在世界屋脊，探索中國(guó)

對(duì)于青藏高原以及更為寬泛的亞洲文化與歷史，我的母親一直都很著迷。因此，伴隨著這些東亞的民間故事，我度過(guò)了自己的童年。

來(lái)到青藏高原

身處戶外，特別是置身于大自然之中，地球上的自然奇觀與自然災(zāi)害，比如火山、地震、龍卷風(fēng)及海嘯都深深地觸動(dòng)著我。當(dāng)需要為自己的碩士以及后來(lái)的博士論文選題時(shí)，我毫不猶豫地選擇了一個(gè)與大規(guī)模活動(dòng)斷層相關(guān)的研究項(xiàng)目，而該斷層便出現(xiàn)在青藏高原的西部。我的任務(wù)是查明1000多公里長(zhǎng)的喀喇昆侖斷裂帶的平均滑速率，從而確定大地震已經(jīng)發(fā)生及可能發(fā)生的“脈沖周期”。這個(gè)特別的研究課題引起了我的興趣，因?yàn)樗枰诒蛔u(yù)為“世界屋脊”、平均海拔4500米的青藏高原開(kāi)展野外調(diào)查。這個(gè)面積超100萬(wàn)平方公里的巨大而平坦的地區(qū)也被稱為“世界的第三極”，因?yàn)檫@里包含了數(shù)量?jī)H次于北極和南極的冰川以及淡水。同時(shí)，因?yàn)樵摳咴窃S多亞洲大河如恒河、雅魯藏布江、印度河、長(zhǎng)江、瀾滄江（湄公河）、怒江（薩爾溫江）和黃河的源頭，為數(shù)百萬(wàn)計(jì)的人群提供著必要的淡水資源，這里也被稱為“亞洲水塔”。

我非常喜愛(ài)物理學(xué)與地球物理學(xué)，但這兩門完全是理論性學(xué)科。于是，在學(xué)習(xí)完這兩門課程之后，我便抱著輕松的心態(tài)來(lái)到野外，接受一門全新的科學(xué)性學(xué)科——地質(zhì)學(xué)培訓(xùn)，這樣便可以對(duì)我如此摯愛(ài)的大自然母親進(jìn)行更加深入的了解?；诖耍以谥袊?guó)的青藏高原度過(guò)了一個(gè)半月的時(shí)光。那時(shí)，23歲的我剛剛開(kāi)始攻讀博士學(xué)位。我們的探險(xiǎn)隊(duì)擁有一批法國(guó)和中國(guó)科學(xué)家，而我則是隊(duì)中最年輕的成員，也是唯一的女性。這是一次真正的冒險(xiǎn)，因?yàn)槟菚r(shí)——2002年青藏高原仍然遠(yuǎn)在天邊，難以企及。由于幾天之內(nèi)都不會(huì)遇到加油站，所以有兩輛卡車幫助我們運(yùn)送設(shè)備、食品、帳篷及汽油，最初，我們?cè)诶_停留了幾日，并適應(yīng)了那里3700米的高海拔，同時(shí)品味了那里的文化，欣賞了美麗的風(fēng)景，然后，我們便向藏西進(jìn)發(fā)。最初，我們穿行在柏油路上，但隨后道路漸漸變?yōu)橥谅贰驗(yàn)槲覀冋诖┰揭黄挥嘘笈！⒉匾绑H、狼、熊、巖羊、藏羚羊等野生動(dòng)物才能棲息的廣袤土地。從西藏第二大城市日喀則向西行駛，隨著海拔從4200米上升至4800米，風(fēng)景也發(fā)生了變化，雖然這里綠化程度仍相對(duì)較高，有樹(shù)木和農(nóng)作物，也有許多小村莊佇立在海拔4000米上下的地方，但隨后，開(kāi)始變成有著短草和大部分鹽湖的巖石沙漠，與背景中的喜馬拉雅山及其白雪皚皚的山脈形成了美麗的對(duì)比。經(jīng)過(guò)一周的駕駛，我們到達(dá)了喀喇昆侖斷層的南端，這里有著金字塔形的神山——海拔6656米的岡仁波齊。這座山是亞洲三大河流的源頭：雅魯藏布江即布拉馬普特拉河、印度河和薩特勒季河。在這里，我們花了幾周的時(shí)間采集巖石樣本，進(jìn)行地形測(cè)量，并沿著斷層繪制地圖。

