题图一：女儿送我去英国旅游

题图二：剑桥大学之一隅

    2002-2003年，女儿过五关斩六将，荣获英国BP奖学金，留学剑桥。我时任《科技英语学习》（月刊，全国发行）主编，月刊曾经开辟了一个《留学剑桥》的专栏，每月刊发女儿的留学剑桥的感受和体验。以下Prelude（序言）发表于2002年第11期。全文如下：
【编者按：1997年第10期 – 2000年第5期，本刊曾经刊登毛竹晨的专栏《留学美国》，的专栏，深受广大读者的喜爱。女儿留学归来后，仍有不少读者来信或来电询问：为什么读不到该专栏了？今年9月24日女儿从上海浦东机场直飞英国伦敦。她将在剑桥大学留学一年，攻读硕士学位。她是在如何的背景之下留学剑桥？《留学剑桥》专栏的第一篇，向你详细介绍了毛竹晨获得British Chevening Scholarship 2002-03的过程。女儿的文章，表达优雅，文笔曲折，情感细腻，且冷不丁地冒出一两句幽默，味道真不错。文章不仅让我们见到她的活动身影，丰富的内心世界，更重要的是，她的留学还让我们为亲爱的祖国感到几分自豪！】
 
In May 1995, on an “absurdly lovely” (Xu Zhimo) day of spring, I visited Oxford. Frankly, even on that bright afternoon of spring, the place looked somewhat senile and lack of vigor, though this image was more or less balanced by the young faces seen around the middle-age architectures and blooming roses in the garden. Still, the place gripped all my admiration. I had been using an Oxford dictionary throughout my college years. When I finally had some time to look around during a business trip to the UK, I felt that I had to go to see the university whose name had been so magnetic to the English majors back in China. I sat on the bench in one of the colleges. Right across the lawn from me stood a few picnic tables, around which there were quite a few students, chatting, or doing their homework. In the mid-spring breeze their crispy giggling and the well-known “Oxford English” visited my ears. I did not even bother myself to imagine that I would become one among them someday. I was just a grad out of a small university and started to work as a civil servant in Shanghai at that time. I was planning to return to a more reputable institution to pursue a master’s degree a couple years later, when I will be integrated into a more note-worthy social club. Or perhaps I will get married before that. However, in none of the scenarios had I gone so far as to place myself on a campus like Oxford, or Cambridge. They are so far away. Although at that moment I am right across the lawn from those few students, I felt that I, like an earthling, had sneaked into the Garden of Eden, stealing a look at angels. I did not go to Cambridge during that trip. There was not enough time, and not enough courage, for that campus had bred the brilliant minds such as Isaac Newton and Stephen Hawking, which was a bit too intimidating for a girl like me, whose mathematics or physics was never too superb.
The fact is that as recent as in 1995, few Chinese students went to Oxbridge on their own expense. Normally, only scholars and students funded by prominent scholarships would have the chance to spend some time there. Speaking more broadly, UK was not quite within the reach of the Chinese students as a destination for higher education. It was expensive and to work part-time is under rigid control. While the state universities in the US were spending handsomely on Chinese talents, few British universities have offered scholarships or fellowships to Asian students. 
But now, seven years after my visit to Oxford, I am leaving for Cambridge, not on business, not for sightseeing, but for my master’s degree as a beneficiary of the British Chevening Scholarship 2002-03. The scholarship, formerly known as FCO (Foreign and Commonwealth Office) scholarship, is currently named after the official country resident British Foreign Secretary. The scholarship is offered in 150 countries around the world. Each year, about 80 to 100 mid-career civil servants and employees of public institutions in China become Chevening Scholars and embark on a one-year study program in the UK. As a high-profile development area in China, Pudong receives two quotas of candidacy each year. The application forms are sent to the local government, where I work, and an internal selection is run to determine who will be the lucky two. But for the two lucky guys, this is the beginning of a more grueling process of selection at the British Council Shanghai, which is basically made up of three parts: application form reviewing, IELTS test and interview. At each stage, some names will drop from the candidate list. BC’s criteria are multi-fold. Work experience, current ranking in the bureaucratic hierarchy, academic qualification, personal quality… The motivation behind the British government’s generosity is ostensible. Even only 10% of the Chevening scholars end up at the high end of the bureaucratic ladder after returning from the UK, the British Council will be still reaping considerable social resources in a decade. This has been especially true at the moment when great efforts are being made to reduce the average age of the government officials in China and when those with overseas education background receives special attention from the personnel department of the government. So far the most successful Chevening Scholar in the Shanghai area is probably Mr. Chen Liangyu, the newly elected mayor of Shanghai.
After the interview at the British Consulate General in Shanghai, the candidates are normally classified into “selected” or “reserve”, the former meaning that the funding have been guaranteed for you, while the latter indicating that you cannot yet begin your trip until extra funding is found for you. There is certainly case when extra funding is not secured and the unfortunate “reserved” candidate has to go out of his own expense or see his UK dream explode like a bubble after all the heightened expectation. But this year’s candidates waited an extensive period of time before the final result came out, which well justified all the waiting – all the candidates were classified as “selected”. The fact is that more fund will be available to send 20% more Chinese to the UK as Chevening scholars from now on. This is attributable to the growing economy in China and the more frequent and successful economic exchange and cooperation between China and the UK. Part of the Chevening fund comes from FCO, and the rest is donated by British companies involved in business in China. In my case, BP is my benefactor. As a return for their donation, BP also has some say in the final decision. Because of this, I went through another interview at the BP headquarters on Plaza 66 on Nanjing Road. Five short-listed candidates were invited to a briefing session and buffet lunch – a masked interview. Alastair Ferguson, CEO of BP East & North China Gas & Power business, is a very kind man. Being the son of a poor miner, he strongly believes in the power of education in changing one’s life path. His scholarly bearing and touching words let me forget for a moment the commercial nature of the potential deal between us. Four days after the interview, on the Christmas Eve of 2001, I received an email from Yvonne, the program officer at BC Shanghai, saying that BP has decided to sponsor me and another girl working in the media. I was so excited. How can I reciprocate the kindness of BP then? There is no possibility I could work for them. Maybe I can make it the exclusive lubricant and petroleum supplier for my future car.
