Zi secondary studied at the Yaohua High School (耀华中学). She entered Tsinghua University in 1948, majoring in English language and French language in the Department of Western Languages and Literature, where she graduated in 1951.[4]
Zi claims that it is necessary to integrate civic education into regular classes. She emphasized in the interview that civic education enabled individuals to be aware of their rights and duties as citizens, including how to treat people properly when they are underaged and how to protect their autonomy and freedom by respecting others’ rights. A good citizen is a person who knows how to be accountable to their social obligations and advocate their rights.[14]
She claimed that China had entered the first stage of enlightenment of civic awareness through her observation of the 2008 Sichuan earthquake. She enumerated three pillars. First, non-governmental donation campaigns were happening nationwide. She looked forward to more charity campaigns even under governmental restrictions and regulations. Second, regional governments hindered volunteers from being helpful because the authorities would not distribute their authority and power. Third, the development of NGOs faced many obstacles and challenges under governmental scrutiny.[15]
Zi believes education enables citizens to access knowledge and facilitates the development of civilization and society. Furthermore, education cultivates qualified citizens, while the definition of citizenship varies from the era and social context. She emphasized the difference between citizens and subjects: citizens have fundamental rights, such as freedom of speech, the possession of the property, etc. However, citizens are also obligated to respect other citizens’ rights and should not violate them for self-interests.[16]
In 2019, her essay, "Mourning Tsinghua", first criticized university administrators' neglect of historic buildings on campus, some of which were destroyed by fire in 2010. She then went on to protest the treatment of professor Xu Zhangrun, who discovered that a student had been paid to report on the content of his lectures. She regarded this as the "latest round of 'book burning and burying scholars'", a suppression of free thought that started with Qin Shi Huangdi.[17]
Zi stated six pillars about how to study the Cold War as qualified scholars.
First, scholars should consider historical archives as primary sources to avoid subjectivity and biased narratives.
Second, scholars should be more patient and meticulous about discourses’ formation: coming up with research topics and thesis after reading abundant sources and documents. In this way, scholars can genuinely sense the amusement of academia.
Third, historical details matter. Sometimes, nuances can overturn previous prevalent theories or conclusions; however, contextualization is also crucial to correctly grasp the nuances and details.
Fourth, since there have been plenty of studies related to the Cold War, innovations and new ideologies are essential to effectively and meaningfully contribute to the Cold War studies.
Fifth, scholars should contain broader mindsets. They should realize what states rulers and leaders deem as national interests do not necessarily represent the true interests of the public and citizens. Therefore, scholars should be relatively independent of the national interests claimed by governments and political figures.
Finally, the goal of Cold War studies should be to maintain war peace. Therefore, scholars should authentically possess a sense of caring for peace and ethics while researching and publishing articles.[18]
Zi commented on China-United States relations at the 2020 Tsinghua Global Development Forum. She underscored that the future China-United States relations depended on internal development. China should insist on economic reform, integrate with the world, and value the role of technology advancement and talents. China should also make the experience of Europe a reference to prosper and thrive.[19]