Comments on the feature article "Xu, Liangying, Scientist and Adocate, Dies at 92."

1. Headline: "Xu Liangying, Scientist and Advocate, Dies at 92."
   Byline: Chris Buckley
  Date: Jan.31, 2013.
 Publication name: The New York Times. Asia Pacific.
 Link: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/01/world/asia/xu-liangying-92-scientist-and-democracy-advocate.html?ref=science&_r=0

2. Summary: The feature article titled "Xu Liangying, Scientist and Advocate, Dies at 92" explains the story about a particular scientist who enjoyed the work of Einstein and created his own publications using Einstein as a role model. The article also briefly explains his life and how he inspired other people during his life time.

3. A. The people interviewed in this article with previous soldiers that knew Liangying. The writer also incorporated previous interviews Liangying had with a magazine, known as Caijing in China. The research made the story a good read. Not only were there interviews, but the fact that they included history of this scientist made the story flow even better. There was an interesting piece of his history regarding his educational background and when he started to become fascinated by Einstein. It states that " He entered Zhejiang University in 1939, determined, he wrote on his entrance form, to become an "authority of modern physics." As a high school student he had read "The World as I See It", a collection of Einstein's essays."

B. The vocabulary in this article was very easy to understand. It was not flabby or wordy. The writer gets directly to the point. For example, it states that "Mr.Xu's studies were disrupted by the invading Japanese Army, which forced his school to shift from place to place and exposed him to the brute disparities of rural life." It explains what happened to him during school and the reason.

C. There were a couple of good direct quotations. One of the best quotations comes from Liangying himself when he is speaking to the Caijing magazine. It states "Superstition is the great enemy of truth", he told a Chinese magazine, Caijing, last year. "We must use science and democracy to eradicate modern superstitions of every kind, to eradicate superstitions that are born of loyalty."

4.A. The lead was very strong because it briefly explained who the person was and when he passed away. The lead summarized what the content in the rest of the article will be about, which is extremely important when writing a lead.
B. The nut graph was strong because it briefly explained facts about what he was involved in and how his life was immediately changed (like a damper on his plans) because of the army.
C. The ending was very strong because it provided information about the huge award he won for all of his accomplishments.
D. The story was very strongly organized because it explained important facts about his life and there were also interviews from people that knew him very closely.

5. I enjoyed everything about this piece. I enjoyed learning interesting information about this man's life, his accomplishments, learning about his role model, and his big reward.