By Yuyao Liu

This is a Chinese fable by Saint Zhuāng Zǐ, that goes like this: Once upon a time, a frog lived in a small well. He had fresh water to drink and swim in, soft mud to play in, plenty of insects to eat, and high walls to leap around on. To him, the well was a grand and complete world. One day, a turtle from the East China Sea passed by and tried to enter the small well but found that it could not enter. He told the frog, “The sea is vast beyond your imagination. Even if you travelled a thousand miles, you wouldn’t grasp its width. Even if you descended a thousand feet, you wouldn’t comprehend its depth.” Hearing these words, the frog suddenly realized how limited his world had been.

The proverb ” frog in a well” is often used to describe people who have narrow vision and do not understand the vastness of the world. If the frog does not sit in the comfortable well but dares to challenge and jump out of the well, it will see how vast the world is. This philosophical story tells us that when we stay in our comfort zone, our thinking and vision will be limited, and we will lose the exploration of the wider world. When we have the courage to step into new areas, we will find that the richness of the scientific world is far beyond our imagination.