在后來(lái)的假期中，我離開(kāi)西藏，去探索中國(guó)的其他地區(qū)，比如云南、廣西、安徽等。在此過(guò)程中，我因?yàn)闊o(wú)法同司機(jī)或當(dāng)?shù)厝藴贤ǎ_(kāi)始變得沮喪。因此，當(dāng)我一回到巴黎，便開(kāi)始進(jìn)行中文課程的學(xué)習(xí)，這樣便可以在下次旅行中更好地交流！那時(shí)，我從未想過(guò)有一天會(huì)將中國(guó)稱為家，更不用說(shuō)用中文進(jìn)行科學(xué)演講，用中文在國(guó)家自然科學(xué)基金委員會(huì)（NFSC）的項(xiàng)目中答辯。不僅如此，我還嫁給一個(gè)亞洲男人，或許我的女兒也會(huì)在未來(lái)把中文當(dāng)作母語(yǔ)！

在攻讀博士及后期入職博士后期間，我有幸先后六次前往青藏高原，去采集那些有科學(xué)價(jià)值的樣品，當(dāng)然不是很多人認(rèn)為的那種商業(yè)價(jià)值！這些樣品將揭示許多奧秘，其中就包括喀喇昆侖斷層相當(dāng)快的平均滑動(dòng)速率——約為5—10毫米/年，這將有助于重建青藏高原南部和西部的古氣候。就像世界上大多數(shù)地方一樣，最大的冰川推進(jìn)發(fā)生在大約4萬(wàn)年前，而不是在2萬(wàn)年前的末次盛冰川。

移居中國(guó)

考慮到我的研究重點(diǎn)是青藏高原的活動(dòng)斷層及過(guò)往發(fā)生在那里的地震，于是，我在歐洲的瑪麗·居里獎(jiǎng)學(xué)金的支持下，在美國(guó)斯坦福大學(xué)完成了自己的博士后研究之后，便順其自然地加入了位于北京的中國(guó)地質(zhì)科學(xué)院地質(zhì)研究所，其實(shí)我已經(jīng)與地質(zhì)所合作幾年有余。在2010年的夏天，我僅帶著一個(gè)行李箱，就這樣搬到了北京。起初，我以為自己在這里的工作時(shí)間不會(huì)超過(guò)一到三年。然而，隨著我在中國(guó)享受生活，在青藏高原，現(xiàn)在被稱為高原東部的四川和云南等地區(qū)進(jìn)行研究，并與研究所的中國(guó)同事進(jìn)行合作，我發(fā)現(xiàn)我在中國(guó)的生活和工作不再索然無(wú)味。這個(gè)國(guó)家充滿了活力，以驚人的速度不斷發(fā)展，并走在技術(shù)進(jìn)步的前沿。例如，微信、支付寶、淘寶以及外賣等服務(wù)應(yīng)用程序讓生活變得更加便捷，這使當(dāng)出國(guó)旅行仍需要現(xiàn)金支付時(shí)，我很懷念這種方便。自我第一次訪問(wèn)中國(guó)以來(lái)，距今已有近20年，在此期間，中國(guó)取得的成就令世人矚目。中國(guó)的學(xué)術(shù)環(huán)境極具活力和激發(fā)性，所以完全沒(méi)必要羨慕西方，由于政府的慷慨資助，中國(guó)的研究機(jī)構(gòu)正受益于最先進(jìn)的設(shè)備與設(shè)施。

