On April 26, the "Film and Book Fragrance" series of activities in Shanghai Pudong Library launched an in-depth dialogue with "Her Power". Olympic shooting champion Tao Luna, clinical medicine expert Gu Jianying, SMG First Financial host Zhang Yuan, three female guests, were invited by Han Jing, the planner of "Film and Book Fragrance" and the chief director of "Super Equipment" and "Imperial Examination" of CCTV Documentary Channel, to tell stories about growth, failure and transcendence.
"Film and Book Fragrance" Series of Activities - May Day Special: "Her Power" Dialogue Scene
Tao Luna: Life philosophy beyond the bullseye
Tao Luna, the champion of the women's 10m air pistol at the 2000 Sydney Olympics, has won the World Cup Finals six times and broke the world record in 2002. Tao Luna's career is shrouded in glory, but what she prefers to talk about is "failure".
Tao Luna wins gold at Sydney Olympics
“We keep failing.”
She said bluntly, "Only the champion can be remembered in a shooting competition. The third place winner will feel happy that he or she is on the podium today. The top eight will feel happy that they have received the certificate. Only the second place winner will be the unhappiest."
This obsession with "success" once made her deeply anxious. Before the 2000 Sydney Olympics, she couldn't sleep all night due to excessive pressure and was shaking with nervousness. "Psychology teacher Liu Shuhui told me that growth is more important than success." This sentence became her turning point. She began to shift her focus from results to processes. "So now when I do a lot of things, I will do it well every day and every minute, so that naturally there will be a very good result."
Olympic shooting champion Tao Luna speaks at the dialogue
Talking about concentration training, she recalled that she once spent half an hour trying on a pair of glasses in a competition in Germany, and was laughed at by other athletes for "wasting time": "Actually, I was not wasting time, I was feeling what kind of glasses were best for me."
"This may be a characteristic that shooting sports has given me. The more I practice, the calmer I become, and the more focused I become. Many of us kids raise our guns before we stand properly when we practice shooting. We fire the bullet before we are mentally ready. We may only hit the eighth or ninth ring, but not the tenth ring, and then reload the next round without thinking, and then raise the gun again. This is a lack of concentration. Whether you have thought through each step and are fully prepared, the better the person, the more fully prepared they will be."
Tao Luna
This calmness is not only reflected in the competition, but also deeply integrated into her daily life. She recalled an accident when her son was 4 years old: the father and son accidentally fell into the water while playing in Dianshan Lake. Her husband, who could not swim, jumped into the water to save them. She, who was on the shore, made a judgment in an instant: "Don't panic! The life jackets will hold you up!"
Afterwards, she reflected: "Long-term shooting training has taught me to stay rational in a crisis." This ability even helped her resolve accidents in her career. In the 2002 Busan Asian Games, in order to capture the wonderful moments of the Chinese shooting team, the photographer stood in front of the athletes and pressed the shutter continuously. The harsh "click" sound became part of the tense atmosphere of the competition. Although she did not rehearse such scenes in advance, she still relied on her concentration and breathing skills to win three golds and one silver in the shooting competition.
"The plan must cover all possibilities, but on-the-spot response is the real test," she said.
As the director of the Shanghai Shooting and Archery Sports Center, Tao Luna frankly admits her debt to her family: "My son often asks me, 'Mom, why are you always in meetings?'" She seldom cooks, and can't even remember the dates of her children's parent-teacher meetings, but has gradually figured out a unique way of communication: video chatting with her son during training breaks and using shooting terms to explain life's problems, such as "ignore distractions when aiming at the target, just like you can't be distracted when doing homework."
Today, her 15-year-old son has become her fan. “He said, my job is to make more people fall in love with shooting, which is much cooler than cooking!”
Gu Jianying: The warmth of medicine and the redemption of technology
As a core expert in the clinical verification of the world's first two-meter PET-CT "Explorer", clinical medicine expert and professor of Fudan Zhongshan Hospital Gu Jianying shared the story of extending from "precision" to "benevolence" in medicine.
Clinical medicine expert Gu Jianying
When Han Jing was creating the documentary "Super Equipment", the National Health Commission recommended the two-meter PET-CT "Explorer" equipment, and the filming team went to Zhongshan Hospital to start filming. When interviewing Professor Gu at that time, Han Jing learned that "Traditional medical imaging equipment can only detect tumor lesions in the human body when they grow to 1 cm, or even 2 or 3 cm. The 'Explorer' can detect tumor lesions when they are only 0.3 cm. This provides unlimited possibilities for earlier diagnosis and medical intervention of tumor diseases."
