In late January 2026, students from Tsinghua University’s "Original Aspiration Service Group" and “Veins of the Fertile Land” Fieldwork Team completed a seven-day immersive journey from the "Red Roots" to the "New Radiance of the Fertile Land" in Guang’an, Sichuan. From museums to farmlands, from community services to industrial frontlines, the team, composed of students from the Department of Earth System Science (DESS) and the School of Social Sciences at Tsinghua University, traveled across the land of eastern Sichuan, connecting the past and future of rural China with their original aspirations.

Root-Seeking: Spiritual Coordinates Embedded in Red Genes

The first stop of the fieldwork took the team to the Guang’an Municipal Museum and the Former Residence of Deng Xiaoping. To DESS students, rock strata are witnesses to history; here, however, the unique "red earth layer" in eastern Sichuan carries far more profound spiritual significance, embodying the red memories of this land.

At the Former Residence of Deng Xiaoping, the team paid tribute to the great man. Standing before the exhibition panels chronicling Comrade Deng Xiaoping's life and beside historical materials of the Huayingshan Uprising, the students gained a tangible sense of the profound "red foundation" deeply rooted in this land. At the Jianchuan Museum Cluster, the changes in ordinary people's lives since the reform and opening up vividly revealed to the students how the grand blueprint drawn by the great leader has taken root and flourished in millions of households. This "root-seeking" journey served as an "anchor" for the spirit of all team members—only by taking root in the soil can one build a solid foundation.

Fieldwork: The Warmth of Youth in Community Life

On the Laba Festival, Hubin Road Community in Beichen Subdistrict was filled with the fragrance of ink and porridge. Rolling up their sleeves, team members wrote Spring Festival couplets and presented fu characters to elderly residents, with steaming bowls of Laba porridge forging emotional bonds between two generations.

Team members served Laba porridge to elderly residents in the community.

The fieldwork team held discussions and exchanges with cadres of the Communist Youth League Committee of Guang’an District. Team member Wu Hanyi commented, "What we write are not just Spring Festival couplets, but the emotional bond between young Party members and the rural land." Handing the bright red fu characters to the elderly and seeing smiles blooming on their wrinkled faces, the students understood the warmest aspect of the "human-land bond—service is not about giving handouts from above; it is about genuine heart-to-heart exchanges. This volunteer service turned the tenet of "serving the people" from a slogan into a concrete guide for action.

Decoding: Industrial Wisdom on the Fertile Land

The countryside in Guang’an is a most telling "field sample" of rural revitalization. At the Green Sichuan Pepper Modern Agricultural Park, what amazed the team members was the "chemical change" brought by the extension of the industrial chain, transforming a single pepper into a diverse range of products, including beer, essential oil, and pepper mushrooms. At the Long'an Pomelo Mother Tree Garden, the 135-year-old "second-generation mother tree" bore only 112 fruits, yet it had nurtured an industrial miracle spanning ten generations. The high-end "mother tree pomelos" are equipped with exclusive traceability codes, building consumer trust through digital technology.

The fieldwork team investigates industrial development at the Long'an Pomelo Mother Tree Garden.

The team members were briefed on the deep-processing products developed from Long’an pomelos. What thrilled them most was a farmer-supporting livestream held in Longnü Town, Wusheng County. Standing before trees heavy with golden Daya mandarins, the students stepped into the role of livestream hosts. As they peeled one fruit open and juice spilled out vividly, the internet transcended physical distance. The rapidly updating orders on screen were no longer dry statistics, but genuine, tangible income for local farming families.

Vision: A Future Between Mountains and Waters

At Guang'an Middle School, the team members drew on their own growth experiences to answer questions and clear up doubts for high school students.

Team members engage in conversations with students from Guang'an Middle School.

The seven-day journey flew by, yet the image of Guang’an was firmly etched in the students’ hearts. They carried with them the stories of this vibrant land and left their youthful footprints behind. As one member noted, “This is not the end. We will surely return in the future as earth scientists, and write our research on the very soil of our motherland.”

From the hometown of a great leader to the frontlines of modern industry, from revolutionary legacy to rural revitalization, the students of the "Original Aspiration Service Group" not only came to know Guang’an through their journey, but also gained a deeper understanding of their responsibilities through hands-on practice. Let the stories of our youth be written across the land of our motherland.