V Spirit of Scientific Research

To do research in science, his fearlessly great spirit of not being afraid of suffering and being patient with all kinds of annoyances astonished his companions. "With dedication to clarify the history of the dawn of the human race, he perseveringly abandoned the comfortable life of Paris and came to China which was then extremely poor and backward." "Living in the China of the old days, the conditions were very difficult; doing scientific research in the wilds was extremely trying. If Teilhard had not possessed a burning dedication and a spirit of sacrificing himself for science, he could have sat down quietly in a church and announced 'the Word of God' according to the book. But he did not choose that way of life. But with extreme devotion and side-by-side with Chinese scientists who were then young…"

One of Fr. Teilhard's special merits was to cultivate, guide and assist the younger generation of rising scientists, "to help our country to cultivate a generation of scholars in vertebrate palaeontology and palaeo-anthropology. Especially during World War II, all scientific research work in northern China had ceased, but Teilhard stayed on in Beijing, occupied by the Japanese army of invasion, and perseveringly carried on with his research work under extremely difficult conditions."

Fr. Teilhard helped young scientists, gave them guidance and encouragement. "Yang Zhongjian discovered in the Dongshan mountains in Shaanxi not far from the Shenmu county capital the footprint of an animal and for the moment could not make out which animal had made it. Teilhard at once determined that it was the footprint of an iguanodon and picked up this specimen. This was the first discovery in China of a dinosaur's footprint. When they returned, they wrote a research report on it…Yang Zhongjian then really experienced that one could learn many things when with Teilhard and enjoy together the enormous pleasure of making scientific discoveries."

Beside, while helping the young generation of scientists to write scientific reports, he and Yang Zhongjian and Pel Wenzhong wrote many reports on "Peking Man" and "the Zhoukoudian caves".

"When Teilhard and young Chinese scientists were jointly writing articles, it was serious work, no detail was unimportant; he became their good teacher and helpful friend. After Teilhard had carefully corrected the draft of the article, a part of it was kept in the Institute for Vertebrate Palaeontology and Palaeo-anthropology of the Academia Sinica."