The world's first two-meter PET-CT "Explorer"
Gu Jianying said: "This device is the jewel in the crown of the world's medical imaging equipment."
Facing the public's misunderstanding of plastic surgery, she explained, "Plastic surgery is mainly about repair and reconstruction, such as some congenital deformities, car accident trauma, and wound repair after tumor removal. Medical aesthetics is a branch of it." She used a metaphor to clarify the concept: "Plastic surgery is 'helping people in need', such as rebuilding the face of burn patients; medical aesthetics is 'icing on the cake', such as double eyelid surgery."
The team she leads focuses on the treatment of melanoma, the "king of skin cancer" with a mortality rate of up to 75%. Through the use of targeted drugs and cell therapy, the prognosis of this disease is being significantly improved.
"What we repair is not just the skin, but also the patient's courage to return to society," she said.
In life, Gu Jianying is more like a "Versailles-style mother": her daughter has been independent since she was young, ranked third in the Shanghai high school entrance examination, and graduated with a master's degree from Harvard. "I rarely accompany her to make up lessons, but I ask her to be responsible for her own choices." When her daughter was young, she wanted to learn piano, but wanted to give up after three months because it was boring. Gu Jianying insisted: "Since you have chosen it, you must practice for a full year." As a result, her daughter passed the tenth level and formed a band in college.
When getting along with the child, they are both mother and daughter, and friends. "I respect her very much and won't make too high demands on her, but there must be rules and the three values must be correct, so that her life will not go astray," she said.
Zhang Yuan: From a "disastrous interview" to a dialogue with the world
"It takes courage to interview senior executives, but I just rely on my charisma to hold on," Zhang Yuan said humorously.
SMG First Financial host Zhang Yuan
In 2008, she joined SMG China Business Network as an international financial reporter, but her first independent interview was a failure. Facing the economics master Wu Jinglian, the 28-year-old could only read from the script due to lack of preparation, and even rashly interrupted the other party's speech. After the interview, Wu Jinglian dusted off his pants and left a veiled criticism: "I may not be able to answer your questions from the media." At that moment, she described herself as "so stupid that there is no crack in the ground to drill into."
This interview became a turning point in her career. "I couldn't let him think I was stupid." She studied economic theory, read The Wealth of Nations and Das Kapital, and even enrolled in Fudan University's night school. In 2016, when she interviewed Nobel Prize winner in economics Joseph Stiglitz, she spoke on the topic of "Distributive Justice in Globalization," which triggered a 20-minute impromptu speech.
Zhang Yuan recalled, "After the conversation, he took the initiative to shake my hand and said that this was the most profound conversation in recent years."
During the 2024 Two Sessions, Haier CEO Zhou Yunjie became a hot topic because of an expression. Zhang Yuan sent an invitation at 7 a.m.: "Hello, Mr. Zhou, you are popular! My mood is like Song Dandan saying 'I really want to meet Zhao Zhongxiang'."
Zhang Yuan interviews Haier President Zhou Yunjie
The transnational nature of media work makes Zhang Yuan self-deprecatingly call herself a "global working woman 24/7". When her son was 1 year old, she became a "holiday mom" due to work arrangements. Before leaving once, her son locked her suitcase in the room and cried and asked why she couldn't stay with him. She replied: "Mom is trying to be your pride."
In her life, she maintains family ties in a unique way, allowing her children to see that "a mother's love is just in a different form." On his 14th birthday, his son made a wish: "I hope that mom will always be herself, because I am also becoming a better me."
The core of "Her Power": accepting failure and achieving transcendence
The stories of the three women all ended up in the same place. Tao Luna learned the wisdom of "the process is more important than the result" from shooting, Gu Jianying restored the dignity of life with medicine, and Zhang Yuan forged the edge of a media person from setbacks. They are not shy about talking about "imperfections", which also confirms Han Jing's summary: "The real strength is to accept failure and limitations, and to weave wholeness out of the broken places."
As the signature event of Pudong Library, "Shadows and Books" uses film, television and literature as the medium to build a dialogue platform between the public and creators. The "Her Power" theme sharing session is also the tenth event of "Shadows and Books" since its inception. According to the planner Han Jing, "shadow" means "projection", and all artistic creations are subjective projections of the real world. "Shadows and Books" aims to introduce high-quality domestic and foreign film, television, drama, and literary resources, invite the main creators to the scene, communicate with the audience at close range, and carry out a variety of art popularization activities.
This issue of "Her Power" special issue adheres to the original intention and focuses on the real projection of women's growth. Planner Han Jing said frankly: "We don't want to create a template of a 'perfect woman', but to present real struggles and transcendence."
Event planner and documentary director Han Jing