在北京工作伊始，我是地質(zhì)所里唯一的外國(guó)人，現(xiàn)在也是。在日常生活中，我的首要任務(wù)便是掌握流利的中文。在女兒出生前的七年時(shí)間里，我每周都在一位私人教師那里上課。在一開(kāi)始，我發(fā)現(xiàn)所有的同事都堅(jiān)持只說(shuō)中文，每次會(huì)議也都用中文進(jìn)行，這讓我十分煩惱。但回想起來(lái)，這卻是最好且最快的學(xué)習(xí)方式！我是一個(gè)勤奮的人，即使在午休時(shí)間，我都在完成作業(yè)、寫漢字。同時(shí)，我的同事會(huì)耐心地糾正我的錯(cuò)誤，并回答我的問(wèn)題，我對(duì)此十分感激。在工作方面，我在中國(guó)的前幾個(gè)月主要是在新疆和四川進(jìn)行實(shí)地考察，不僅開(kāi)展了自己的研究，還讓我了解到其他團(tuán)隊(duì)成員的項(xiàng)目，并親眼見(jiàn)到了高原上其他主要的活動(dòng)斷層。此外，我還參加了一些全國(guó)性的會(huì)議，并與中國(guó)各地不同機(jī)構(gòu)從事相關(guān)研究的同行會(huì)面。幾年后，我開(kāi)始與我在法國(guó)的前法國(guó)同事進(jìn)行國(guó)際合作。從那時(shí)起，我們?cè)谒拇ê驮颇瞎餐冗^(guò)了許多野外時(shí)光，完成了許多互補(bǔ)性研究課題，并共同撰寫了許多經(jīng)同行評(píng)議后發(fā)表的出版物，甚至互派交換生。多虧了中國(guó)留學(xué)基金委，最近我的一位博士生才有機(jī)會(huì)在法國(guó)進(jìn)行為期一年的學(xué)習(xí)。

事實(shí)上，早在2015年，我便開(kāi)始培訓(xùn)和督促自己的中國(guó)學(xué)生，通過(guò)實(shí)地考察及室內(nèi)實(shí)驗(yàn)來(lái)教授他們，同時(shí)帶他們參加會(huì)議，并把他們介紹給同行。在此期間，我必須自己撰寫申請(qǐng)以獲得國(guó)家資助來(lái)支持我的學(xué)生，以及實(shí)地考察和實(shí)驗(yàn)室費(fèi)用、出版費(fèi)用、設(shè)備經(jīng)費(fèi)等。多年來(lái)，我成功獲得了多項(xiàng)國(guó)家自然科學(xué)基金項(xiàng)目的資助，這其中就包括2020年“國(guó)家自然科學(xué)基金委重點(diǎn)國(guó)際合作基金項(xiàng)目”，支持了我與法國(guó)格勒諾布爾—阿爾卑斯和里昂兩所大學(xué)進(jìn)行持續(xù)而富有成效的合作。當(dāng)然，如果得不到我的研究室主任李海兵所帶領(lǐng)的研究團(tuán)隊(duì)的大力協(xié)助，這一切都不可能實(shí)現(xiàn)。我們之間的工作關(guān)系很融洽，并在各種任務(wù)上互相幫助。例如，他們幫助我用中文翻譯我的資助申請(qǐng)并進(jìn)行修改和潤(rùn)色，而我則幫助他們修改他們的英文論文和國(guó)際方面的工作。經(jīng)過(guò)長(zhǎng)期的練習(xí)及和同事間的訓(xùn)練，我成了那個(gè)能在國(guó)家自然科學(xué)基金委員會(huì)評(píng)審專家組面前用中文對(duì)話、回答問(wèn)題的人，并為我的項(xiàng)目進(jìn)行陳述。

