The National Holiday of 2022 is unique for the four students who participated in the Duke Kunshan University U-Corp Lab@Synear team. During the holiday, they went to Qianshan City, Anqing City in Anhui Province, and visited five local schools, including Tianzhushan Central Primary School and Yujing Town Xiuwang Primary School. The team investigated the nutritional intake of primary school students and visited local stores to take research on left-behind children’s food safety and nutritional balance. A research project with full harvest has kicked off during the Golden Week of October.
The U-Corp Lab
is the abbreviation of the Duke Kunshan University-Corporation Lab, a co-innovation platform that connects innovative organizations/companies with the vibrant DKU research and entrepreneurial community. The goal is to provide DKU students with the opportunity to master industry-proven innovation research methodologies through productive practice and co-creation projects with companies. Meanwhile, the projects also offer cooperative enterprises with forward-looking insights and innovative solutions.
This fall, Synear Charitable Organization cooperated with Duke Kunshan University to jointly explore the nutritional intake of left-behind children, provide suggestions for the field of nutrition science and food safety education, and figure out the future direction of Synear Public Welfare. Since its inception, Synear Food has regarded “corporate citizenship” as its self-position and seen the practice of public welfare as a vital deployment for the development of the enterprise. Over the past 25 years, Synear has never stopped putting its efforts into public welfare. The caring and helping in times of natural disasters and the long-term caring activities for left-behind children are both proofs of the “love” of Synear Charitable Organization. As “reunion of family members” is the core concept of Synear Foods, Synear Charitable Organization has always been committed to conveying the warmth of “reunion” to thousands of families and the hearts of left-behind children. Synear has taken companionship as their confession of love to light up thousands of households. Over the past decades, Synear Charitable Organization has insisted on going to rural areas and carrying out various activities to promote the growth of left-behind children and flourish in their lives.
During the two days, under the guidance of three teachers from DKU Innovation and Entrepreneurship Initiative, the team went deep into the community of Qianshan City to investigate the nutrition of left-behind children and their food safety. On the first day, the team was allowed to enter the school by the principal of Dubu Central Primary School after carefully scrutinising the COVID test. They not only shared lectures with the teachers and students but also distributed healthy food. Moreover, the team conducted corresponding interviews and surveys with the teachers. After having close conversations with teachers and students from five local primary schools and interviewing the owners of local shops, they were surprised to find that the situation was very different from what they had expected. In the team’s hypothesis, the nutritional status of the children’s food is closely related to the local economic conditions. However, they realized that the local economic conditions are not as underdeveloped as they considered and the school actually attaches great importance to the nutrition balance in students’ food. In addition, government funding has helped many elementary schools and ensured their students have food with subsidies. Since the nutritional status of the left-behind children in the local area is not different from that in other areas, the team members began to wonder why they would insist on researching in this area. This brought a lot of difficulties and challenges to the team. After the visit on the first day, the four students held an emergency meeting in the evening to discuss the situation and re-evaluate the direction they wanted to do further research. As a result of that, they decided to use Qianshan City as a successful example of the nutritional status of children’s food rather than a hypothetical negative example. They then consulted local people on the second day for more underdeveloped places than the area they were in.
The two full days of research were undoubtedly fruitful. The team not only has a new comprehension of the nutritional status of left-behind children’s daily food but also realizes the roles that the government, schools, and families play. Each year, the government allocates funds to local primary schools to provide children with free lunches. At the same time, schools ensure their students have nutritious food and often educate them about food safety and nutrition science. For families, most left-behind children are raised by their grandparents. Compared with the nutritious meals at school, the elderly are more willing to cook the children’s favourable food, rather than food with higher nutritional value. During the visit, the team found that there still remains an unbalance in the government’s economic assistance among different regions. Regions with relatively developed local economies are more valued by the government, while children in underdeveloped regions rarely receive government funding for food. What’s more, the most important thing for children’s growth is not material support, but mental comfort. Without the care and company of their parents, it is easier for children to become rebellious and pay less attention to their own diet. Coupled with the lack of awareness of food nutrition among grandparents, children will gradually develop unhealthy eating habits.
For the team members, this is not just an ordinary field research. It is the first time for Taya to come to China. Through this research, which is interesting and meaningful to her, she has a deeper understanding of Chinese society and family cultures. For the group leader Dong Ding, she needs to arrange work for team members in advance, organize and plan on-site investigations, etc., during this project. She had great practice in her leadership, organization, and coordinating skills. Jiayu Gao, one of the team members, perceived the beauty of predestination. They met Gui, a teacher in one elementary school, who they had met before in the local shop. With the help of Gui, the team successfully distributed questionnaires the next day and popularized food safety knowledge among the students. It turned out that predestination is such a wonderful thing. As for another team member Wenxin Dong, this investigation not only strengthened her ability but also improved her personality. She used to be shy, but as she needed to ask passers-by or shop owners questions during their field research, Wenxin gradually stepped out of her comfort zone.
When talking about why they joined U-Corp Lab@Synear,
the team members all mentioned that they wanted to do something for left-behind children. Some mentioned that they have been in contact with non-profit organizations related to children for a long time, some have always wanted but have no opportunity to help them, and some are concerned about global issues and are committed to exploring the formulation of public policies under specific issues. Holding the same belief of “everyone might have a connection with me, no matter how far (s)he is”, they gathered in the U-Corp Lab@Synear team. Four of them conducted investigations on the nutritional status of left-behind children’s food and are preparing to produce a report related to their research. The team’s successful field research was highly praised by the InE tutors and Synear Charitable Organization. Of course, apart from the efforts of the team members, the support of DKU and Synear also contributes to the team’s success. They have a weekly meeting with their mentors and a bi-weekly meeting with Synear Charitable Organization. The careful guidance from Synear Public Welfare’s professionals and the suggestions from the mentors allowed the team to adjust the research direction in time during their investigation process and stay energetic.
The team is now preparing a final research report, which will focus on the theme of the nutritional assessment of children’s food. In addition, government policy’s role in the nutritional status of children’s food will be addressed. The team members hope this report can provide referenceable data for the government, enterprises, and the public to understand the food situation of left-behind children. They also want to offer insights for Synear Charitable Organization to carry out their public welfare activities.
For future U-Corp Lab project members, the team suggested following their heart and choosing the projects they are genuinely interested in. U-Corp Lab will prepare multiple projects with different themes twice a year. The team stressed that when facing choices, students should try to choose a project based on their true interests, instead of chasing the fame of a reputable company/organization. In this scenario, students will devote themselves more to the projects and work more selflessly.
Conclusion
In the painting “The Life of Blooming” hanging on the wall of the first floor of the Academic Building, the words “knowledge enrich the society” run through the blue, green, and pink paints. The U-Corp Lab@Synear team is the best annotation for the words. With the support of U-Corp Lab and Synear Charitable Organization, the team members could utilize the opportunity to conduct field research on left-behind children, stay true to their original aspirations, and realize their dreams at Qianshan.
