In WHUers’ eyes, it is attending a graduation ceremony in the rain that appears as the best way to bid farewell to their college life. This year, President Dou Xiankang met the expectation through actions that nothing would interrupt the graduation ceremony of Wuhan University.
On June 20, rain moistened this city and Luojia hill appeared greener. The 2020 graduation ceremony of WHU was held as appointed. It was an extraordinary graduation ceremony, as only 660 representative students were on the scene. 15,000 graduates were thousands of miles away but gathered online, getting involved in their own festival of youth.
Except for the familiar rain, the graduation ceremony this year was special and profound. It rained, as always, with a sense of familiarity, intermittently during the ceremony, but started pouring only when the ceremony ended. It happened as students expected: rain arrived by convention, but it would never interrupt the ceremony. The graduation ceremony in the rain is bound to leave every student an unforgettable memory.
A profound graduation ceremony: the respect for students and academy
“The light of candles blinks as the spirit of teachers glitters. What is most important for a teacher is his virtue…All the lakes and mountains witness that the requirements are adhered to.” The supervisor group came on the stage with the poetry recitation of “Shi De Ming”, an article advocating the virtues of teachers, among which are all the leaders in the school including Secretary of WHU’s Party Committee Han Jin, President Dou, as well as academics and professors including Deng Zixin, Shu Hongbin, Li Jiancheng, Xu Hongxing, Ma Feicheng and so on. By convention, the graduation ceremony was held in the Olympic playground this year. Han Jin was the host.
The national flag raised, the national anthem played, and the university flag ushered. Han Jin guided all the present to stand up and take off their caps to mourn those who died from the coronavirus.
Deputy Secretary of the WHU’s Party Committee Qu Wenqian announced the document on praising the graduates volunteering to start their business in western and remote regions. Vice president and vice chairman of the Academic Degree Assessment Committee announced the decision about the degrees conferment.
During the ritual of degree conferring, the supervisor group conferred the degree certificate on each present graduate one after another. The supervisor group stands for all the knowledgeable and adorable professors, who are themselves the best symbol of academy. They extended blessings to graduates in this “last lesson” by the turning of the tassel on their caps. To compensate for the pity that some graduates attending the ceremony online and couldn’t experience the tassel-turning ceremony, the university decided that they could apply for a personal graduation ceremony on campus in the next three years.
“Every year, I’d like to provide you with the solemnest, most unforgettable and meaningful sense of ritual in the graduation ceremony to show the integral importance our university attaches to our students, the necessary respect for knowledge and the essential worship to academy.” As President Dou put it, WHU has overcome lots of difficulties when insisting on holding the ceremony. He hopes that the spirits of WHU behind the ceremony can be upheld and promoted and that the huge sacrifice Wuhaners made and the hard-earned triumph they achieved would be remembered.
A graduation ceremony that hands down the tradition: keep our mission and duty firmly in mind
In the “key battlefield” of the battle against COVID-19, WHU has played an important role in the defense of Wuhan city and Hubei province. The graduation ceremony hands down timeless entrustment and expectation, among which the most crucial are duty and diligence. Speeches from president and alumni all convey a strong sense of duty and patriotism.
President Dou’s address also centered on the fight against the epidemic. He recalled the touching moments since the outbreak of the coronavirus and told a story of Zhou Guohong, a nurse from Anhui province in aid of medical care in Hubei. “Family and country connect tightly,” said the president, with the purpose of urging the WHUers to take on the responsibility of family and the country, and to heritage the spirit of “take on the mission and make the struggle”.
To express the appreciation for the contributions of medical providers who assisted Hubei province, President Dou promised that they would be invited to visit WHU on an exclusive day when the cherry blossoms bloom next year.
President Dou exhorted the graduates of 2020 that “one should learn to turn the crisis into an opportunity and make steady progress”. He hoped that the graduates could learn from the “vivid textbook” of the battle against the pandemic; that they could always be patriotic and carry forward the national spirit that features unity; that they are able to see the rigid demand in danger and take the initiative to serve the country with scientific knowledge, and that they seize the right opportunity to develop and break new ground for personal progress.