我們的團(tuán)隊(duì)領(lǐng)導(dǎo)一直積極主動(dòng)地去尋找資助機(jī)會(huì)并確保資金，向資深同行推薦我們這些年輕的科學(xué)家。他毫不猶豫地為我創(chuàng)造機(jī)會(huì)，讓我能夠與其他杰出的中國(guó)科學(xué)家們討論我的工作及成就，并讓我得到獲獎(jiǎng)提名。2020年，我獲得了黃汲清青年地質(zhì)科學(xué)技術(shù)獎(jiǎng)，2021年，我在北京人民大會(huì)堂獲頒中國(guó)政府友誼獎(jiǎng)，這讓我很驚訝。劉鶴副總理為我和其他17位獲獎(jiǎng)?wù)哳C發(fā)了精美的獎(jiǎng)牌和證書(shū)，李克強(qiáng)總理發(fā)表致辭，并與我們合影。隨后是參加國(guó)慶招待會(huì)，與會(huì)人員包括大使等數(shù)百名其他重要嘉賓。我非常榮幸、自豪和感激能獲得這樣一個(gè)享有盛譽(yù)的獎(jiǎng)項(xiàng)。該獎(jiǎng)是中國(guó)政府授予為中國(guó)經(jīng)濟(jì)社會(huì)發(fā)展作出重要貢獻(xiàn)的外國(guó)專家的最高榮譽(yù)，這是我始料未及的。

中國(guó)的發(fā)展日新月異

我對(duì)中國(guó)的快速發(fā)展印象深刻，尤其是那些位于西部的偏遠(yuǎn)省份，其大小城市被高速鐵路和高速公路連通。當(dāng)然，這并非易事。例如，正在建設(shè)的成都至拉薩的川藏鐵路是中國(guó)目前正在應(yīng)對(duì)的一個(gè)真正的技術(shù)挑戰(zhàn)。事實(shí)上，該偏遠(yuǎn)地區(qū)位于青藏高原東南部，毗鄰喜馬拉雅山東部的一些最高山峰，如7782米的南迦巴瓦峰，地形以高海拔和高起伏為特征，中國(guó)的三條河流金沙江（長(zhǎng)江）、瀾滄江（湄公河）和怒江（薩爾溫江），在高原上切割出深深的峽谷。這樣的地形要求鐵路隧道和一些橋梁占96.4%，其中最長(zhǎng)的將達(dá)到42公里！因此，為了安全防范，如此艱巨的工程項(xiàng)目，需要像我這樣的野外地質(zhì)學(xué)家進(jìn)行區(qū)域地震災(zāi)害和斷層活動(dòng)性的研究。我從2012年開(kāi)始對(duì)青藏高原東部活動(dòng)斷層開(kāi)展研究，如鮮水河斷裂帶的研究在這樣一個(gè)項(xiàng)目中是非常及時(shí)的，川藏鐵路將穿越的鮮水河斷裂帶即便不是全世界，也是全中國(guó)活動(dòng)性最強(qiáng)的斷裂帶之一，平均每30年多年就會(huì)發(fā)生一次7級(jí)大地震。政府要求我們沿著擬建設(shè)的鐵路路線進(jìn)行詳細(xì)的實(shí)地研究，我們也得到了必要的資金支持。我很自豪地說(shuō)，這種細(xì)致的研究使我和同事在川西康定地區(qū)發(fā)現(xiàn)了一條全新世活動(dòng)斷層，促使決策層微小地改變了鐵路路線，以減少它將穿越的活動(dòng)斷層的數(shù)量和可能帶來(lái)的災(zāi)害。但不幸的是，當(dāng)該地區(qū)下一次大地震來(lái)襲時(shí)，這并不能避免破壞或生命損失，但它將降低風(fēng)險(xiǎn)，并為更好和更安全的建設(shè)實(shí)踐提供了可能。

