The painting entitled Impecunious Peony is hanging in the home of Wang Zhenyi, a Chinese Academy of Engineering academician. Peony blooms have been a symbol of wealth and rank since ancient times, generally depicted as plump and gorgeous. However, this painting instead features a subtle elegance with the description of "Impecunious." Wang Zhenyi admires this painting's artistic conception of simple elegance devoid of fame and fortune. He believes that a person must be ambitious and enterprising, as well as possess a proper sense of honor and be able to exercise self-discipline. A flippant and impetuous mind is the adversary of scientific research. Poverty and loneliness are the best companions of scientists.

Wang Zhenyi was born in Jiangsu in 1924 and later moved to Shanghai with his parents. His grandmother of advanced age fell ill when he was seven years old. His grandmother was treated by a celebrated doctor, but she still passed away due to the limited medical services available at the time. Wang Zhenyi made up his mind to study medicine so that he would not be powerless in the face of his beloved ones' suffering in the future.

In 1942, Wang Zhenyi was admitted to Shanghai Aurora University School of Medicine without having to take examinations. In 1948, he obtained the Doctor of Medicine degree, and because of his top grades, he stayed in Guangci Hospital (predecessor of Ruijin Hospital) as a resident physician. He let others make choices first when the hospital assigned doctors to different departments. The well-developed departments such as cardiology, gastroenterology, endocrinology, and nephrology were selected by others. Wang Zhenyi opted for the obscure hematology department.

Wang Zhenyi trained himself because the department of hematology had no leader at the time. "I used to think that treating blood diseases was as simple as looking at blood under the microscope, and that it shouldn't be difficult. It turned out I was wrong when I began to work in this department. Hematology is not as simple as you may think. The more you learn, the more difficult it becomes."

"The number of books available was limited indeed," as Wang Zhenyi recalled. It was exceedingly difficult to conduct research at the time due to a scarcity of reference materials. Some went abroad to attend meetings and came back with a bit of information. Despite the limitations, they learned from the scientific literature that an Israeli expert experimented on mice and discovered that leukemia cells could be reversed to become normal cells under certain conditions. This is the theory of "induced differentiation." Wang Zhenyi was greatly encouraged by this news. He set up a laboratory about four or five square meters in size at the hospital, and since then embarked on the road of scientific research for the Department of Hematology.

Let Cancer Cells "Return to the Right Way"

Wang Zhenyi explained by analogy, "Tumor cells are like some of the children who go astray. Should I beat him or teach him?"

On Jan. 19, 2011, Professor Wang Zhenyi, who has just received the highest national science and technology award, gives a lecture to students and faculty at Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine. [Photo by VCG]