The graduation ceremony was broadcasted through live media streams. One faculty and four alumni representatives were invited to deliver the most sincere wishes to the graduates through camera. Their words contained the entrustment to “have spirits of Luojia engraved in mind and rise to the challenges of the times”.“You are very welcome to come back ‘Jia (Wuhan University’s another name Luojia, having the same pronunciation of home in Chinese)’, which you know best,” said Professor Lan Ke, Director of Wuhan University State Key Laboratory of Virology. He also mentioned that it is with the full support of the university and alumni, the scientific and technological research team of State Key Laboratory of Virology can make due contributions in the discovery of novel coronavirus, the monitoring of identifying environmental aerosol viral load, innovative detection and diagnosis technologies, the development of antiviral drugs and other aspects.
Alumni entrepreneurs have been prominent in this epidemic. They ran around the whole world, building a life-or-death channel for medical supplies delivery at the most critical moment. The total amount of donations was more than 1.2 billion, accounting for a quarter of the total donations that Wuhan received. They illustrated the meaning of mission and commitment with their actions, and their words are simple and affectionate as follows.
“I also participated in the Battle of Wuhan. I arrived Wuhan on January 18 and left in May. I stayed in Wuhan for over 4 months.” Alumni Tong Zhaohui, Vice President of Beijing Chaoyang Hospital, said, “I’m proud to be a WHUer. I studied PCCM (Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine) and the novel coronavirus epidemic is exactly my specialty, so I should make some contributions to my hometown and alma mater.”
“In this epidemic, our university has contributed strong scientific research capacities, our hospitals have saved countless lives and our alumni have mobilized tremendous social resources. We safeguard our alma mater together, in which our common youth resides.” Alumni Yu Shan, the Executive Director of Wuhan University Beijing Alumni Association, said. In 2020, such an extraordinary time, the performance of WHU alumni has written a strong and colorful stroke in the history of WHU, reinterpreting the significance of the alumni to the alma mater. She hoped the younger students, who have the new identity of WHU alumni, would follow predecessors’ footsteps.
“Two years ago, at the opening ceremony, I talked with you about poetry and art as well as love and persistence for life. Now I hope you will leave school with a sense of responsibility, not only for your own growth, but also for the society.” Alumni Yan Zhi, Vice President of Alumni Entrepreneur Association of Wuhan University, said.
“You can’t take away the water of East Lake and the flowers of Cherry Garden, but we hope you will take away the motto of WHU.” Mao Xuejun, President of Wuhan University Greater New York Area Alumni Association, said, “We WHUers, especially our young WHU students, should embrace historical mission and make due contributions to the development of our country and humanity”.
Creative graduation ceremony: highlighting deep love and warmth
WHU always puts students as its priority and strives to make its graduates fully appreciate the deep care and love of the alma mater.
Graduates were surrounded by huge banners beside the Olympic Playground. “Graduate from the most beautiful university, and strive for the most beautiful life and the strongest China; This is a heroic city, and this is a great university, where we spend our youth.” In the middle of the playground were the emblem and the motto of WHU: Improving Oneself, Advocating Perseverance, Seeking Truth and Making Innovation.
“Cherry blossom dream flows with light, and I gently hum the slow song of time. Once you said waiting for fireworks was worthy, WHUers’ eyes are still clean…I’m not afraid of doubt, as there are lots of definitions of life. WHU teaches me with light, kindling the torch of the world.” The graduation music video “Light” was a hit at the graduation ceremony. The lyricist Zhang Xi was also a graduate. She has been the lyricist of graduation music videos for four consecutive years.
Zhang Xi introduced that the song “Light” expressed not only the sense of nostalgia for the good time in WHU, but also the understanding of growth. She was greatly shocked by the responsibility shouldered by WHU during the Covid-19 pandemic, and understood what were the real national sentiment, responsibility, mission, and bravery. She said, “I will always remember this heavy and profound lesson. In the dark, following the way lighted by fireflies, we will hold the torch tightly and walk on.”