當(dāng)我在四川映秀和北川瞻仰2008年汶川大地震遺址時(shí)，我被深深地感動(dòng)了：為了讓人們銘記這段歷史，中國(guó)政府選擇留下被摧毀的城鎮(zhèn)。這是我第一次親眼見(jiàn)識(shí)地震的威力。這真的會(huì)讓你意識(shí)到，與大自然相比，人類是多么微不足道。我自己的研究確實(shí)有助于人們了解大地震是如何發(fā)生的，它們發(fā)生的頻率以及下一次地震可能發(fā)生在哪里。2021年，當(dāng)時(shí)青海省的一個(gè)偏遠(yuǎn)地區(qū)發(fā)生大地震時(shí)，我正好在中國(guó)，此地靠近黃河源頭，海拔高度約4200米。由于該地區(qū)地勢(shì)相對(duì)平坦，并被草原和沼澤覆蓋，人口極為稀少，所以除玉樹(shù)—西寧高速公路上的一座橋梁外，地震基本沒(méi)有造成人員傷亡及其他基礎(chǔ)設(shè)施損壞。我們的考察隊(duì)在地震發(fā)生后的一天內(nèi)到達(dá)，并沿著151公里長(zhǎng)的地表破裂帶開(kāi)始了為期數(shù)周的震后實(shí)地調(diào)查。在地震后的幾天里，我們每天經(jīng)歷多達(dá)6次余震。這也是我們?yōu)槭裁磿?huì)睡在當(dāng)?shù)卣峁┑膸づ窭?，而不是附近可能被地震破壞的酒店中。今年早些時(shí)候，青海又發(fā)生了一場(chǎng)強(qiáng)烈地震——6.9級(jí)門源地震，但發(fā)生在另一個(gè)主要活動(dòng)斷層——海原斷層上，我們也是在第二天到達(dá)了這個(gè)偏遠(yuǎn)的山區(qū)——北祁連山地區(qū)。我們繪制并測(cè)量了地表破裂帶，在地面上可以追蹤27公里。幸運(yùn)的是，此次地震沒(méi)有造成人員傷亡，但蘭州至烏魯木齊高速鐵路上的一條隧道和橋梁嚴(yán)重受損。

我將繼續(xù)積極地研究青藏高原及鄰區(qū)的活動(dòng)斷層，以降低地震風(fēng)險(xiǎn)，并幫助我們了解這些地區(qū)過(guò)去的氣候是如何演變的，從而努力預(yù)測(cè)未來(lái)的氣候變化。這不僅是另一個(gè)我非常關(guān)心的話題，也是一個(gè)中國(guó)越來(lái)越感興趣的話題。為此，我將進(jìn)行實(shí)地研究，與科學(xué)界和更廣泛的人們分享自己的發(fā)現(xiàn)，同時(shí)教育學(xué)校的孩子們尊重和保護(hù)我們美麗的星球及這里的居民，并鼓勵(lì)他們從事科學(xué)研究、教學(xué)，以培養(yǎng)未來(lái)的科學(xué)家及研究人士。最后，去試圖提升當(dāng)?shù)鼐用竦娘L(fēng)險(xiǎn)意識(shí)——一種對(duì)自己生活地區(qū)及未來(lái)一生中可能遭遇到的風(fēng)險(xiǎn)意識(shí)。我的母親曾經(jīng)和我一起去了青藏高原，實(shí)現(xiàn)了她的一個(gè)畢生夢(mèng)想。當(dāng)邊境重新開(kāi)放時(shí)，我也會(huì)讓我的朋友和家人享受中國(guó)的文化和歷史，并介紹他們到我最喜歡的旅游勝地。我也將繼續(xù)留在北京，留在這個(gè)安全度和國(guó)際化程度都很高的城市中，并在這種環(huán)境中撫養(yǎng)我的女兒，以確保她充分意識(shí)到她歐洲和亞洲的雙重文化背景。當(dāng)她四歲時(shí)被問(wèn)到來(lái)自哪里時(shí)，她自豪地回答：“中國(guó)！”我依然相信中國(guó)仍有很多東西可以提供。我想了解更多中國(guó)的語(yǔ)言和文化，繼續(xù)享受中國(guó)人民的歡笑和幸福，期待看到中國(guó)接下來(lái)的成就！

My mother has always been fascinated by Tibet and, more broadly, by Asian culture and history. As a result, I was raised hearing these eastern Asian folktales throughout my childhood.

