at sunset glow and birds returning to nests, the heart fills with healing and satisfaction, further strengthening the original intention of 'getting close to nature.' " Ye Gulin said, and it also allows truly applying classroom knowledge to practice, achieving "unity of knowledge and action."

Yuan Geng College undergraduate Xiong Chenxi deeply resonates with this. Because after personally experiencing reclamation and planting a plant, she suddenly realized thatplanting and research are actually similar:To many, research is a sacred cause exploring the unknown, full of infinite charm, but only those who truly embark on this path know it is full of thorns—countless days and nights of drilling, repeated failures, constantly testing scientists' patience and perseverance; yet it is these hardships that give ultimate achievements extraordinary meaning.

"Every cultivation in 'Yuan Xiaotian' is like exploration on the research path; every drop of sweat irrigates seeds of hope, witnessing growth and transformation. " Xiong Chenxi said.

And next

students' research exploration in "Yuan Xiaotian"

will be more practical

Because SUAT, aligned with national strategic needs and Shenzhen's "20+8" industrial cluster policy, has established a series of new-type research institutes—including theInstitute of Emerging Agricultural Technology. The institute focuses on agriculture and planting, committed to developing disruptive next-generation breeding technologies, researching new plant protein sources and production modes, leading traditional agricultural technology to leapfrog development toward new quality productive forces.

Just as Professor Liu Chongchi said

combining planting practice with scientific research

exploring the mysteries of science in practice

students' innovations

may emerge on this small piece of land

SUAT Party Secretary Zhu Dijian, seeing students actively engage in planting practice in spare time, felt very gratified, emphasizing that labor practice is an important part of the university's "three academies in one" talent cultivation system, encouraging students to use professional knowledge to optimize planting techniques and sense the power of life growth in cultivation. "In the future, the university will continuously enrich educational content and practice forms, cultivating top innovative talents with both practical abilities and meeting the needs of developing new quality productive forces. "