At the foot of the scenic Luojia Hill and by the side of the beautiful East Lake in Wuhan City, the brand-new stadium was crowded with post-2000s generations. On Sept. 9th, the opening ceremony of undergraduates of Grade 2018 was grandly held here. Wearing the school badge, singing the school anthem, over 7,000 freshmen stepped over the threshold of their new lives in Wuhan University.
Present at the ceremony were Party secretary Han Jin, President Dou Xiankang, Academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chinese Academy of Engineering and senior professors from social sciences and humanity disciplines Mao Zhi, Zhang Lina Shu Hongbin, Xu Hongxing, Li Jiancheng and Yu Kexun. Other attendees included representatives of teachers, students and alumni. This ceremony was presided by Executive Vice President Tan Guangming.
“This year, we welcome undergraduate students of unprecedented high quality, which serves the most gratifying thing in the lives of our educators. I am so glad to meet you excellent young students here.” President Dou extended a speech, titled as "Being Outstanding, the Responsibility for Wuhan University Students for the time". Dou’s enthusiastic words resonated within the stadium, interrupted by the applause of all the students present.
President Dou said, the universality and greatness of a university lies in great masters and its excellence lies in its excellent students. Talent cultivation is a goal which a university is in persist pursuit of. For a long time, Wuhan University has always been adhering to the education concept of “talents oriented and undergraduate rooted", and committed to cultivating the most outstanding students with education resources of highest quality. “We will do our best to provide good learning conditions, creating a better living environment with the most thoughtful service and creating a better cultural atmosphere with the deepest affection.”
President Dou highlights the university’s mission of building a world-class university and the students’ responsibilities of being a talent shouldering the task of national rejuvenation. The global trend and the time call for excellent people to boldly take on the historical mission of strengthening our nation with advanced technology. The goal of talent training in Wuhan University is to train civil models, social elites and national backbones. Making the pursuit of excellence a kind of self-conscious responsibility for the time requires us to establish strong patriotism, cultivate high spirits of exploration, and open up broad international horizons.
Teacher representative Fu Lei said, “besides self-improvement, the sense of responsibility also matters upon your entry into the university. University is the source of social progress and technological innovation. I hope you to show respects to knowledge and academics to pursue innovation and fulfill your mission.”
Alumni representatives, president of Zall Smart Commerce Group Ltd, Yan Zhi, said, “art can ignite imagination and persistence can realize dreams. Let’s take on the paranoid love, down to earth, and make every impossible into possible.”
Freshmen representative Geng Dongxu declared, “as a new generation, we have the confidence and determination to shoulder the responsibility of promoting national and ethnic development and leading social progress.”
Overseas student representative, Shi Jia from Tajikistan confessed, “China is my favorite country. Chinese is my favorite language. Learning Chinese in China is the most correct choice I’ve ever made.” She mentioned that her dream was to introduce Chinese culture and Chinese stories to her own country and be a missionary of Chinese culture.
The opening ceremony is not only a come-to-age celebration for freshmen, but also a family day for all the students in Wuhan University. In the videos on the screen, there are suggestions from teachers, the experiences of seniors, the expectations of parents, and the vows of freshmen. It touched people’s heart from different perspectives, then transforming into the strong power of moving forward.
The opening ceremony is like a fairy tale in autumn. We sow in autumn and harvest in the same season. The harvest day may be in four years, or even in seven years. But it will finally come around.
Rewritten by Lu Huixin, Edited by Shen Yuxi, Hu Sijia
Photot by Shu Pei
