Find the right way to move forward
Yang Canming
Dear students
Today, we gather together to welcome all of you. From then on, you come to a new stage in life，yours coming gives fresh blood to ZUEL.
Founded in 1948, Zhongnan University of Economics and Law(ZUEL) originated from Zhongyuan University approved by Central Plains Bureau, Central Committee, CPC and established by Deng Xiaoping, Liu Bocheng and Chen Yi. During past 68 years, the school experienced several times of division in the process of national development, but still held the fundamental purpose of “high moral values establishment and people cultivation”. Our school motto “Learned, Rational, Virtuous, Devoted” along with school spirit “temper virtue, watch justice, worship innovation and absolute perfection” influence generations and generations in ZUEL to strive hard for national prosperity. Thus ZUEL wins an extensive cognition and good reputation. In the first class to your freshmen, I will systematically recall and share the nonstop journey and story with winds and rains of ZUEL. I hope you can further learn and appreciate ZUEL in your future study and life.
During the past summer vacation, most of you might just watch Rio Olympic Games happily on TV or prepare to start a new life in Wuhan with an expectation of the future. But for people in Wuhan and in ZUEL, last summer was special and expressive. We experienced the work of disaster relief and emergence fighting. Hundreds of our teachers and administrative staff insisted on 24-hour flood prevention and flood control for nearly a month in rainstorm and intense summer. We transferred nearly 200 teachers and students besieged by the rainstorm. We rushed to repair many teaching and living facilities. We got through the dangerous situation with concerted efforts. From this year, most freshmen will live in Shouyi campus. In order to prepare for your coming, many projects had been finished in bad conditions of rainstorm and high temperature. Many staff worked over time during the summer vacation, some of them even felt ill on their duties. Their voluntary devotions and contributions are not only from a high sense of responsibility but also from their deep affection for ZUEL. I think you can feel their deep affection for ZUEL in your future study and life.
Dear students, in ZUEL, you will go through an important metamorphosis in your life. You need to transform your role in study from passive choice to positive choice, acceptance to self-plan, and dependence to independence. An old saying goes “The last part of an endeavor is the hardest to finish.” Though all of you have got high grades in the final examination, now is a new starting point for you. Your future efforts to gain knowledge are more important, so you should not shake your ideas. In the meanwhile, you can’t just focus on book knowledge, but you should practice more and find the right direction to go further.
Firstly, I hope you can find the accurate direction of gaining knowledge in ZUEL. “You can’t broaden your knowledge without learning”. Now is the golden time in your life for you to concentrate on study. Facing with changeable forms and increasing difficulties in study, only by scientific plan and clear goal can you get good results and go further.
You decide what you should learn and concentrate on, your time belongs to you in ZUEL. Specialized knowledge is the main line and primary task, working as the cornerstone for your future development. In addition, you should broaden your horizon through learning knowledge out of class, in that way you can easier cultivate comprehensive ability of logical thinking, observation and judgment, language expression, practical operation, imagination and creation.
We attach more importance to active learning, so you should explore your own way of learning. Beside the knowledge taught in class, you should gain more through reading a lot of books, deeply discussing and listening to lectures. Only by establishing our own professional knowledge system which has a clear framework can we have an intensive knowledge. “Learning without thought means labor lost, thought without learning is perilous”. The mission of study is to practice what you have learned. You can actually use your knowledge by thinking deeply and considering repeatedly. “Study extensively, in quire prudently, think carefully, distinguish clearly, and practice earnestly” Using what you have learned to find and solve problems is an important step in study and a good way to examine study efficiency. What you will learn in ZUEL is not only the book knowledge but also how to transfer the book knowledge into actual productivity or even ability of innovative development.
Secondly, I hope you can find the right direction of life in ZUEL. In ancient times, today we come to the college, an important part of study is to learn how to become a healthy and elegant person.
American psychologist William James ever said “Sowing an action, harvesting a habit; sowing a habit, harvesting a character; sowing a character, harvesting a fate”. It is critical for students to form their characters in ZUEL. Whatever you do now can influence your future. I hope you can form a good living habit by being cautious of your actions and words. I hope you can keep a positive life attitude, actively tackle with your problems with an optimistic mind. I hope you can consider others in your own place, and then become a kind, positive and generous person.
Russell ever remarked, a people with vitality and broad interest can overcome all unfortunates. Your life will become rich and broad if you have various interests. I hope you can actively dig and develop your interest in your spare time. I hope you can have a healthy body through exercising, have a rich mental life through reading, and have an elegant manner through learning art.
Finally, I hope you can find the right direction of ideal in ZUEL. “Ambitious ambition.Menglembu pick-up.” As a teenager, you bear the expectation of your family, shoulder the task of national prosperity and national rejuvenation along with your own development, so you should set an ambitious target.
On the convention to celebrate the 95th anniversary of the founding of CPC, general secretary Xi Jingping pointed out “The reason why our party can endure setbacks and struggle out is that our party has a lofty ideal and pursuit”. The importance of ideal to individual is just like that. In the long journey of your life, you should have a lofty ideal which will help you to broaden your horizon, focus on long-term development, and move forward with a positive mind. Your ideal can become lofty when you devote yourself to social development, and then you can have a brighter and regretless life.
Dear students, “A huge tree that fills one's arm grows from a tiny seedling; a nine-storied tower rises from a heap of earth; a thousand li journey starts with the first step.” Your growing up just begins when you come to ZUEL. Finding a right direction of study will help you become a person who is useful to the society, a right direction of life will help you become a person who is inner fullness, a right direction of ideal will help you go further and fly higher in your study. I sincerely hope that during the limited time in ZUEL you can make sure your direction and move forward in your study. I hope you can have an excellent life here.
Thank you.