As an annual event, the Golden Autumn Debating Competition seeks to show talents’ eloquence, share wisdom, and inspire critical thinking. On the evening of April 9, the the Golden Autumn Debating Competition rang down the curtain at the Wuhan University Humanities Science Hall.
Presenters during the competition’s opening session
The competition divided into two main part, semifinal and grand final. First, the final for the bronze medal took place between the School of Philosophy (Pro) and the School of Public Health (Con). They argued over the motion whether nowadays “Enjoying life at Wuhan University” is an appropriate publicity strategy or not. According to the competition system, the competition started from the positive side and launched the definition, clarification, rebuttal and other rounds， in which boths sides offered reasonable and profound respondes to the clash of views.
The positive side affirmed the motion for the following reasons. Firstly, the concept of “Enjoying life at Wuhan University” was put forward in 2014 by Li Xiaohong, the former president of Wuhan University, demonstrating the free and inclusive campus atmosphere, characteristic of this youthful and vigorous campus, to the public. Secondly, taking the Golden Autumn series, exhibitions at the Wanlin Art Museum, and playground concerts as examples, the slogan can improve students’ sense of belonging to some extent and inspire students to broaden their horizons. Nevertheless, the opposition emphasized that “the essence of a university lies in imparting knowledge”, and the publicity should highlight “humanities and martial arts” rather than excessive entertainment. Meanwhile, the excessive promotion of “Enjoying life at Wuhan University” is not conducive to the development of a good learning style and damages the positive image of the university, which will turn freedom into indulgence and romance into disorder. Appreciating the wonderful argumentation, the audience applauded repeatedly. In the end, after a tense and thought-provoking debate, the team of the School of Philosophy won the prize by 5:2. At the same time, Zhengsheng Yan, the fourth debater of the School of Philosophy team, won the title of ‘best debater’.
The teams of the School of Philosophy (left) and the School of Public Health (right) debating
Then came the most eagerly awaited moment—the championship race between the School of Journalism and Communication (Pro) and the School of Information Management (Con), circling around the motion whether the romance of Chinese culture lies in its complexity, with the positive side affirming the motion.
In the argument-presenting session, the positive side started with the meaning of “romantic” and defined “complex” and “simple” as two trends, the former of which tends to utilize an additive approach while the latter utilizes subtraction. Then, by reviewing the profound history of Chinese culture, they elaborated that Chinese culture has been enriching its significance for thousands of years. For example, the name “Kunlun” which originally referred to a mountain, is also known as an Antarctic research station today. They pointed out that the romance of Chinese culture lies in the excavation of its complexity of the cultural significance and the humanistic spirit.
Later, the opposition side adopted Liu Xie’s Carving a Dragon at the Core of Literature, arguing that Chinese culture not only infuses thousands of scenes into a few words but also leaves a vast space for imagination, proving that the romantic root of Chinese culture over five thousand years lies in simplicity and conciseness.
The teams of the School of Journalism and Communication (left) and the School of Information Management (right) debating
During the refutation and inquiry session, the debaters posted trenchant comments and the tense atmosphere was up to the top. The positive side questioned the definition that “conciseness is simplicity”, and pointed out that the abundant connotation behind the image is the complexity of Chinese culture. The opposing side retorted that it is wrong to simply define the 5,000 years of Chinese culture as “complexity”. Taking the blank space in landscape paintings and the simplicity of poems as examples, the opposing side showed that more information does not mean more romance, while the emotional consensus is the romance of simplicity.
In the closing session, the opposition again emphasized that rich emotions are often encapsulated in small images, which means simplicity. The positive side sublimated the value of cultural inheritance and concluded that romance is the resonance of spirit, which can be triggered more by its complexity.
The awarding ceremony
The judges spoke highly of the performance of both sides. After an intense contest and discreet evaluation, what left the audience with a deep impression was the charm of logic and words and the beauty of humanity presented by the contestants’ exquisite talent and profound knowledge.
Photo by The Study Department of WHU Students’ Union
Edited by Fu Wantong, Li Jing, Sylvia, Xi Bingqing