On the Tibetan Plateau

I’ve always been drawn to the outdoors, specifically nature, and our planet’s natural wonders and natural disasters such as volcanoes, earthquakes, tornadoes, and tsunamis. When it came to choose a topic for my Master’s and later, Ph.D. thesis, I did not hesitate for a moment and chose a research project on a large active fault in far western Tibet. My task was to ascertain the average slip rate of the ＞1,000-kilometer-long Karakorum fault and, consequently, how often large earthquakes have occurred and are likely to occur in the future. This particular research subject sparked my interest because it required fieldwork on the Tibetan Plateau, the “Roof of the World” with average elevation: 4,500 metres above sea level. This vast and flat plateau with more than one million kmis also referred to as the “third pole” due to the fact that it contains the most glaciers and thus freshwater, following the North and South poles. At the same time it is also referred to as “Asia’s water tower” because the plateau is the source of the continent’s largest rivers, e.g., Ganges, Brahmaputra, Indus, Yangtze, Mekong, Salween, and Yellow River, providing additional essential freshwater to millions of people.

After studying physics and geophysics, which I truly enjoyed but were entirely theoretical, I was to be out in the field, receiving training in a completely new scientific discipline-geology, and learning about Mother Nature, my true passion. That is how I ended up spending a month and a half in China, on the Tibetan Plateau, when I was 23 years old and just starting my Ph.D. studies. We were a large group of French and Chinese scientists, and I was the expedition’s youngest member and sole female. It was a true adventure, as Tibet was still highly remote and hard to access at the time (2002). We had two trucks transporting our equipment, food supplies, tents, and petrol for the cars, as there would be no gas stations for several days. After a few days in Lhasa to acclimate to the high elevation of 3,700 metres, to enjoy the culture and beautiful scenery, we set out for the far west, initially on paved roads that quickly turned into dirt roads—passing through these vast lands where only wild animals like yak, Tibetan ass a.k.a. kiang, wolf, bear, blue sheep, gazelle, etc. roam freely. When driving west of Lhasa’s second-largest city, Xigaze, the landscape changes as you ascend to the plateau’s average elevation from 4,200 metres to 4,800 metres. While it is relatively green with trees and crops and has numerous small villages below 4,000 metres, it then transforms into a rock desert with short grass and mostly salty lakes, which contrasts beautifully with the Himalayas and its snowcapped mountains in the background. After a week of driving, we arrived at the southern end of the Karakorum fault, where the pyramid-shaped, sacred Mount Kailas -of 6,656 metres Kangrinboqe is located. This mountain is the source of three of Asia’s largest rivers: the Yarlung Zangbo or Brahmaputra, Indus and Sutlej. We spent several weeks collecting rock samples, performing topographic measurements, and mapping along the fault.

After being out in the field in Tibet and exploring a different part of China like Yunnan, Guanxi, Anhui, etc. for holidays afterward, I became frustrated with my inability to communicate with the drivers or the locals. As a result, as soon as I came back to Paris, I started taking simple Chinese lessons so that I could communicate a little bit more on my next trip! Never in a million years would I have thought that I would one day call China home, let alone be able to give scientific talks and defend NFSC projects in Chinese, marry an Asian man, or have my daughter speak Chinese as her first language!

During my Ph.D. and later post-doc, I was fortunate enough to travel to Tibet six times to collect valuable samples which are not of commercial value, as many people believe! These samples would reveal, among other things, that the quite fast average rate at which the Karakorum fault slips is ～5-10 millimetres per year, and that would help reconstruct the paleoclimate of southern and western Tibet. The Last Glacial Maximum a.k.a. LGM (20,000 years ago) was not the most extensive glacial advance in Tibet.