In the warm-up session, the organizer set both online and offline interaction, in order to create a special atmosphere of sharing the moment together. Jiang Qinhui, a Master degree graduate majoring in international law, stayed up at 3 am for the online ceremony in Switzerland. After graduation, he would stay in a post of United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to help those homeless refugees. During his eight years studying in WHU, Jiang thought the most stunning scenery here is the Olympic playground in autumn, with maples turning red around Luojia hill as its background.
In the linking part, Ye Jishi, a PhD graduate from Renmin Hospital of WHU said that despite that his child needed breastfeeding during the epidemic, he participated in the online voluntary program with his wife, who majored in respiratory, to render psychological and medical consulting service to local residents through the Internet. “Fighting together is our balance between work and family.”
Graduates shed tears in the offline interview. Though it was a cold rainy day, they were very passionate in their hearts. A doctoral student expressed his deep feeling to his beloved WHU, “Thanks for the wonderful 11 years in WHU, and I’ll love WHU forever.” In front of the camera, a boy gave his graduation present to his girlfriend and took a sweet photo with her, which was considered as a public display of affection by others.
“Heavy rain was never absent in our university’s graduation ceremony these years. I thought there would be neither ceremony nor rainstorm for us this year. However, both of them are present today.” “The regret of being unable to come back to the campus was dissipated by seeing those familiar buildings.” Many graduates left messages online, said that the ceremony has done wonders for their morale, and they will endeavor to whatever they do in the future.
The stage of graduation ceremony belongs to the graduates. In the speech session of valedictorians, un dergraduates Jiao Anqi (from the School of Health Sciences), Wang Yu (from the School of Water Resources and Hydropower Engineering), Cui Lei (from the School of Journalism and Communication) and Zhao Zhengxin (from the School of Marxism), PhD graduates Chen Xi (from the School of Electronic Information) and Shen Hao (from Renmin Hospital of WHU), along with a postgraduate Gong Chen (from the School of Resource and Environmental Sciences), sent their best wishes for all graduates in a video.
“It is a heritage and a wish for all of us to remember our initial purposes of getting into WHU forever.” “I learnt to be practical in WHU.” “Wuhan is a heroic city and WHU is a place cultivating heroes. With passion and benevolence, I will spend my whole life fulfilling my responsibility and aspirations as a doctor.” In their speeches, graduates representatives expressed their strong desires to make contributions to our country.
The graduation ceremony was broadcast live with 5G through a series of online platforms and apps such as Weibo, WeChat, Tiktok, etc. According to an incomplete statistics, there were totally more than 15 million viewers on these live streaming platforms. Simultaneously, related content was recommended on each platform. Netizens frequently liked and commented. 5 graduation ceremony-related topics went viral among hot searches of Weibo and topped the ranking within just two hours. The total views of the hot searching topics exceeded 330 million.
Liao Yu, a graduate of the School of Chinese Linguistics and Literature who did not attend the graduation ceremony on site, said that the college had distributed bachelor uniforms, cultural shirts and mementos among the graduates. “It’s really a pity that I missed a rainy graduation on the spot. But even if I were there, I would still feel regret because WHU is a beautiful and historic college that I have not visited enough, and my admiration for it will never fade away in spite of graduation.”
The graduation ceremony was successfully held and supported by teachers and students. As Professor Wu Genyou, a member of supervisor group and Dean of the School of Philosophy, said, the graduation ceremony is a highlight of WHU’s tradition. It is a way of presenting the students with deep affection and warmth. It is the last lesson taught through a solemn culture and a sense of ritual for the students. This is the most meaningful “ideological class” in which the school’s principal, famous scholars and outstanding alumni gathered together. The grand ceremony demonstrates the value of graduates which they will, therefore, remember during any difficult time because they are always connected with WHU.
Source: https://news.whu.edu.cn/info/1002/60909.htm
Rewritten by An Lan, Lin Hanfei, Tang Haoran, Zheng Zicheng, Tang Shiqing, Li Hefeng, Fan Tat San
Edited by Wan Qian, Qin Zehao, Yu Jianan, Wei Yena, Zou Xiaohan, Li Yushan & Hu Sijia
