At the 2015 Peking University Shenzhen Graduate School Opening Ceremony, Chancellor Hai Wen addressed all new incoming students in the final speech of the morning. The speech can be read below:"Dear colleagues, friends and students of Class 2015,
Good morning. I am very delighted to welcome you to Peking University Shenzhen Graduate School. We are having 966 new students with us today, including 110 international students. Welcome to Peking University. Welcome to Shenzhen.
“Oh my goodness, I got into PKU!” --- I know the moment when you got the admission letter from us. You must have worked pretty hard to get a seat at this ceremony. Congratulations! You made it.
Peking University is not only a school. It is a spirit that is strong enough to live through social turmoil of the past 117 years. It is a spirit that has inspired many distinguished and brave people in Chinese history. It is a spirit that has the courage to keep its promises to China in the nation’s most devastating moments.
One cornerstone of Peking University is freedom of thought. In 2001, in order to stimulate the communication in different research disciplines and explore higher education in a global context, Peking University established its first and only international campus outside Beijing. It was a breakthrough in the conventional thinking of university management. It is no exaggeration to say that PKU Shenzhen is the very product of the free PKU spirit.
Many of you had never been to Shenzhen, or even to China, before your Registration Day. You may not have realized that a mutual bond between Peking University and Shenzhen is indeed free thinking.
Yesterday was the 35th anniversary of the establishment of Shenzhen Special Economic Zone. Since 1980, Shenzhen has been a leading city in China’s social and economic reform. China’s GDP grew 7.4% in 2014, whereas Shenzhen grew 9.4%. Over 95% of Shenzhen’s population is immigrated from all over China.
This young and dynamic city is just like an extended campus of PKU Shenzhen. You are encouraged to think out of the box in your research and you are encouraged to try out your ideas outside school. I encourage you to be actively engaged in social activities. Peking University has always paid great emphasis on social responsibilities. Whoever you will become, whatever high position you will hold, you will not forget to contribute to the community. You will fulfill your responsibilities to the society and work for the welfare of human beings. Do not ask me what the world needs you to do, or what you can do. Learn to observe and be ready to serve.
Education frees your mind and awakens your social awareness. However, the ultimate goal of education is to teach you to be tolerant. What really transforms people is tolerance. Without tolerance, you will be afraid to open up yourself and hesitate to stand up for the weak and poor. In the coming three to five years at PKU Shenzhen, you will meet people with diverse mind-sets. I hope you will learn to understand the diversity and appreciate the difference. You will also learn to be tolerant with yourself. You will tolerate failures in life. You know they are only there to guide you to other explorations.
My dear students, getting a seat at this ceremony is not the end of the journey. There is still such a long way to go. You will not go very far if you cannot take good care of yourself. Health is the only wealth that I suggest you to strive for. Peking University has a long sporting tradition,and our education has fully realized the physical and mental importance of sports.
On behalf of PKU Shenzhen, I welcome you again to join us in Shenzhen! I wish you will spend a most wonderful time at PKU Shenzhen.
Thank you very much."
We also heard from other speakers that afternoon including Professor Yang Jiawen of the School of Urban Planning and Design who spoke to students as a formed PKU alumnus himself. His speech can be found below.
"Dear students, distinguished guests, and colleagues, good morning!
It is a great honor to be here representing the faculty and staff of Peking University Shenzhen Graduate School to welcome our new graduate students.
There is a famous Chinese saying, "Those predestined to meet shall eventually meet, despite the long distance in between." Today, we meet here at this wonderful campus. Each of us may have our own story of why and how we are here, but we all share the same fact--we are here today. This is the moment for celebration today, to be remembered in the future, and to be cherished for years to come.
My connection with PKU goes back to 1992, when I was a freshman. A few years later, in 2000, I left with a master's degree. Three years ago, I returned to PKU Shenzhen as a faculty member. During all these years, I have heard of, lived through, thought over and then began to appreciate the happy and sad stories of this great university, which qualifies me to stand here and say “welcome” to you, not only as a professor, but also as a former student. I want to share with you three observations.
First, the charm of this great university comes through its long history of leading social changes in China. The history of PKU goes back to late Qing Dynasty, when an important national reform led to the birth of modern education in China. Since then, students of different generations have seen clashes of contrasting ideologies, and experienced the rise and fall of different regimes. The University has been shut down, reopened, renamed, relocated and expanded. PKU has adapted to changes, and in many cases, led the change.
Our campus in Shenzhen is rather new. It is a marriage between PKU’s tradition and Shenzhen’s modernity. The steel and concrete erects itself into the blue sky of southern China. Amidst this modern appearance, the flavor of PKU’s tradition can be sensed in details of its quiet yard, Mirror Lake, and the tower. As a former PKU student, I want to share with you that the charm of this great university goes far beyond any specific location. I never visited PKU’s oldest campus in central Beijing, where PKU was located one century ago, but that never prevented me from linking myself psychologically to that PKU. Today, we are at the Shenzhen campus and nothing can prevent us from being recognized as a new generation of PKUers, a generation respecting the history and at the same time seeking changes.
Second, as a professor in this graduate school, I want to give you a small piece of advice on how to develop a productive relationship with your advisor. When I was a graduate student, many of my fellow students began to call their advisor "boss", a new term then borrowed from the increasingly commercialized society. Today, we may or may not do so. At that time, I did not know the true difference between an advisor and a boss, until I began to supervise my own advisee. A boss uses you to fulfill his dream, but an advisor helps you to come closer to your dream. What makes the difference between a boss and an advisor is not how much you receive in relation to how much you contribute, but whether you have the flexibility and the help to stretch your imagination and your creativity.
In the covered corridor at the end of the Mirror Lake, you may find several quotes. One of them says, "A professor’s responsibility is to educate those who seek to be educated." At this very beginning of your life at PKU Shenzhen, I want to invite you, the ones ready to be educated, to use this quote to examine your relationship with your advisor.
Third, for your education here, it is not only about developing knowledge and skills, but also about knowing who you are. Self-discovery requires a life-long enlightenment process, which starts as early as one’s childhood and does not end in graduate school, when one would continue to make choices relevant to future career. A better cognition of who you are always helps to make much better choices toward what you shall be.
The popular teachings in this society have paid much more attention to the role models of wealth and power than what each of you are gifted with. Since we were young, many of us have tried our best to live up to the expectations of our parents, our mid-school teachers, our relatives and friends. Now, after experiencing years of excitement and maybe also frustration, you may use graduate education to further understand your own gift and set your own expectation. We all believe that every piece of material has its own usage. Be clear with your gifted usage, live up to your own expectation, and lead a happy life under community pressures.
My fellow PKUers, this campus is a new campus of hope. It is a place where you can mediate on the past, and also imagine the future. It is distanced from urban noise and traffic. It is a pleasant place for close collaboration with your fellow students and your professors. May you begin the new journey with confidence and hope!"