When I moved to China

Given that my research focused on active faults and past earthquakes on the Tibetan Plateau, it was only natural that I joined the Institute of Geology at the Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences in Beijing, with whom I had already collaborated for 8 years, after my Post-doc at Stanford University in the United States thanks to a European Marie Curie Fellowship. That is how, in the summer of 2010, I moved to Beijing with just one suitcase. At first, I assumed I would be here for no more than one to three years. However, as I continued to enjoy living in China, conducting research on the Tibetan Plateau now mostly in eastern Tibet, Sichuan and Yunnan, etc., and collaborating with Chinese colleagues at my institute, my life and work in China have never been boring. I find that this country is brimming with vitality; it is constantly evolving at a lightspeed pace, at the cutting edge of technological advancement. For instance, service apps such as WeChat, Alipay, Taobao, and food delivery, to name a few, make life so much easier, and I miss this when traveling abroad, where cash is still required to purchase items. It’s truly remarkable what China has accomplished in the two decades since my first visit. China’s academic scene has nothing to envy from that of the west, as it is extremely dynamic and stimulating. Research institutions benefit from state-of-the-art facilities, courtesy of generous government funding.

I was the only foreigner at my institution when I first started working in Beijing, and I still am. My first priority in daily life was to become fluent in Chinese. I took weekly lessons from a private teacher for seven years until my daughter was born. At first, I found it annoying that all of my coworkers insisted on speaking only Chinese to me, that every meeting was held in Chinese. Looking back, this was the best and quickest way to learn! I was a hard worker who spent my lunch breaks doing homework and practising writing characters. My coworkers would patiently correct my errors and answer my questions, which I appreciate. In terms of work, I spent my first few months in China in the field, primarily in Xinjiang and Sichuan, not only to conduct my own research but also to learn about the other team members’ projects and to see firsthand the plateau’s other major active faults. I also attended a number of national conferences and met peers working on related topics in various institutions across China. I began international collaborations with my former French colleagues based in France a few years later. Since then, we have spent many joint field seasons in Sichuan and Yunnan on complementary research topics, as well as co-authored numerous peer-reviewed publications, and even had students exchange. Thanks to the China Scholarship Council, one of my Ph.D. students recently spent a year in France.

Indeed, in 2015, I began training and supervising my own Chinese students and teaching them in the field and in the lab, bringing them to conferences, and introducing them to peers. I had to write my own grant applications to get national funding to support my students, field and lab costs, publishing costs, equipment, and so on. Over the years, I’ve successfully obtained several NSFC grants, including the prestigious “International collaboration grant of NSFC” in 2020, to support my ongoing, fruitful collaboration with the university of Grenoble-Alpes and that of Claude Bernard Lyon 1 in France. Of course, none of this would have been possible without the tremendous assistance of my research team, led by Li Haibing, our department’s director. We have a great working relationship and help each other with a variety of tasks. For example, they assist me in translating and organizing my grant applications in Chinese while I assist them with their English papers and international aspects of their work. After hours of practice and training with my colleagues, I was the one who presented and answered questions in Chinese in front of the committee of Chinese Professors to fend my project.

Our team leader has always been proactive in identifying funding opportunities, securing funding and promoting us, the younger scientists, among our senior peers. He has never hesitated to put my name forward and provide me with opportunities to discuss my work and accomplishments with other eminent Chinese scientists and nominate me for prizes and awards. In 2020, I was awarded the Huang Jiqing Youth Geological Science and Technology Award, and in 2021, I was honored to receive the Chinese Government Friendship Award at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. While Vice-Premier Liu He presented a beautiful medal and certificate to me and the other 17 awardees, China’s Premier Li Keqiang delivered the speech and sat down for a group photo with us. The National Day gala, which included hundreds of other important guests such as ambassadors, followed the ceremony. I am incredibly honored, proud, and grateful to be the recipient of such a prestigious award. The Friendship Award is the highest honor bestowed on foreign experts who have contributed to China’s social and economic development by the Chinese government. That was something I hadn’t anticipated.

