When it comes to romance, what enters your mind? It may be a candlelight dinner, nine hundred and ninety-nine roses, or simply a sentence like, “Yes, I do?” Everyone’s answer differs.
On December 7, 2021, two teachers of WHU were invited to attend a special activity in the Lecture Hall of the WHU Main Library. Yu Feng, the professor who had delivered a lecture on love psychology before, and Wang Yuan, the lecturer remembered for holding a concert on the playground as a final assignment, each shared their own understanding of romance with the audience, chatting about their life experiences with teachers and students, and answering questions from the attendees.
Prof. Yu listening to the audience’s questions
As a psychologist, Yu Feng believes that a pure, witty and dazzling person can certainly add more romance to daily life, which is also his life credo. As for his own experience, Prof. Yu admitted that the initial reason for him to choose psychology was just to avoid studying science.
When looking back on his university life, Prof. Yu seems to sink into deep thought. After a while, he lists two words to describe his university life--reading and reciting. At that time, in order to be admitted to his ideal university for postgraduate education, he totally buried himself in reading and reciting, and he even rented a basement with a friend for a better study environment. Luckily, all his efforts paid off. Years later, when he was studying at the University of California, Berkeley, he was praised by his American classmates as the ‘Encyclopedia of Psychology’.
Wang Yuan sharing his story with the audience
As for Wang Yuan, his understanding of romance could be summed up into three key aspects—idealism, expression of personal emotion and spontaneous action. However, it is almost impossible to completely live up to those all the time. What he means is to be romantic during some periods or in certain situations as a sufficient condition. As a musician, he also suggested students pick up music as their hobby, which is a unique romance as well. But he immediately pointed out that if someone did enjoy music, it was better to only regard it as an avocation and not a vocation. “Once you set your hobby as a career, the deviation from original intentions is inevitable. But if you purely take what you like as an avocation, you’ll always feel free and romantic.”
Teachers engaged in earnest discussion
When recalling his experience with the audience, Wang Yuan selected the first lecture he gave at Wuhan University to share with the students. In 2018, Wang Yuan was temporarily assigned to give a trial lecture on the book The Wealth of Nations, which would be evaluated by experts and scholars. However, he had never read it before. Without any preparation, he took a chance to stand on the podium. Not surprisingly, he was interrupted and questioned again and again by the experts until the lecture could no longer continue. After the class, he apologized to the experts and admitted the fact that he hadn’t prepared at all. Perhaps because of his honesty and talent, the experts understood and encouraged him following a comprehensive evaluation. Ultimately, Wang Yuan began his teaching career at Wuhan University. By the end of the story, he said, “if you’re not 100 percent ready, please don’t take any chances, because no one cares what kind of objective reasons leads to failure. Only results matter. And you won’t necessarily get another chance.”
Students recording in the activity
With the teachers’ eloquent narration, the two hours flew by. Absolutely all students enjoyed this significant activity, learned a lot from the two teachers, and eventually gained an appreciation of different types of romance. The talk might have come to an end, but the quest of WHUers for a life filled with romance will continue forever.
Group photo
Photo by Long Quan & Deng Ningxin
Edited by Li Hefeng, Qin Zehao, Cheng Shiwen, Zou Xiaohan, Sylvia and Hu Sijia
