A dream that begins never stops

She was born in Chongqing in 1985. As a child, she liked to read science fiction, and natural science books, more like thinking.

In junior high school, she did very well in physics, won the first prize in the Physics Olympiad, and was recommended to high school. One day when she was in high school, she saw a program about Africa on TV. She became interested in Africa and dreamed of going there.

However, her smooth life was far away from Africa. When she was in high school, she won the third prize in the physics Olympiade and was recommended to the Japanese department of Beijing Foreign Studies University because of her outstanding Japanese ability. Perhaps becoming a translator or applying for the civil service after graduation is the most correct life choice for her, but she chose to study in Japan for her dream.

In October 2009, she was admitted to Kyoto University for a master's degree in Asian and African Regional Studies. But Africa was so big that when it came time to do the research, she was a little confused.

At that time, her tutor gave her a book about Africa, and after reading it carefully, she set her sights on Cameroon. But the research is not only carried out in schools but also in the field.

In August 2010, she arrived in Yaounde, Cameroon, with a dream. But that was only the first stop. It took her three days by car to a remote town, and a day by motorbike to travel 80 kilometers through the mountains to a tribe of fewer than 200 people in the rainforests of southeastern Cameroon. She was studying the Pygmies, an endangered people in the world known as Africa's "tiny people."

But it was not the Africa of her dreams. In addition to the low small huts, is the dense mountains, can not see people. Not only that, but even though English is the official language in Cameroon, the Pygmies can't communicate.

The high temperature, frequent rain, and lack of electricity were too much for her as a newcomer. Besides, it was very cold in the forest at night. She slept in her tent and often woke up from the cold. She hardly had a good night's sleep. And eating became a big problem. When the food she brought ran out, she had to swallow everything from wild plantains to antelope and mice, as the local people ate.

The most difficult thing for her to get used to was eating insects. After eating termites for the first time, her body developed allergic reactions, vomiting and diarrhea, and hives.

Her research was hampered by unexpected difficulties, and she didn't even know how to proceed. After much thought, she decided to go among the pygmies, and when she found a guide to call out the inhabitants in their language, their friendliness made her forget the difficulties.

She began by talking to them and learning their language, and this in-depth communication brought her a surprise. She found that all Pygmies had strange tattoos, and decided to start by studying them.

She spent four months there and discovered that tattoos are a form of socializing for Pygmies. She befriended them, and the research unfolded. Later, she made three trips to pygmies and continued her research as a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Asian and African Studies.

Finally, she learned about the origin of human beings from Pygmies, studied egalitarianism in primitive tribes through their language, belief, culture, folk habits, and tattoos, and completed her research project.

She is Peng Yujie, a female doctor who walked alone into the primitive tribe of Pygmies in Africa.

She was asked if she ever thought of giving up after all the difficulties she encountered when she first arrived in Africa. Now and then, Peng said calmly, "It is my dream to visit Africa. Now that the dream has started, I will never let it stop."