馬曉麗在位于四川省甘孜甘州的中國(guó)墨石公園景區(qū)實(shí)地考察

China’s fast development

I find it very impressive how fast China is developing, especially the remote western provinces that connect large and small cities with high-speed railways and highways. It is, for sure, no easy task to handle. For example, the ongoing construction of the Sichuan-Tibet railway between Chengdu and Lhasa is a real technical challenge that China is tackling now. Indeed, the topography of this remote region of southeastern Tibet is characterized by high elevation and high relief, dissected by three rivers in China: the Mekong (Lancang Jiang), Yangtze (Changjiang), and Salween (Nujiang), which incise deep gorges into the plateau, adjacent to some of the highest mountain peaks of the eastern Himalaya (Namche Barwa, 7,782 metres). Such topography requires the railway to be at 96.4% in tunnels and a few bridges, the longest of which will be 42 kilometres long! It is thus clear that for the sake of safety, such a Herculean engineering project requires field geologists like me to conduct research on regional earthquake hazards and faulting activity. My research which I began in 2012 on eastern Tibet and on the Xianshuihe fault, one of China’s, if not the world’s, most tectonically active faults, with one M7 earthquake every 30 years on average, is extremely timely in such a project. The government has asked us to conduct detailed field studies along the proposed railway route, and we have been given the necessary funding. I’m proud to say that such meticulous research enabled me and my colleagues to discover a new fault in the Kangding region of western Sichuan, prompting authorities to change the train route slightly to reduce the number of active faults it would cross. Unfortunately, this will not prevent destruction or loss of life when the region’s next large earthquake strikes, but it will reduce the risk and allow for better and safer construction practices.

馬曉麗調(diào)查2021年青海省瑪多地震造成的裂縫

I was deeply moved when I visited the site of the devastating 2008 Wenchuan earthquake in Yingxiu and Beichuan in Sichuan, where the Chinese government chose to leave the destroyed towns intact for people’s awareness. This was the first time I saw what an earthquake is capable of with my own eyes. It really makes you realize how insignificant we are in com-parison to Mother Nature. My own research does help people understand how large earthquakes behave, how frequently they occur and where the next one might strike. In 2021, I was “l(fā)ucky” enough to be in China when a large earthquake struck a remote part of Qinghai (2021 Maduo earthquake, M7.4), near the Yellow River’s source, at ～4,200 metres of elevation. Except for one bridge on the Yushu-Xining highway, that relatively flat region is covered in grasslands and marshes and has an extremely sparse population, so no casualties or other infrastructure damage occurred. Our team arrived one day after the earthquake and began our post-earthquake field investigation for a few weeks along the 151 kilometreslong surface rupture. In the days following the earthquake, we experienced up to six aftershocks per day. That is why we slept in government-provided tents rather than nearby hotels, which the earthquake may have weakened. Another large earthquake—Menyuan earthquake with M6.9 struck earlier this year in Qinghai, but on a different major active fault—the Haiyuan fault, and we arrived the next day in this remote, this time mountainous, region of the southern Qilian Mountains. We mapped and measured the surface rupture, which could be followed for 27 kilometers on the ground. Fortunately, no one was killed, but one tunnel and bridge on the two-year-old high-speed railway line between Lanzhou and Urumqi were severely damaged.

I will continue to research active faults in and around Tibet actively, mitigate earthquake risk, and contribute to our understanding of how past climate evolved in those regions in order to work towards predicting future climate change, another topic near and dear to my heart and one that China is increasingly interested in. I will accomplish this by conducting field research, sharing my findings with the scientific community as well as broader audiences, teaching school children to respect our beautiful planet and its inhabitants and encourage them to pursue science studies, teaching, and training graduate students who will become tomorrow’s scientists, and finally, attempting to raise awareness among local populations about the risks they may face in their lifetime. My mother went to Tibet with me once, fulfilling one of her lifelong dreams. When the borders reopen, I will also allow friends and family to enjoy China and its culture and history and introduce them to my favorite tourist destinations. I will keep raising my daughter in this extremely safe and highly international environment, Beijing, and make sure she is fully aware of her dual cultural background of Europe and Asia. When asked where she is from at four years old, she proudly answers, “China!”. I still believe that China still has so much to offer. I want to learn more about the Chinese language and culture, continue to enjoy the laughter and happiness of the Chinese people, and look forward to seeing what China achieves next!