Now time has come to make the decision which school I’ll go. I have the liberty to apply to any postgraduate school in the UK, including Oxbridge. There does not lack examples of successful application in the past. It seemed that I am only an application letter away from the two academic Mecca! Seven years back, this would have driven me into great ecstasy. But my enthusiasm in knocking at the door of Oxbridge receded quite a bit after a close reading of the prospectus. For the past seven years, I have been working as a government PR officer, which has led to a strong interest in mass communications on my part. PR is quite a new notion in China and misinterpretation of the profession is a common occurrence. Essential to the satisfactory performance of the government and businesses, mass communication and PR deserves greater attention in the post-WTO China and PR professionals with international vision is in great need. I set out with the wish to find a top program in mass communication in a top school. However, to my great disappointment, none of the two most prestigious institutions in the UK offers such a program, or anything close to it. Maybe such a subject is not “classic” enough to be compatible with the climate of Oxbridge, I guess. Most of the subjects available at the two schools are ages old – mathematics, physics, astronomy, and philosophy…. The most modern one among them is probably international relations, which was probably too vulgar a theme to be worthy of academic pursuit in Newton’s age. Anyway, I did find a decent program in MC elsewhere, at the Goldsmiths College of the University of London. They sent me a letter of admissions quite promptly. But the human vanity works again at this moment! I could find no reason why should I forgo the chance to go to Oxbridge, simply because my favorite subject is not there? No way. Normally when people will only ask you which school did you go to, and as long as it is a good school, no one really cares what you had studied, even if it is political economy of the middle age kingdoms. I got my undergraduate degree at a university with little fame (the damned university entrance examination system in China should be blamed for that.). So why not take this chance to straighten things out once and for ever, so that I don’t have to explain to others that although the school is not so well-known, the program that I take ranks quite high… bla bla bla. Go to such a school that no literate person hasn’t ever heard of, which would make life much easier. (I am glad that I did not face such dilemma when looking for husband. I would have been much more miserable if the one I love does not have money, or the one with money does not win my love.) Finally, with these cliche arguments, I persuaded myself to give up Goldsmith. Then I scrubbed the prospectus of Oxford and Cambridge once and again in search for a suitable program, so that I don’t waste time and energy on a subject that I don’t care and can’t grasp at all. Only a handful of programs stood out. Among them I finally chose my current major – Planning, Growth and Regeneration, a new program offered by the Department of Land Economy at Cambridge. Although I am not too sure whether I have the flair to master the subject, it is true that I can borrow a lot from my working experience in Pudong New Area in doing the program, especially when writing the dissertation. International expertise in designing land use and ownership policies and in managing economic growth and regeneration is in great need in China, a country undergoing fast urbanization and facing vast disparity of income. I sent out the application on Jan.31, 2002 and received the letter of acceptance on Apr. 9.
It takes an additional procedure to apply to Cambridge (and also Oxford). Besides applying to a program, one also needs to apply to a college. There are 31 colleges at Cambridge. According to the prospectus, a college’s main role is to “look after your general welfare, including the provision of accommodation, meals and other social amenities.” Naturally, a college is where one’s social life is based. Each college is an independent institution, with its own teaching and research members. How the college system interacts with the departments and schools is still a mystery to me. I am sure I can find out more after I arrive on campus. The colleges vary in size and age. Some take only graduate student (like Darwin and St. Edmund’s) and others admits only women (like Newham). I applied to Trinity and Queens’. Members of Trinity (founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII) are the “crème de crème” of Cambridge. Among its alumni, there are long lists of Nobel Laureates, masters, Members of Parliament and Olympic Gold Medallists. The most famous one is certainly Isaac Newton. Once there was a saying that Trinity houses more Nobel laureates than the whole country of France. Though this might not be true, one can still get an idea of the prominent reputation of the college. If I am allured by Trinity for its academic environment, then my application for Queens’ is driven by pure aesthetic reasons. From the school map, I can see that Queens’s is the only college bestriding the River Cam, the soul of Cambridge. I was first introduced to the beauty of the River by the mesmerizing A Second Farewell to Cambridge by Xu Zhimo.

