Bold moments of ZJUers (Part 1)

In a world where boundless landscapes nurture audacious dreams, individuals in the Zhejiang University community dare to look, listen, try, and strive. This audacity intertwines with their essence, their existence, and their journey through life... They follow their heart with courage and belief. Today, let us celebrate their remarkable narratives.

This is Part 1 of a two-part stories about ZJU dream chasers.

GAO Sheng: A 1000-kilometer journey home by bicycle

“I bought a bicycle at the end of August last year. Since then, I have been dreaming of an adventurous journey.” Last year’s National Day holiday saw GAO Sheng, a postgraduate student from the School of Economics, make his journey back to his hometown in Shanxi alone, armed with his “Qiushi” mooncakes. “Riding alone might seem mundane, but I find it quite worthwhile as I immerse myself in diverse landscapes and savor local customs.”

With water bottles filled, first aid kits strapped on, spare tires, and tire repair tools in hand, GAO Sheng set off on his over 1000-kilometer journey home at 7:30 a.m. on September 29. Over the course of seven and a half days, he encountered various weather conditions and met many “curious” and kind-hearted people.

In a small restaurant in Baizhang Town, GAO Sheng was warmly welcomed by a group of locals who invited him to share drinks and stories. On the roads of Jiaozuo, Henan Province, a generous villager extended hospitality, offering him shelter for the night. While navigating the streets of Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, an uncle offered earnest advice on safety precautions. “No sooner had I ridden out of Zhengzhou than my tire deflated. A local uncle on a tricycle came to my aid. Despite struggling to understand his accent, his encouraging ‘zhong’ (meaning ‘well-done’) spurred me on,” recalls GAO Sheng, reflecting on the kindness he encountered. In spite of the challenges and occasional monotony, meeting such wonderful people along the way was undoubtedly a blessing.

In addition to the warmth of these “lovely strangers,” the picturesque scenery along the way also left an indelible impression on him. When cycling in Jiaozuo, the mountain roads were steep, and GAO Sheng walked his bike, departing at 4 p.m. and arriving at the top of the mountain at 8 p.m. “Exhausted as I was, gazing down from mountaintop at the twinkling lights of countless homes filled me with gratitude and joy.”

Behind the tire tracks spanning over 1000 kilometers of tire tracks lie sweat and courage, but above all, there exists a profound sense of love and unwavering commitment to staying true to one's original aspirations.

FANG Chengrui: An iterative entrepreneur in hackathon

“I’ve always viewed a hackathon as a thrilling challenge,” remarked FANG Chengrui, a member of the 2024 Turing Class at Chu Kochen Honors College. “For me, hacking is a form of self-expression. Code serves as my brush, enabling me to quickly conceive and implement ideas, building connections with others and creating resonance.”

During last year’s Apsara conference, organized by Alibaba Cloud, FANG Chengrui and his roommate, SUN Xinjie, spearheaded the Prompts Lab team, one of the 18 startup teams, to participate in the “Create@AI Hackathon.” Within a mere 48 hours, each team endeavored to use AI toolkits to craft innovative products and present them on stage. It was during this competition that the AI-enhanced rendition of the Who is the SPY game made its debut and won the “Best 0 to 1 Award” of the event.

At the heart of the game lies a unique feature where users curate game words, ensuring their relevance to players’ professions or shared experiences. Moreover, it boasts multi-modal gameplay, encompassing text, image, and audio game scenes, with the added capability of interfacing with external knowledge bases, generating questions from sources like test papers or textbooks.

This ingenious idea originated from a viral video showcasing the professional version of ‘Who is the Spy’ on the internet. Faced with problems such as outdated question banks and mediocre quality in traditional games, the team leveraged internal algorithms and large model tools to realize AI-generated sub-themes and the functionality of theme-specific “spy words”. This ensured that the “civilian” and “spy” roles were distinct yet sufficiently similar, offering players an unparalleled experience.

In 2022, during a summer workshop on human-computer interaction hosted by the Turing Class at Zhejiang University, FANG Chengrui embarked on his inaugural hackathon journey. Over six days, students were tasked with developing an app on a given pair of smart glasses. They self-taught Android app development, smart glasses and Android framework API invocation, and UI interface design, eventually creating a fully functional technical product.

Afterwards, FANG Chengrui and his team participated in many hackathons, clinching awards and crafting innovative projects like the desktop creative game Planet, grammar-based visual prompt word efficiency tool Prompts Lego, etc. Reflecting on his journey, he expressed pride in competing alongside industry professionals as a novice entrepreneur, relishing the thrill of conceiving unique products and effecting transformative breakthroughs from ground zero.

Eager to optimize the AI-based version of the Who is the SPY game, he aspires to launch it online as soon as possible, thus receiving feedback and data from users. In the years ahead, he harbors his ambition of pursuing more innovative and interesting things.

(To be continued)

Adapted and translated from the article written by CHEN Yongnan, OUYANG Yuxuan, TIAN Siqi, LI Sa

Photo: the interviewees