Quietly I leave you,
   As quietly I had come;
Softly I waved,
   Farewell to the evening clouds.

Gold willows by the water,
   Stood like brides in the sunset glow
Her reflection in the shiny waves,
   Popples in my heart.

Grass on the soft riverbed,
   Swings enchantingly;
Being a grass in the ripples of Cam
   Is an honor I will refuse not.

The leafy pool is not clear,
   I see broken pieces of rainbow,
Floating between leaves,
   And iridescent dreams
Settling in the bottom.

Where is the place in my dream?
   Into the greener of the green
I had sailed, pulling a barge pole.
   From deep in my soul
I had sung, bathing in the radiance of stars,
  
But I can no longer sing,
  Quietness is the accompaniment for farewell;
Even cricket are silent for me,
  Silence! It is all of Cambridge tonight.

Quietly I leave you,
   As quietly I have come;
With a wave of my sleeve,
   I take
Not a single piece of cloud.
  
I did not succeed in proving myself to be the “crème de crème”. But Queens’ warmly accepted me. So at least I can be a float grass in the ripple of River Cam.
 At the end of July, as I set out to book air ticket, I was astonished to learn that the Virgin flight on the date of my planned departure was full, though the date was still two months away. I was brought to the sudden awareness that things have changed enormously over the seven years. UK is growing to be the hottest and also largest destination for overseas studies among Chinese students. With schooling in the UK becoming more affordable to Chinese students, the British government has started to “export education” to China by running education fairs and reforming policies such as those related to working part-time. Each fall and spring, the Virgin flights take loads of Chinese students to pursue their dreams on the British Isles. Last year, the “911” attack and hence tightened immigration control in the US has also helped to further boost the flow of student to the UK. In the case of Cambridge, it accepted the first self-sponsoring Chinese students in 1996 and has since become more accessible to its admirers in China.
Strangely, I am never too ecstatic since I was notified my admission into Cambridge. Just like more power means more responsibilities, stronger credential naturally engenders greater challenges. As I am raised onto a new platform, I see a more rugged terrain. Even if I become a grass in River Cam, it is going to be a restless grass.

(The translation of A Second Farewell to Cambridge used in the essay is by Mao Zhuchen)

Furthermore, have we ever thought how the stone cave and the blessed spot were produced? Chuangtse has wisely said, “To comprehend the different organs of the horse is not to comprehend the horse itself. What we call the horse exists before its different organs.” To take another analogy, we see forests growing around the great lakes and timber and rocks spread all over the great mountains. It gives the traveler joy to know that the great forests and timber and rocks are assembled together to form the great lakes and great mountains. But the towering peaks are formed by little rocks and the falling cataracts are formed and nourished by little springs of water. If we examine them one by one, we see that the stones are no bigger than the palm of one’s hand, and the springs are no bigger than little rivulets. Laotse has said: “thirty spokes are grouped around the hub of a wheel”.